Home Entertainment Ban Rotten Tomatoes? We need to talk about fan entitlement

Ban Rotten Tomatoes? We need to talk about fan entitlement

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Source: Flickr/ UnknownNet Photography

Boy, people sure are angry about Suicide Squad. Many because it appears to be a half-baked, made-by-studio-committee mess. Many are wondering why DC sucks at making movies and Marvel doesn’t. Quite a number of fans are very upset – and a few zealous ones decided it must be review aggregation sites to blame. Specifically Rotten Tomatoes should apparently be shut down now “because It’s Critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust Bad Reviews”.

It says a lot about technology that someone not smart enough to understand ‘aggregation’ can still manage to create a petition. What a marvelous age we live in (for the uninformed, Rotten Tomatoes just collates reviews from independent critics, they don’t have any of their own. Also, 30% of Rotten Tomatoes is actually owned by Warner Bros, the very studio these people are accusing the site of being biased against!)

Now you might sneer at idiots trying to shut down Rotten Tomatoes. But you, yes you, you are also to blame. Don’t go pin this on a bunch of morons. You, me and the whole damn movie fandom have some serious explaining to do.

Does the Joker waste his time watching movie marketing? No. Even he has more important things to do.
Does the Joker waste his time watching movie marketing? No. Even he has more important things to do.

Here is the problem: we just cannot wait for something. We have to turn and twist every possible tidbit of an upcoming movie, then go around in shuddering glee of what it could mean. Every trailer is analysed and dissected, every bit of gossip considered as if a religious quote found on a forgotten parchment. Every movie frame and poster is paraded as if it just won a famous battle for us.

The industry reciprocates. Do you know what makes our era unique? Not remakes – we’ve had many remakes over the decades. Not flashy posters. Not spoiler trailers. No, it’s excess. I remember when people used to complain about the teaser-then-trailer combo. I can remember, because it wasn’t that long ago. Now… now we have a landslide of trailers, posters and more. It’s gotten so ridiculous that 10 Cloverfield Lane got press because it DIDN’T MARKET ITSELF!

Be careful. This barrel contains fan opinions.
Be careful. This barrel contains fan opinions.

I’d like to absolve myself a little here. I have not seen a single Suicide Squad trailer. I don’t watch trailers, not unless I get ambushed by them in the 30-minute run before a move starts at the cinema. Do you know why?

Because movies are not gods. They won’t cease to exist because we don’t watch the trailers. Trust me – those cheques are signed. The thing is getting made. Also, watching trailers will not enhance your experience. They will make you more excited, but ultimately a good movie you knew nothing about is still good and a bad movie you knew everything about is still bad.

Sure, watch a trailer to see what you might expect – if you can trust trailers (and we really can’t). But there is a difference between an informed opinion and feeding at the trough of marketing crap. If your conversations are so shallow that you NEED this knowledge to sound interesting, you need to make some serious life choices.

Sadly this marketing onslaught fills a void too many people have. Now even Comic-Con is not about comics, but endlessly promoting movies that would have happened anyway. Yes, there are the rare moments where fan influence gets the job done. Deadpool is an example – and possibly the only example of this.

You spent your entire morning arguing over a movie teaser?! That is NOT maximum effort!
You spent your entire morning arguing over a movie teaser?! That is NOT maximum effort!

But the rest is just a numbing avalanche of ‘pay for me!’ promotional rubbish. It does nothing but get your heart rate and imagination going. But it’s really simple: you are either going to watch a movie or you are not. Watching five different trailers and ten TV spots and twelve different poster designs and fifteen panels and director quotes and star musings…

If you need all that to make up your mind, you might still require adult supervision. And if you need all that to keep stoking your anticipation, then you need a hobby. Or friends. Probably both.

This is wrong. It is bad. You are wasting your time and your life. It may seem like a shocking revelation on a site that is all about that. Trust me, I regularly butt heads with the editors about this. I love movies. I love the art. I love the experience. I even enjoy comic book movies. They are impressive, well-made and certainly entertaining.

But guess what? I enjoyed Civil War even though I didn’t see a single trailer beforehand. I loved Deadpool, yet the first thing I saw was the movie itself. I even enjoyed Batman vs. Superman, probably because I didn’t allow trailers and promos to fill my head with meaningless expectations.

Guess what: if this movie sucks, you don't have to watch it. The original is still out there and Bill Murray still breathes. Nothing has changed.
No trailer or poster or angry fan rant had a say in how good this would be. That’s like shouting at an egg to be fresh before you crack it.

I’m thrilled. I love this age we live in. Finally the world can have decent Spider-Man movies and attempt adapting Preacher. Persepolis is more than a quirky graphic novel and Bruce Campbell will never be unemployed. But I’m starting to wonder if we’re paying too big a price. I’d rather have no Spidey than first see the world go ga-ga over the trailers, then throw a fit when the film comes out. It’s like a toddler being REALLY excited about ice-cream, then realise it’s not their favourite flavour. It’s childish. I don’t want headlines arguing over the merit of the new Ghostbusters and my life was never made better by debates on Rey’s lineage (hint: it will probably be in the next movie, so don’t worry about it. JJ’s on the case.)

Laugh all you want at people petitioning against Rotten Tomatoes. But you had a hand in creating their delusional world by supporting this crap (which, I must add, is nothing but pure marketing – free advertising for the studios). Go meet with friends and talk about your day, go read a book or graphic novel, go marathon your favourite show. Just stop wasting your time with the marketing machine. It won’t make the movie better. That is all up to the movie itself.

This article republished from TheMovies.co.za

Last Updated: August 5, 2016

66 Comments

  1. Ottokie

    August 5, 2016 at 14:35

    I just go with my gut feeling and it’s 99% accurate 😛

    I have never even opened rotten tomatoes site.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      August 5, 2016 at 14:37

      I think I did once. Then regretted it.

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        August 5, 2016 at 14:38

        Angry Birds movie?

        xD

        Reply

        • Ottokie

          August 5, 2016 at 14:40

          Totally misunderstood that reply…woops 😛

          Reply

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 14:45

            I have no idea what you are saying.

          • Ottokie

            August 5, 2016 at 14:47

            You meant opening the rotten tomatoes site. I thought you meant you went to watch a movie that you thought was good but then turned out bad 🙂

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 14:50

            Oh no! Those I had plenty! Watchmen, Jaws 2 to name a few.

          • Ottokie

            August 5, 2016 at 14:51

            I glob. I saw watchmen on IMAX. Such a big blue banana in my face…

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 14:53

            Missed it on iMax by a week.

          • Pariah

            August 5, 2016 at 14:54

            Did that make you iRate?

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 14:54

            iNdubitably so.

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 14:52

            Jeez, Watchmen is one is of my favorite movies!

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 14:58

            No. I walked out. It was horribly boring.

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 15:00

            Ha! Just shows how different this world is, all them different peoples. You hated it and walked out, I was hooked from the first couple of scenes. And I’ve watched it more than a dozen times.

    • geel slang

      August 5, 2016 at 17:09

      Its an excellent place to find new movies and tv series. I regularly browse through the movies and investigate the ones that get good scores. Found dozens of good movies that I would otherwise never have watched.

      Reply

  2. Pariah

    August 5, 2016 at 14:40

    I vote ban the symptom!

    What? It’s election week, we get a free pass on logic-less and dumb votes.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      August 5, 2016 at 14:44

      Says the guy with the weird-ass avi. Ok. I am just jealous. I think. Source please?

      Reply

      • Pariah

        August 5, 2016 at 14:48

        In This Moment – Sick Like Me. Maria Brink.

        🙂

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          August 5, 2016 at 14:52

          Should not Google her with your boss watching over your shoulder…

          Reply

          • Pariah

            August 5, 2016 at 14:52

            O_o

            It’s SFW, if a little unorthodox.

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 14:57

            Yeah no what?

          • Pariah

            August 5, 2016 at 15:01

            That’s SFW. Your mind’s direction might not be though 😛

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 15:07

            Ha ha haaaa!! Not where I work.

  3. Tracy Benson

    August 5, 2016 at 14:46

    What I find absolutely hysterical about this whole “Ban Rotten Tomatoes” bullshit is that Metacritic’s aggregate score is equally low, but they didn’t go after them? Why? Because Rotten Tomatoes is the “go-to” site for movies, so it must be their fault. I roll my eyes. The misplaced sense of entitlement and rage is hilarious, and they only have themselves to blame.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      August 5, 2016 at 14:47

      Because Metacritic rates their precious games?

      Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      August 5, 2016 at 14:49

      “misplaced sense of entitlement and rage is hilarious”
      Have you used the internet befor?
      Pro tip: if its your first time on the internet, and you dont like over-entitled douchefaces, dont get facebook.

      /sarcasm

      Reply

      • Pariah

        August 5, 2016 at 14:50

        I think maybe a TheMovies journalist has used the internet before. Maybe once or twice. Maybe.

        Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          August 5, 2016 at 14:51

          perhaps, but one can never be sure.

          Reply

        • Tracy Benson

          August 5, 2016 at 14:53

          Just maybe 😉

          Reply

    • Captain JJ off track

      August 5, 2016 at 16:04

      I’m not really surprised by the rating tbh.
      I think part of the problem maybe also comes from a lot of the fans (who are actually quite new to the genre since superhero movies are now suddenly everywhere). These new fans expect an action packed stereotypical hero movie to get good a rating, but that’s the thing, this isn’t just an action movie, it stems from decades of content around characters that have been around for longer than most of the fans have been.

      Reply

  4. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    August 5, 2016 at 14:47

    I have not seen a single Suicide Squad either, same with BvS. Gonna watch in on Sunday. All this bad press will just get more people to go see it, same thing happened with Ghostbusters

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      August 5, 2016 at 14:59

      Im gna wait till next weekend to watch it, after all the dudebros have watched it.

      Reply

  5. Original Heretic

    August 5, 2016 at 15:04

    Can’t we just ban all idiots from the internet instead? It’d be a LOT quieter and more peaceful.

    hey…hey wait….who are these guys in the black suits coming to take me away….?

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      August 5, 2016 at 15:10

      The internet has become a cesspool of negativity. The best thing to do is treat it like it is 1996 internet: Download pictures of Cindy Crawford and… and…

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        August 5, 2016 at 15:14

        I just think people take it all too seriously. So what if they don’t like what someone says or if someone has misspelled a word?!?
        There are much more important things in this life to worry about, to think about.

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          August 5, 2016 at 15:19

          You know it. I know it but 97% of the net does not know it. Sad thing is, we have devolved into a society where we argue the merits of a charity…

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 15:22

            It was said very well many years ago.

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 15:52

            (Disturbed)

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 15:53

            They did the cover. Genesis did the original. And had one of the most classic music videos of all time for it.

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 16:00

            I know… When I read the lyrics I heard the Disturbed version in my very Disturbed head! 🙂

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 16:03

            Disturbed did do a very cool version of it!

            Have you heard this one? Cover of Adele’s “Hello”. I SOOOOO prefer this version!

          • Dutch Matrix

            August 5, 2016 at 16:08

            I have not heard it no, nor can I now, as Youtube is blocked at work. 🙁

          • Original Heretic

            August 5, 2016 at 16:10

            Ah bother. Well do a search for it when you get a chance. The music video is a bit silly, but the cover is awesome.

          • Skyblue

            August 7, 2016 at 19:02

            Leo Moracchioli is a legend.

      • BakedBagel

        August 5, 2016 at 17:34

        “The internet has become a cesspool of negativity.”
        It always was like this.
        Then the normies arrived.

        fooken normies
        REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

        Reply

  6. For the Emperor!

    August 5, 2016 at 15:19

    Trailers may have gotten out of hand, especially the way people over-analyse them these days. I try to limit it my exposure to that now (a recent thing unfortunately), and I also started avoiding reviews because the expectation of perfection is too high these days from both fans and critics – something that is not helped by the trailer analysis.

    Reply

    • For the Emperor!

      August 5, 2016 at 15:20

      PS the Rotten Tomato thing is hilarious!

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        August 5, 2016 at 15:49

        I’ve learned from an early age that film school critics are not the be all and end all of movie opinions. I imagine myself listening to Barry Ronge and Leon Van Nierop when I was young, missing out on all the Arnie flicks of the 80’s and having THAT hole in my soul to deal with.
        Reviewers are people with an opinion that makes that opinion public/known. And they have a soap box to do that from.

        Reply

        • For the Emperor!

          August 5, 2016 at 17:05

          I can’t imagine missing out on Arnie!

          Reply

  7. RinceThis

    August 5, 2016 at 15:22

    JJ, you’re on the case?!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ off track

      August 5, 2016 at 16:04

      Meeeeee?

      Reply

  8. RinceThis

    August 5, 2016 at 15:24

    Oh man. The poor fanboyizzzz out there. Wow. Really.

    Reply

  9. Captain JJ off track

    August 5, 2016 at 15:58

    I don’t get it. Suicide Squad has from the very start been about creating lots of hype around a movie that seemed to be quite devoid of decent content. I’m not really surprised

    Reply

  10. Charl van der Merwe

    August 5, 2016 at 16:07

    rotten tomatoes has some of the most pompous and pretentious “critics” I have ever come across in my life, I never rely on a review from them, what a waste of time

    Reply

    • Samuel Mungy

      August 5, 2016 at 17:04

      Did you read this article? Specifically the part:
      ‘for the uninformed, Rotten Tomatoes just collates reviews from independent critics, they don’t have any of their own.’
      Or do you need someone to explain it for you?

      Plus, critics are expected to be pretentious.

      Reply

      • Charl van der Merwe

        August 5, 2016 at 17:17

        wow you think I actually meant Rotten Tomatoes has their own critics ? Obviously it’s aggregated, but Meta critic is also aggregated and score are consistently higher because the reviewers are not trying to be pretentious.

        So go on, explain to me why you chose such a Dumbass point to be contentious about.

        Reply

        • Samuel Mungy

          August 7, 2016 at 00:33

          You do realize that Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic have an overlap in some of the critics that they use? Also, the main reason as to why Metacritic usually has less skewed data is their method of aggregation: While Rotten Tomatoes only uses a fresh or rotten scale, Metacritic uses 100 points of precision. Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic serve 2 different purposes then, Metacritic gives you an average score while RT gives you a sort of percentage chance of how much you would like it. A 27% on Metacritic is different from a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. (Plus, stating that you never rely on a review fom ‘them’ implies RT which I still personally believe you thought had their own reviewers)

          Reply

        • Samuel Mungy

          August 7, 2016 at 00:36

          and the pool of reviewers Metacritic chooses from are as, if not more, pretentious than Rotten Tomatoes. In my opinion, Metacritic is more highly selective of the reviewers they choose and in return, end up with more pretentious critics.

          Reply

    • calberto

      August 5, 2016 at 19:31

      Definitely great critics collaborate there. Roger Ebert, my favorite ever, used to include his reviews there, and definitely gets me on choosing stuff I’m interested in watching. And for example, talking about super hero movies: there are great reviews for “Deadpool”, “The Dark Knight”, or “CA: Civil War”.

      I recommend you watch masterpieces outside the super hero genre, such as “Cries And Whispers”, “City lights”, “Annie Hall” or “A clockwork orange”, all of them awesome, complex movies (which, for example, have great ratings there). Tasting is not something are born with (well, most of us), so you may need to actually work on that.

      Reply

  11. Sliquid

    August 5, 2016 at 19:43

    Excellent article and pretty spot on about all the marketing gimmicks/hypes/over-reactions etc. I’ve never really cared about critic’s reviews in general one way or another. People are completely different in what they like or don’t so it’s surprising to me that people really still care that much about reviews. I’ll usually watch the 1st trailer of a movie and thats about it mainly b/c I don’t like watching the whole movie over a span of the next 3 trailers.

    Reply

    • InvisiGhost

      August 5, 2016 at 19:48

      100% agreed. I watch a trailer or two, if it looks interesting to me I go watch it. If not, I don’t or maybe wait until I’ve exhausted everything else to see then I watch it. I learned long long ago Never go by what anyone says about a movie/tv show/game/ Life etc.

      Reply

  12. Banie Joubert

    August 5, 2016 at 20:49

    I stopped reading Rotten Tomatoes ages ago, I now follow the ratings on imdb.com, much more balanced. Rotten Tomatoes have become far to negative. And an excellent article by the way. The way some people go on about movies you would swear that the world is about to end. Movies, like games, are entertainment, there is much more to life.

    Reply

  13. Capurnicus

    August 5, 2016 at 22:36

    I would agree with this article, but the glaring difference in RT and Flixter User reviews speaks volumes.

    Reply

  14. Darren Peach

    August 6, 2016 at 22:58

    I wonder if the writer realises he is part of that marketing machine ?

    Reply

  15. Skyblue

    August 7, 2016 at 19:00

    “If you need all that to make up your mind, you might still require adult supervision. And if you need all that to keep stoking your anticipation, then you need a hobby. Or friends. Probably both.” – this had me laughing so hard. Thank you Mr. Francis, your insights are always appreciated.

    Reply

  16. BiffChadwell

    August 8, 2016 at 18:12

    I don’t care about Suicide Squad, but aggregator sites are well known bullsh*t sources that no one SHOULD pay attention to. The fluff up everyone has with Metacritic and its role in screwing over video game studios is well-documented; people should give Rotten Tomatoes more sh** than it ever gets. People should’ve been (more) pissed at it and the legion of critics it routinely highlights for their stupid, loaded, paid-off (literally; Jeez Sony is a sh**ty studio) false positive reviews for Ghostbusters and they can absolutely be pissed at it for DC movie review scores – people should be pissed at it for literally everything it does, because all it does is maintains a broken system. The only thing its good for is, if you’re stupid, using it to hold up a number and troll other people with. Instead of, y’know, actually pay attention to specific reviewers you trust and the content of actual reviews. smh

    It’s just garbage. The opposite of a service. If Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic disappeared tomorrow, the World would be better for it.

    Reply

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