Written by Trevor Denning @bookstorethore
It’s been said that we are in the midst of a culture war. And as in any war, there is both open battle and covert subterfuge.
Several months ago, Vulture opened fire on Rotten Tomatoes (RT) with a piece that confirmed what many have long suspected: it is indeed rotten. The exposé, published September 6th, revealed how movie-publicity company Bunker 15 pressured critics for positive reviews, encouraged them to post negative reviews on sites that RT doesn’t track, and offered to pay them for Tomato-friendly reviews. But more than that, Vulture revealed how RT aggregates their scores in ways that may not be as scientifically accurate as viewers are led to believe.
The article goes on to note that “a third of U.S. adults say they check Rotten Tomatoes before going to the multiplex,” and that RT scores have replaced quotes from named critics in advertising. No YouTube film reviewer has the sway of the legendary thumbs of Siskel and Ebert, who, since their respective passings, have been replaced by fresh or rotten scores.
Further, Rolling Stone ran an exclusive on November 1st alleging that in 2020, Casey Bloys (who was, at the time, president of original programming at HBO and has since been made chairman and CEO in 2022) used a “secret army” of anonymous Twitter accounts to attack TV critics who gave new shows negative reviews. In response, on Thursday, Bloys admitted it was a “dumb idea” spawned in the midst of the pandemic from “spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter” (per The Hollywood Reporter).
Jacob Airey notes in his opinion piece that if one studio was willing to use covert tactics to go after professional critics, one has to wonder if other studios have as well. And is it just the critics, or are everyday enthusiasts being browbeaten for not liking the provided entertainment? After all, even major directors like James Mangold have publicly gone after fans in light of a movie’s likely and ultimately confirmed failure.
While all of this may inspire film lovers to seek out and return to vetted professional critics, general audiences who have been conditioned to an aggregated score are unlikely to change. In response, new sites are working to provide alternative outlets. One of them is Criticless, which combines social media with averaged scores based on a variety of metrics. Users are encouraged to write reviews, freely discuss movies, and score them based on general quality, nudity, political bias, language, violence, and family friendliness.
Criticless founder Blaine Andrews wrote in an op-ed for Hollywood in Toto, “Criticless is a movement for social & cultural change, emphasizing the opinions of regular people and their communities, and forcing the entertainment industry to acknowledge what the public really wants.”
Whether Hollywood takes notice or if the three-way war between the industry, critics, and audiences continues indefinitely remains to be seen.
Trevor Denning is a regular contributor at UpstreamReviews. A graduate of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI, he lives and works in Alma, MI as a freelance writer. You can find more of his reviews and social commentary on his Locals site.