Rotten Tomatoes a leading critical and audience review site has had to adapt their systems for pre-reviewing films, in the wake of seemingly targeted trolling towards Marvels latest blockbuster, Captain Marvel.
Marvels first female led MCU blockbuster hit cinema screen on the 8th of March. Even before it even had a chance to compel opposing conspirators to change their minds, it was bombarded with negative audience scores, loaded with an anti-feminist agender. Therefore, Rotten Tomatoes have removed the ability to rate and review before the film can be appreciated which makes sense. This tactical move also attempts to combat the distribution of fabricated news, that in the case of Captain Marvel lead ill-informed media outlets to outcry about the lacklustre buzz around the film.
However, the issue with film reviews still stand; add too much nuance and the attention fades, create a polarising headline and rake in the viewers. Which leads to another drastic change made by Rotten Tomatoes. They have simplified their systems to only include the percentage of reviews with positive sentiment against those with negative sentiment. As oppose to having a reviewing system that allows for the critic or audience member to creatively expressing their opinion. Other rating websites seem to be operating along the same lines by keeping it simple, which gives the opportunity for people to create and use their own platforms to express their opinions. The issue with this then becomes an overwhelming number of word of mouth opinions falling unnoticed and a general lack of order.
The detail in critical reviews of film is becoming less and less thoughtful and is propelled in to the divisional society social media has created. Where there is no option but to fight for your life in a battle between people who liked the film and those who did not. A fight where reason has no place. A fight where acceptance in non-existent. Only the demoralising ability to insult each other, not even wins the argument but keeps it alive until the next political issue divides us even further.
Film Rabbit 