You’re at Best Buy browsing the DVD shelf in the checkout line and come across that movie you never got to see, and as you flip it over to read the back, a post-it note reads “I would rather shoot myself in the face than watch this movie again.” Welcome to the age of the internet, where user ratings and comments define a film’s success in the online market.
Not only is there little-to-no editorial filtering of user comments, but users are challenged to come up with the wittiest, most blasphemous way of trashing bad content. Like that bad comment? Give it a thumbs up and send it to the top. Sense the plug was written by the director? Shoot it to the bottom. Editorial democracy at its best.
Unlike physical retail, you can’t buy preferred placement on iTunes, and similar to YouTube, automatic formulas often drive visibility. As media consumption moves to the internet and bad content can’t hide behind expensive marketing campaigns, fancy packaging or preferred placement, control will move from studios to viewers. Nowadays you have to make a film about what people actually love, not what you want them to love. Sorry media conglomerates, no longer can you rely on a great trailer, an excellently placed DVD with a star cast on the cover or a mediocre TV show the viewer is too lazy to turn off. In this on-demand age where everyone’s a critic, get ready for a trend…more content we love and less we hate.
For one of the best worst movies of all time, I recommend Troll 2, a movie about vegetarian trolls. They feed green colored food to people, which turns their insides to vegetable slime so the trolls can eat them. Even the trailer is bad. And there’s no Troll 1. Unintentionally brilliant. I suppose the meaning of “good” content is up for interpretation.
There was a Troll 1! Though not considered as “bad” as the sequel.
Editorial democracy is often also knee jerk idiocy, written by someone who has watched half the preview. We still rely on a great trailer and a big money ad campaign when a movie first hits theaters. Aren’t mediocre movies and music are as prevalent as they ever were?
[...] is really a filter problem. And, some are realizing that the reality is that the internet actually helps stop crappy content (found via obhi and the infdist panel). The point raised in the link is that, historically, [...]
[...] is really a filter problem. And, some are realizing that the reality is that the internet actually helps stop crappy content (found via obhi and the infdist panel). The point raised in the link is that, historically, [...]