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IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

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Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#161

Post by Ekaros »

Bakary wrote: post #154
BrainVirus wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very astute comment. We are living in some kind of Twilight Zone environment right now. Corporations purchase IP for decades-long, popular franchises, then deliberately alienate their core audience. Then they act as if all these people they just deliberately pissed off aren't real people. Words like "brigading" are a clever way to dehumanize your critics.

Applying Occam's razor, given that this process has repeated for years over multiple franchises, the conclusion is that the core audience is not who you think they are. Online commentary creates a strong visibility bias. Reddit is perhaps the most egregious example of this.

I don't see how it is not possible to make good product for both. That is the fans and general audience. Appeasing the later is pretty low bar. Instead it seems that shows are aimed at the vocal non-fans at social media.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#162

Post by coffeeblack »

hunter-gatherer wrote: post #142
BrainVirus wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very astute comment. We are living in some kind of Twilight Zone environment right now. Corporations purchase IP for decades-long, popular franchises, then deliberately alienate their core audience. Then they act as if all these people they just deliberately pissed off aren't real people. Words like "brigading" are a clever way to dehumanize your critics.

I think it just comes down to a money making tactic of making the movie/show available to the widest audience available to increase revenue. In my view it is sad, and basically creates more dull and less interesting cinema. I've been wanting a good HALO movie since the game was released... but I doubt I'll ever get it.

Do these movies make money though?

It seems to me that all these large corporations are more concerned with following ESG than with their own customers. What happens if you don’t follow “the message” we saw with Tesla some months ago.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#163

Post by SantalBlush »

thrown_22 wrote: post #72
notanormalnerd wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because from a economical business point: * You're getting old and your not spending as much money. * Getting 5$ from 100.000.000 people is better than getting 50$ 1.000.000 people. Especially if you can do it at lower costs. * Getting in new audiences to keep the franchise alive and healthy * And last but not least the average consumer is not interested in it being "true" to some kind of book or whatever. It has to…

From a business point of view having a fanatical core of fans who recommend your show to everyone is why you bought the IP. Today I saw physical adverts for House of the Dragon on the train ride home. The only thing I thought about was how shit the last season of Game of Thrones was and how I will never read any media about that world again. Even though I would have watched a new show set in a completely different wo…

I think they also buy these IPs for the cultural impact. With these massive brands like Star Wars/Marvel/Game of Thrones, people get a strong sense of FOMO because they know everyone else will be talking about the new show or movie and they don't want to be the only one who hasn't seen it. These names are so big that they influence pop culture, and that's why media companies are paying huge sums for them.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#164

Post by bart_spoon »

auggierose wrote: post #138
throw0101c wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The show covers A LOT more time than LOtR did, there's plenty of space for character development. The first two episodes of TRoP are 90 minutes each, for a total run time of three hours. Three hours is about the run time of the first LoTR movie (Fellowship): how much story were they able to tell in those three hours? Further, the other epic fantasy series, House of Dragons , also has released two episodes: how much…

Watched only the first episode of Dragons, but I am not convinced. What is the point of this show? We know that the real fight between dead and living is happening 200 years later. We know that all of the dragons will be dead at some point. The characters itself are pretty boring, compared to what Thrones had to offer. It is technically well made, but it is boring.

I disagree. Not every narrative has to be one over some apocalyptic threat. I actually prefer the more grounded (for fantasy I suppose) story over the zombie apocalypse-adjacent White Walker stuff.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#165

Post by Victerius »

zmgsabst wrote: post #68
notanormalnerd wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because from a economical business point: * You're getting old and your not spending as much money. * Getting 5$ from 100.000.000 people is better than getting 50$ 1.000.000 people. Especially if you can do it at lower costs. * Getting in new audiences to keep the franchise alive and healthy * And last but not least the average consumer is not interested in it being "true" to some kind of book or whatever. It has to…

Pareto tells us that 0.1% of people account for 38% of the money. Intentionally aggravating your most passionate fans is a moronic business plan — like a mobile game that intentionally pisses off the “whales” to pursue casuals.

The exact shape of a Pareto distribution depends on two or three algebraic parameters. And the Pareto principle isn't some universal law that applies everywhere.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#166

Post by account-5 »

Lacerda69 wrote: post #55
BrainVirus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are grumpy because Amazon gutted LotR universe, made it an empty vessel for their political ideology and now refuse to deal with well-earned criticism in an honest fashion.

Quoted post unavailable.

Wealthy Angelo Saxon Protestants?

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#167

Post by peoplefromibiza »

farleykr wrote: post #61

My issue with the show has nothing to do with the “woke” stuff mentioned here. I don’t like it because none of the heroes are likable. All of them have some form of sticking it to the man and doing what they want as their story line. True heroes are self-sacrificial and reluctant. Contrast Galadriel who acts like a self righteous dickhead with Aragorn who was reluctant to accept his calling spent and three movies pro…

> Contrast Galadriel who acts like a self righteous dickhead with Aragorn who was reluctant to accept his calling spent and three movies proving himself to be worthy of honor and love

You mean three books, right?

The difference here is that Aragorn was written by Tolkien, this show wasn't and has completely betrayed the original material.

Race or gender swaps are not a big issue, but they become one if the purpose is the swap for the swap just for marketing purpose.

Elves are almost eugenetically born all the same, want to add some diversity? Go for humans.

Wanna piss off the audience so that the debate will create more engagement? do exactly what shouldn't be done, because it's out of character.

Another example is the new Disney's Pinocchio, were the Blue Fairy is portrait by a black woman. The problem is not that she is black of course. but that the original story is set in Italy, Tuscany, mid 1800, were no black woman was ever seen and she is also described as "il viso bianco come un'immagine di cera" that translates to "her face as white as a wax image".

It becomes clear that the black blue fairy was put there to check a box and not because she serves some need to modernize the story, which is exactly the same that Collodi wrote 140 years ago.

EDIT

it's the same reason why people cricized film directors that casted Scarlett Johansson for every role or the god awful Ghost in the shell live action where, not only the story was orribly mutilated, but the setup was very very far from the original Japanese one, completely ruining the experience.

It's not about the colour of the skin or the gender of the actors, of course, it's about expectations. I expect Black Panther to be black, Thor to be white and blonde, Ghost in the shell to be set in futuristic Japan etc.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#168

Post by doitLP »

JadoJodo wrote: post #24

I understand that Bezos spent a TON of money on this, but the way he’s forcing it is kinda crazy. The ads for it are EVERYWHERE. I was trying to check out at Whole Foods yesterday and had to sit through a 5s ad for it when I opened the Amazon shopping app (just to get to the Prime member barcode). Deleting reviews to “guarantee” success is just sad.

While I agree with the sentiment, this isn’t “Bezos pushing it”. Look at any big movie franchise — this is just standard pre release merchandizing tie ins.

You want to make a release like this “a cultural event”. The latest Jurassic Park was everywhere. They even partnered with Walmart and decorated the outside of their buildings with giant posters of dinosaurs. I’m also remembering one of the Pirates of the Caribbean films: posters, buses, soda drinks, commercials, and even the snack Pirates Booty we’re all for a limited time only covered in the film logo.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#169

Post by theduder99 »

soco wrote: post #94
thrown_22 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Instead, go read a full review written by a trusted curator. That's the point, trusted curators have been drifting further and further from what the majority of people find good for a long time. What critics find good and what the target audience finds good are not the same: https://youtu.be/eFRWDZBH8Dc?t=745

I'm split about this. Is it good or bad? Should we only read and appreciate what the masses read and appreciate? On one hand yeah it would make sense, confirmation of the masses is a thing and not everybody can be wrong. But on the other hand everybody is different and different biases make for different preferences. When I read reviews on the web I always take time to read the negatives to see what they found as neg…

I also read negative reviews. But I trust the masses way more than I trust the professional critics. Good example would be metacritic for video games. I look up a game and immediately switch to the User Reviews tab or go to steam reviews.

Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power

#170

Post by SergeAx »

Today's flagship TV series economy is boiling down to this: cause as many _(re)subscriptions_ as possible, everything else doesn't matter. So from economy standpoint it is profitable to delete discouraging negative reviews. We know for a long time that Amazon (owns IMDb) will do almost anything for money. No news here.
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