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Friday, June 23, 2017

Editorial #2 - How Important is Rotten Tomatoes?

Editorial #2 - How Important is Rotten Tomatoes?



If you're a movie-lover, film critic, or casual movie fan in general, chances are, you know about Rotten Tomatoes. This site has been around for awhile and has been a major source for reviews for the longest time. This website collects reviews from various critics from news outlets and the Internet and collects them to give a film a percentage - simple, right? In spite of this site's simplicity, major controversy has arisen - should we, or should we not trust Rotten Tomatoes?

Why is Rotten Tomatoes For?

I would like to preface all of this by saying - I believe Rotten Tomatoes is a good site and a very good place to check before seeing a movie. Rotten Tomatoes is a place where all sorts of critics can submit their reviews in a place which totals up the number of "fresh" and "rotten" ratings and gives a film a percentage. This is good for a casual film fan who wants to see whether or not they should see a film - in general, if a film has a 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it is not a good film, and if a film has a 96 percent, it should be a good film, depending on how many critics have submitted their reviews. 

What is Rotten Tomatoes Not For?

However, that all being said, there is a huge misunderstanding when it comes to what Rotten Tomatoes is actually for. Many people think that the percentage, or the "Tomatometer" tells the quality of the film. This is not AT ALL the case. Two completely different films, one a masterpiece, and one a good film, can have the same exact Rotten Tomatoes score. Why? Because the percentage simply tells how many critics enjoyed the movie, not how good it is.

Take Logan and Wonder Woman, for example. They both have a high score of a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. However, this does not mean that both films are 93/100 grade films. This simply means that both films were enjoyed by about 93 percent of the critics who went and saw them. I think Logan is a brilliant film, around a 9.8/10, and I think Wonder woman is a very good film, around a 9.1/10. If I were a certified critic on Rotten Tomatoes, though, the Tomatometer wouldn't care. It would input my score as either x or y, x being positive, and y being negative. Thus, you have two different movies, which I think should not be on the same tier, having the same Rotten Tomatoes score. 

Rotten Tomatoes is not for looking at how good a film is. It is for looking at how many people enjoyed the film. 

My Opinion

Once you get past the misunderstandings, Rotten Tomatoes is a great site. I believe that, once viewed properly, it is a site to look at the overall enjoyment level. If you are a parent, looking to see which films to send your kids to over the weekend, you look at Rotten Tomatoes to see how many critics think the film is good, not how good or how appropriate the film is.

The fact of the matter is, too many people don't understand what Rotten Tomatoes is for. Many have the misconception that it is a rating site - and because of this, they look at a 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and say "This movie is going to be awful because it's a 2/10". The important thing to note is to see what the site is actually for, and to judge for yourself on how good the movie is. If you would like to judge the film on quality before seeing it, read an entire review, get the general scope of what it's going to be like.

But make no mistake - Rotten Tomatoes is not a fluke. You just have to learn how to read the Tomatometer. 


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