Interesting observation: Books vs. films

[namedujour]

I just signed up for Netflix, so I've been trolling through movie reviews while I select movies to place on my queue.

For years I've occasionally popped in at www.imdb.com (Internet Movie Database) to identify characters in films I recognize but can't put a name to. That site contains movie reviews as well.

Let me start by saying that The Book Forum seems to have a more literate community than I'm used to seeing - which is what I would expect of a bunch of people who like to read. So I am definitely excluding everyone here from this observation.

But here's what I found interesting: Film reviewers seem, as a whole, to be significantly more articulate than book reviewers on Amazon. Their postings contain fewer grammatical and spelling errrors, and they express themselves more effectively. They write longer reviews. They have more insightful observations. They seem to be...smarter.

If you go out to Amazon, you read reviews that appear to be posted by illiterates - and these are the READERS!! "i likd the book. it was good it maed me fel like i was there."

I would have expected a higher percentage of eye-rolling reviews from movie-goers, but that isn't what I'm seeing.

What do you suppose this means?

 

[Stewart]

I think it would be great if Amazon allowed for discussion on the books rather than just posted reviews - I've posted three reviews and not one of them has made it onto the site: The Rule of Four, The Da Vinci Code, and The Highway Code.

 

[David Frame]

Book Reviews

I did try and start a forum in Newcastle for book reviews, but after it was deided that the words canny, mint, cracking, allreet, belter and shite weren't to be used, the whole concept just fell apart!!!

 

[namedujour]

I think it would be great if Amazon allowed for discussion on the books rather than just posted reviews - I've posted three reviews and not one of them has made it onto the site: The Rule of Four, The Da Vinci Code, and The Highway Code.

I can't imagine why your reviews aren't being posted. It takes a couple of days while they're reviewed for vulgarity and so forth, but they usually show up eventually.

I only had one instance where a review didn't post, and I don't know what happened. So I know it CAN happen, but I don't know why it would happen to one person three times in a row!

 

[Ice]

Possibly they didn't want a bad review for Dan Brown?

 

[David Frame]

Possibility

Perhaps Dan Brown is Senior Moderator on Amazon. You know what they're like for power trips...no offence ICE

 

[Stewart]

Possibly they didn't want a bad review for Dan Brown?

What made you think it was a bad review?


I can understand why The Highway Code was rejected. It had comments such as similar to 'The Da Vinci Code', interesting factual information, and all the signs pointed to even more twists and turns than 'The Da Vinci Code'

 

[namedujour]

Anyone have any thoughts on the original posting? I'm still wondering why film goers write more intelligent reviews than Amazon readers do.

I had one thought. I like independent films. Maybe independent film-goers are a different breed from the ones who watch Dumb and Dumber (with the exception of Stephen Hawking. I hear that Dumb and Dumber is his favorite movie, and that The Simpsons is his favorite TV show.) But I also like other kinds of films and the result seems to be consistent overall.

Why why why?

 

[SFG75]

Anyone have any thoughts on the original posting? I'm still wondering why film goers write more intelligent reviews than Amazon readers do.

I take it that Amazon doesn't accept every review entry sent in? If so, I'd wager that the film critic site does the same, perhaps better than the Amazon in this regard. As you stated previously, the reviewers who watch Dumb and dumber are in all likelihood, not the ones that get to see their reviews made public. Instead, perhaps the reviewers are people who watch indy flicks and that kind of thing. So maybe we can chalk it up to tighter restrictions on the part of film review sites and what not?

 

[Ice]

What made you think it was a bad review?

Knowing just how much you admire his writing

 

[sirmyk]

I'm still wondering why film goers write more intelligent reviews than Amazon readers do.

There aren't many films produced/written/directed/whatever by amateurs. There are many books created by amateurs, with amateur friends and sometimes even the amateur authors (under pseudonym) writing these reviews for others or for themselves (see numerous threads on this forum regarding spammers). Personally, I've never understood why one would want to review a book or a movie and post these opinions onine. Not many would choose to avoid seeing a movie like War of the Worlds based on a review stating "Tom Cruise is sooooo gay! OMG!!! This movie blows chunks, and Tom does a little blowing himself when not on screen... I give this movie an F-. Save your money this summer and go c Stealth... yeah, baby! Jamie Foxx is the foshizzle!!!" and such. I've never gone to a movie based on another's online review, or purchased a book based on an online review. Word of mouth is a little different.

 

[Stewart]

Anyone have any thoughts on the original posting? I'm still wondering why film goers write more intelligent reviews than Amazon readers do.

Books typically require more thought and analysis. Films are more visual and easier to review as you are looking at the camera shots, the music, the acting, and the story. Books you are trying to unravel underlying themes, allegory, etc. which a lot of people find harder to do.

 

[Zolipara]

Try to read the IMDB forums and you see that IMDB has more than their share of illiterates. IMDB probably just filters out more of the reviews they get. If i'm not mistaken you need to write a minimum of 200 words (or something like that) to get your review posted on IMDB. Amazon is full of one sentence reviews.

 

[Pugbert]

Try to read the IMDB forums and you see that IMDB has more than their share of illiterates. IMDB probably just filters out more of the reviews they get. If i'm not mistaken you need to write a minimum of 200 words (or something like that) to get your review posted on IMDB. Amazon is full of one sentence reviews.

Some of the forum posts are shocking on IMDB.

 

[Herenya]

More people watch films than read. It's one of the depressing facts of life.

It's much easier to sit down and watch a film - if you tune out for a few moments at the start, the film doesn't stop until you feel like pursuing it a week later or something, unlike a book. Therefore, they probably get more reviews for films than books, and can be more choosy about the ones that they show on the site. With books, if the only ones have spelling errors and chat-room grammar, I guess they feel it's better to show that at least someone liked it.

It could also be because that there are educated "literate" people out there who don't read, but watch films instead, and therefore review those. Don't know.

I think reading online reviews are interesting, though I tend to read them after I've read the book, when I'm curious as to what everyone else thought about it.

 

[blueiebaseone]

I think that the attitude is that Internet writing is exempt from grammar. I’m not writing about the occasional mistakes that all us humans do. I have days where I’m more human then I want to be. There is a no shame attitude when it comes to the simple rules of grammar.

 

[francesca]

Try to read the IMDB forums and you see that IMDB has more than their share of illiterates. IMDB probably just filters out more of the reviews they get. If i'm not mistaken you need to write a minimum of 200 words (or something like that) to get your review posted on IMDB. Amazon is full of one sentence reviews.

I use IMDB a lot and I hear what you are saying! Its a pity they don't use some of that filtering on their forums - moderation seems to be non-existent.