The first thing that needs to be said about "review bombing" is that it was always something to be expected. I don't think that is nefarious so much at it is something to laugh at. Yeah, the day that Inception came out, it was in the top ten of IMDB's 250 list. People review dumped that film in the other direction. People are fans on Nolan, it was a good film, and it's natural for people to hit the ten before they to into any analysis.
It also shouldn't surprise people that are some racists and bigots in the world.
Can we focus a bit more on why the trolls and the bots are trusted more than the critics in the modern legacy media? Why is it that more and more people are agreeing with the audience score.
Well, actually sit down and read some of their. I don't think I've seen any young, brighteyed critics in the legacy media who have struck me who have half of the love for movies that Siskel and Ebert did. Being a film citric probably isn't as much work as being a literary critic; but, it takes time and effort to sit through enough movies and really think about them to get to a place where you can look at a movie for its own merits, and tell people whether or not it's good.
That should be the critics job, to see a movie in advance and tell us whether or not we should spend our hard-earned money on it. The key word is "us." When you spend a ton of the review talking about DEI boxes, you're telling us whether or not you liked rather than giving a fair evaluation of a film. Good critics have be be able to say, "I didn't like it; but, for this kind of movie, it works."
There's a reason why not much was said about Morgan Freeman's character in The Shawshak Redemption race swapped (aside from not having the internet yet). Most people care about that a hell of a lot less than the actual story.
When the headlines are all about, "First Female of Color!" in this or, "First Plussized Trans Woman to Lead Action Movie." we're gonna see it for what it is. We see where your priorities lie.
This has all been at its worst in regard to existing and popular IP. We all complain about the government and the media being in bed together; but, it's clear that these major companies are in bed with the people writing the reviews. Of course, when Disney makes another Star Wars that people crap on, the media reports on it the same way Kathleen Kennedy does.
"The blame isn't on us, it's that the customers are all anti-woke trolls and racists."
Well, if that's true, what was your business model? Was it to get a bunch of Trump supporters to realize the error of their ways by throwing in an interracial lesbian couple that produced children? Either you spent the billions of dollars on this IP that has mostly been beloved by men because you wanna keep earning money or, what seems to be the case, you don't like men and you tried to rebrand for a female audience.
Not a good plan.
It's never been a good plan to tell your customers to fuck off.
I mean, I know that a lot of cringe DEI stuff has trickled into the messaging of a lot of industries; but, do you think that Starbucks would blame the customers if they put out a bad drink? Where would Coke be if they put out the New Coke, and told all the customers they hated it that they're a bunch of racist?
We're in this place right now wherein people are raising legitimate problems, and the media are ignoring the legitimate concerns and focusing on the radicals.
Bottom line, some of us have loved these IPs for a long time. Most of these IPs were always pushing liberal ideas and moral messages. Star Wars was a more classic hero's journey. Star Trek was showing white dudes bang green girls since the 60s -- do you really think that Star Trek fans have a problem with a black woman captain or Sulu being gay (even George Takei had a problem with that, actually)? No, it's that we know what Star Trek is, and what you've usurped the property into being isn't Star Trek. Now, when we criticize the writing and the tone for not being Star Trek, and the ideas for become non-existent, you people respond to it as if we have a black captain just because she's black.
I'm sorry to break it to you youngsters who think you're ultra progressive; but, some of us people to the punch by decades. I was enjoying a show with a black captain, an arguably trans character, and a trans/lesbian romance before you knew how how to read.
If you want this to not be a problem, change your priorities and serve your customers. If you wanna try selling Star Trek to women, please tell me what your plan is, because I've been trying to do that for a long time with no success. Go back to being moviemakers and critics.
Until you do, enjoy the review bombs.