Are all 7's created equal?
Today we are going to be discussing about a topic that I have had many heated debates. It is about the scores I leave at the end of my reviews. When it comes to reviewing anything in this world, there are two broad categories. Those with a score/rating at the end and those that don’t. A score can be a simple number or it can be something arbitrary like 18.5 out of 30 pizza slices. It all works if the reviewers themselves create some sort of consistency within their own system. I obviously fall under the scoring category, however this is not something I decided to do lightly. I consciously made a decision to include a score at the end of my reviews for one reason and one reason only. I include spoilers. So the score is only there to quantify my feelings about the film with a number. However, sometimes it can do more harm than good. Which is what I am going to be talking about today because I feel like this is an interesting topic that we can all share our thoughts on.
Relationship between the audience and the reviewer
I am personally of the belief that a scoring system cannot make sense if the audience does not understand the reviewer. What I mean by that is, you are not able to quantify what a 7/10 or a 6/10 means to that person until you begin to understand their interests, biases, and what they look for in their reviewed medium. Why this is so important comes into play with the argument of big sites with multiple reviewers versus a sole reviewer. If I frequent a site, say IGN or pitchfork for example, I will not be able to attain anything meaningful from the number slapped at the end of each review. The reason being is that every album, game, or movie is most of the time reviewed by a different person. Yet they all utilize the same system. A certain reviewer may be tasked with critiquing a film like Hereditary and end up giving it a 6/10 for whatever reason. You browse the site again and you see them give a film like Fate of the Furious a 6/10 as well, but it is reviewed by someone else. With this method you are not able to understand what a 6 means to either one of these reviewers. A 6 may be an above average film for the first reviewer but a below average film for the second. Which is why my point is that a reviewer should have a sense of consistency with whatever he reviews. For example with myself, it is nothing concrete, but in a general sense: films above a 9 are my favorite movies, anything above an 8 I would recommend, 7’s are good films but flawed, 6’s are average movies not good but not bad either, and 5’s and below are generally films that I would probably never actively seek out again or remember. Now obviously a score is not the end all be all which I will talk about in a bit. However, with the score you are able to understand why I would rate certain films 7 and others 9. By reading my thoughts and what I usually focus on in my reviews you are able to get a general understanding of what my interest may be. This will help you as a reader understand why I gave a film a certain score and help you deduce whether or not you will also enjoy the movie. So for example, with Video Games there are certain reviewers/Youtubers that I follow up on. I know what they like and dislike, because I have watched thousands of their reviews that I have that relationship already built. So if I am trying to avoid spoilers I would usually just have a quick glance at the score. If I see a reviewer who hates RPG’s give an RPG a really high score, it would stop me at my tracks. I would know that there is something special about this game that even this guy would like it. Conversely, if I just end up seeing a low score I would maybe not take it too much to heart because I know that reviewer’s biases, and I would still end up trying the game if I personally enjoy RPGs. Obviously that is a very simple way of explaining my point and reality is much more nuanced, but I think it is somewhat clear. Again I want to stress that this does not imply that the score is the end all be all. The actual review is what is important. What a person is saying about that particular medium is the key reason why you should read reviews and not the score. But this piece is just here to see the effects of scores and how they can affect the way we consume reviews.
Are all 7’s the same?
This is one that I get a lot. How can you give that film a 7 when you gave this a 7 as well. know I just spent so much time in the last section explaining how a reader is able to generally understand a reviewer’s score with time, but still, a certain number may not always mean the same thing for different films. Obviously the notion of attributing a number to a film is ludicrous if you think about it. How are you able to rate an Art House film and an action blockbuster on the same scale? You can’t, that is the point. Which is why there is a mountain of text above the number to express the authors thoughts and feelings. A 7 can mean something completely different depending on the genre. I don’t really know how to explain it so I will give a visual representation to further clarify my point. I will use two films I reviewed on my site as an example. Both received a score of around a 7.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (7/10)
Shazam! (7.5/10)
Now if you frequently read my reviews, you would never have guessed these two films would have a somewhat similar score. It is evident that I am a sucker for surreal films with a lot of depth and subtext within the plot. And it is quite prevalent that I am not partial to comic book films. So what gives? How are these films comparable in my system. Well in my mind here is how both films look like on my scale.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Shazam!
From the scales above I think you can sort of understand where I am coming from. The red line is obviously the score that I gave the film. However, the blue box is sort of a representation of the potential of the film or even where it can score if I watch it more times. Lets look at the first graph. With The Discreet Charm, I gave the film a 7/10 on initial viewing. However, I explicitly specified in my review that I felt like the film was good and had a lot of potential, yet I was not able to fully understand the depth of it during my first viewing. That is why I ended up going with a 7. However, due to the potential that I could see in the film that I was not able to fully grasp with one viewing, in my mind it can be rated higher if ever I watch it again. I can see the passion, the details, and the amount of work put into the film. But sometimes all of that just does not click with you, which prompted the somewhat low score. With Shazam however, the opposite is happening. I was not expecting much from a comic book film, especially one from DC. But since I genuinely enjoyed my time during the film, I gave it a score higher than what I would’ve otherwise. Nevertheless, it doesn’t really have the potential to go any higher. It is like Shazam is at the ceiling of its impression with me, while The Discreet Charm is at the floor, i.e it still has more to give. To put it simply, The Discreet Charm felt like a well made film that I did not enjoy, while Shazam was an average film that I did enjoy. Both those factors ended up with two films that had a similar score. Certainly all of what I am saying is not concrete fact. On the contrary, opinions of such things are fluid and the scales can be reversed. But it is unlikely. There are certain objective aspects of a film that can limit its potential in comparison to others (but that is a topic for another day). Now as I said before, this is how I feel about films when I review them. I understand that many people may read this and think I am talking crazy. But this is just a way to begin a discussion on this topic. I hope everyone can share their opinions in the comments.
Are scores hurting reviews?
This is a big debate when it comes to reviews. Is the score actually helping or making it worse. On one hand, a score can be a handy tool to instantly convey your overall feelings towards a movie without having to explain much. However, this can also be a big detriment. This is because many people would just focus on the number and not the content of your review. This is something I face frequently. It makes me want to put “read/10” at the end of my reviews instead of a number. However, I already explained why I use scores and its solely because my reviews are very spoiler heavy. Nevertheless, I still get people who would constantly come at me trying to argue a films greatness or insignificance based on my score. “Why did you give **** a 4/10 it was amazing!” or “How the hell did you give **** a 9.6/10 it was so awful”. I always ask the same question, “did you read the review?”. I spend time and effort to write my reviews, trying to think of ways to express my thoughts. Yet certain individuals mainly focus on the number. I understand we live in a world where media has become so consumable to a degree that is becoming unhealthy. But in order to understand, effort needs to be put across. I am not saying I’m not guilty of this too. We all are. I was never into music a couple of years ago. One of my friends managed to get me into it and I started to listen to albums thoroughly and reading music reviews. At the beginning I would get really surprised at some of the scores I would see on lets say theneedledrop’s channel. I would ask “how did he give that a 5/10, it was so good?”. But I did not take into account what he was saying and also the amount of experience that he has over me. It plays a key role in understanding a reviewers perspective. Clearly, experience is not the only determining factor. A person may have watched 10000 films but still have nothing meaningful to say about them. However, someone with more background and knowledge may be able to better express why they feel a certain way about that piece of media. It opened my eyes, and made me read/watch reviews in a different way. I started to understand how and why we react to art in different ways. That feeling that we get when we watch, listen, or play something is a culmination of everything that we have experienced in life. So my point of all of this is that scores cannot quantify what I just mentioned. A number is not a replacement for that indescribable feeling you get after you watch a film or listen to an album. Heck, the words us reviewers write are sometimes far from enough to truly convey our thoughts. Yet they are the best we have, and the score is still merely an aid. Think of the score like an Addon. It is a helpful guide, but it can never replace the main content.
Scores to me are an interesting tool a reviewer can use. They can be detrimental in some aspects, yet they also have some benefits. I think my ideas on scores are pretty clear from the piece above. I want to hear from you. I have some questions that can maybe start up a conversation in your head or with other people. Let me know what are your answers to the questions.
Do you prefer reviews with scores or without?
If you open up a review, do you start by immediately scrolling down to the score or reading the whole thing first?
If you instantly saw a score you did not agree with, will that make you more or less likely to read the review?
How do you personally score films, books, albums…etc? Or do you not score them at all?
Are your scores fluid as I explained in the second section? or do they rarely have room for change?
There are many more things I can ask but I think this is enough. The piece went on for more than I expected. If you wish to share in the discussion you can either comment on this post or discuss it on twitter. You can find my twitter handle at the bottom or top right corner of each page. Hope you enjoyed!
