Understanding Online Star Ratings for Films – Photo

In the world of cinematography, the war between film critics and fans is ongoing. It was raging years ago, and it will continue to do so for years to come. Above is a picture that best explains why.

Coming from XKCD, the photo is meant to argue that online ratings are irrelevant and, most of the times, frustrating.

GoodFil.ms further expands on the idea provided with this pic, detailing why a simple star rating will never be enough to offer the reader (you, me or anyone else) an accurate idea of whether a film they're yet to see is good or bad.

Of course, we might argue that “good” and “bad” are both relative concepts, and that the way a film is experienced by each individual viewer is too complex and dependent on other factors to be crammed into a simple ratings system.

What we're trying to say is this: don't believe everything you read online when it comes to film reviews. If you want, you can use the ratings system provided as a guideline of sorts, one with which you don't necessarily have to agree.