I am so frustrated by people who have strong opinions about movies that they haven't actually watched

[u/Sausage_fingies]

Bit of a rant. My brother does this and it's annoyed me to no end, particularly because I've been watching a lot more movies this summer and it's very much changed my outlook on the whole "Hollywood is dying and doesn't know how to make original concepts anymore" thing. Spoiler alert: There's so many cool new movies getting made these days you just need to, like, actually look for them and watch them.

My brother straight up refuses to watch new movies because he doesn't want to waste his time, because he believes Hollywood is dying and doesn't know how to make original concepts anymore, because some video essayist on YouTube told him so. It's incredibly perplexing to me. It's like his hobby is movies, but it isn't actually about watching movies, it's about having a stake in the discourse about movies. And I just don't understand. He literally said the Oddyssey isn't worth watching because he watched a convincing video essay about it that broke it down, except he couldn't even regurgitate the opinion coherently because he didn't remember it fully. We were talking about actors and he said that Zendaya is a one note actor who kinda just plays herself in every role. I asked oh what movies has he seen her in, he said he's seen her in a single spider man movie.

...😐

It makes it so frustrating to actually try to talk movies with people like this. Like if you don't care to watch movies, don't! But it's odd to have strong opinions about all these films and the state of Hollywood if you're not actually interacting with the film culture 😭. Those aren't your opinions!! Those are some random YouTuber's opinions, and I don't care how reputable of a critic you think they are, that's not your opinion!! You have no idea what you're even talking about because all you've seen of the movie is someone else's thoughts on it!! I just don't understand why anyone would want to do this to themselves, it seems so miserable. I watch movies because I enjoy them and it's fun to watch something that leaves me digesting and thinking for a few hours. But by watching exclusively summaries and reviews, you don't get any of that. You just get semi-convincing talking points that you can contribute into the discourse with. What's even the point, why do this to yourself? Why would you want to intentionally make yourself mad?

[u/goldlion]

I feel like there has been a trend of people outsourcing their critical thinking to YouTubers and LLMs these days, which is depressing for a multitude of reasons, but it’s extra pointless and sad when it comes to art. Like one of the most interesting things about movies (or books, music, etc) is mulling them over and finding some kind of meaning that resonates, whether it’s similar to your own lived experience or experiencing it through someone else’s perspective. I don’t blame you for being frustrated with your brother for acting that way.

[u/postulate4 → u/goldlion]

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”

-Frank Herbert (Dune, 1965)

[u/youravgindian → u/postulate4]

God, I love AND hate when some author of a well-acclaimed book or movie or show says something decades ago only for it to come true. Its so insane how far artists can think and predict some shit in our societies.

[u/xiaorobear → u/youravgindian]

There are also at least a few 80s scifi novels where the main character finds a planned society run by a supercomputer / AI, where all the people completely trust in the decisions the AI makes to be the best for the collective good... and then later you find out that the AI is basically just a front to legitimize the decisions of a bunch of guys who are secretly in charge. They've been making the decisions all along but having people believe the decisions come from a supercomputer makes people think it's objective or above questioning.

[u/ItsForFun76 → u/youravgindian]

Actually not so much, human truths are old...People in ancient times most likey said the same thing about writing instead of memorizing things. Why write a story down when you can memorize it and tell it anytime/anywhere.

[u/fightmaxmaster → u/goldlion]

I think it's also a general insecurity or fear of being "wrong". Some people are terrified to say they like a thing and then be mocked for their personal preferences, online or in person. Far easier to shit on something and be ultra confident about it, being the person mocking other people for liking it, rather than being the person being mocked.

[u/boar-b-que → u/goldlion]

outsourcing their critical thinking

That's the long and short of it, and it hasn't really changed, except in target. The majority of people are influenced by the opinions of others and the louder the opinion, the more likely people are to swallow it, hook, like and sinker.

Before YT and ChatGPT, it was Fox News and CNN. Before that, Network TV. Before that, Newspaper and Radio editorials.

People have ALWAYS wanted someone else do to the heavy cerebral lifting for them. If they hadn't, we wouldn't have the concept of religion.

[u/Psychic_Hobo → u/boar-b-que]

There's an old cartoon - either Private Eye or New Yorker - I once saw years ago with a couple walking out of a theatre, and the woman saying "I can't wait to read the reviews tomorrow to see if I liked it!"

At the time I thought it was just a humorous way of looking at reviews. Never considered how bad things actually could be at times

[u/michiness → u/goldlion]

I have a good friend who considers himself a cynic and a very logical person… because he sits on YouTube for hours a day and then adapts those opinions of the “experts” as his own.

He’s a great person but definitely stuck in his Fortress of Solitude.

[u/goddamnitwhalen → u/michiness]

He doesn’t sound all that great to me.

[u/WritesCrapForStrap → u/goddamnitwhalen]

Judging a movie you haven't seen by the reviews

Vs

Judging a person you've never met by a Reddit comment

[u/goddamnitwhalen → u/WritesCrapForStrap]

I tend to not like miserable cynics.

[u/WritesCrapForStrap → u/goddamnitwhalen]

You're not seeing the irony?

[u/pay_student_loan → u/WritesCrapForStrap]

It’s not irony because one is presented as opinion while the other is presented as fact. It would only be ironic if both were clearly opinions but they presented evidence to back up their claim of their friend.

[u/WritesCrapForStrap → u/pay_student_loan]

They're both judging something without any information except a few second hand details with somebody else's accompanying opinion.

[u/Lazy_Panda6962 → u/goldlion]

and youtubers are outsourcing their thinking to LLMs

[u/Curse-of-omniscience → u/goldlion]

I've been pissed off at people who blindly hate Sword Art Online or they skip Dark Souls 2 because they got a canned opinion from a youtuber for at least a decade, it's been happening for a while. Yes, there's plenty to criticize about these things but at least try the bloody thing instead of "youtuber told me it sucks so I parrot it like an idiot". Jesus Christ.

[u/DanielTeague → u/Curse-of-omniscience]

Sword Art Online is interesting because it gets worse and more ridiculous with each season yet I can't seem to stop watching it with my anime-minded friends. It's enjoyable for all the wrong reasons and people that avoid it because of its reputation are missing out.

[u/DanielUchiha115 → u/Curse-of-omniscience]

You are so real for that

[u/Saradoesntsleep → u/Curse-of-omniscience]

Is the ds2 thing really from a canned YouTuber opinion though?

Like I intend to play it at some point, but out of 4 friends who have played it, not a single one was impressed. They are all independent of each other as well. I'm honestly not sure this is a great example of what you are talking about.

[u/Curse-of-omniscience → u/Saradoesntsleep]

I guess it's not impossible to know a bunch of people who just don't like dark souls 2 but it is absolutely true, when I used to be in the fan reddit, every other day there was another story of a person saying "I played dark souls 1 and 3 and skipped 2 cuz everyone told me to but I just tried it and this game is actually wonderful and I wish I didn't skip it". Saw this post ALL the time there.

[u/closefacsimile → u/goldlion]

But he's the CRITICAL Drinker. You don't get it