When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is there a happy ending?
If it aims to please a vast audience and it succeeds, then that means more people are happy.
The opposite is a film aimed at a very specific niche.
The best movie I’ve seen is the Japanese film 君の名は。. It’s (maybe) not for everybody. It is somewhat popular (a bit more so when it was new, 9 years ago), people know what it is, I’m pretty sure it’s in the IMDb Top 250, it’s one of those movies everyone should see at some point, but most people wouldn’t Top 10 it. I like movies with certain elements that appeal to me, and some of the movies I like, “most people” don’t. Like maybe if they gave it a chance they’d like it, but they wouldn’t watch it. The algorithm wouldn’t recommend it to them. And niche films keep getting made by studios like A24 and Blumhouse that give creators more control. But anyway, I also like KPop Demon Hunters, which is like, the #1 movie right now. I recognise it’s a formulaic movie. I see the formulae. I still bop to “Soda Pop” and “What it Sounds Like” along with the kids, teenagers, and millions of other people who made it the top film. I listen to the songs in my car, and at home. I was one of the ones in the theater watching it last week, but I did not sing along, I was just there to enjoy it on a bigger screen.
There’s nothing wrong with liking popular movies, or movies that are marketed to you. There’s nothing wrong with marketing working, doing its job, serving its intended purpose.
It’s only wrong if you can’t find movies that nobody else but you (and a few others like you scattered around the world) like.
(P.S. I’m not trying to be obtuse, or a smartass. 君の名は。 is called “your name.” outside of Japan. I simply prefer to use the original title as a personal choice, and I can pronounce it correctly as well (something like “key-me no nye-wah.” The literal translation is “what’s your name?” which is where the international title comes from. I also prefer to watch it in Japanese without subtitles, despite it being fully translated to English as an option. I don’t know Japanese. I’ve just seen it enough to know exactly what’s going on at all times.)
(P.S. I’m not trying to be obtuse, or a smartass. 君の名は。 is called “your name.” outside of Japan. I simply prefer to use the original title as a personal choice, and I can pronounce it correctly as well (something like “key-me no nye-wah.” The literal translation is “what’s your name?” which is where the international title comes from. I also prefer to watch it in Japanese without subtitles, despite it being fully translated to English as an option. I don’t know Japanese. I’ve just seen it enough to know exactly what’s going on at all times.)
There’s no reason not to type 君の名は (Your Name) and the literal translation is “Your name is…”
“What’s your name?” is the implied meaning, not the literal translation.
Also, both the production and distribution companies are Japanese, and must have signed off on the English title. You can use it.
i think there’s a difference between truly “pleasing” the audience and simply occupying their screen time, which is all Netflix’s algorithms are based on.
the amount of time you watch a show/movie only correlates to how much you enjoyed it to a limited extent (like the difference between “awful” and “tolerable”). To Netflix, the 2 hours you “watched” a just-okay movie is the same as the 2 hours you watched a movie you truly love. True enjoyment doesn’t matter, all that matters to them is how much you watch, and that means making things just-good-enough so you won’t turn them off.
If it aims to please a vast audience and it succeeds, then that means more people are happy.
The opposite is a film aimed at a very specific niche.
The best movie I’ve seen is the Japanese film 君の名は。. It’s (maybe) not for everybody. It is somewhat popular (a bit more so when it was new, 9 years ago), people know what it is, I’m pretty sure it’s in the IMDb Top 250, it’s one of those movies everyone should see at some point, but most people wouldn’t Top 10 it. I like movies with certain elements that appeal to me, and some of the movies I like, “most people” don’t. Like maybe if they gave it a chance they’d like it, but they wouldn’t watch it. The algorithm wouldn’t recommend it to them. And niche films keep getting made by studios like A24 and Blumhouse that give creators more control. But anyway, I also like KPop Demon Hunters, which is like, the #1 movie right now. I recognise it’s a formulaic movie. I see the formulae. I still bop to “Soda Pop” and “What it Sounds Like” along with the kids, teenagers, and millions of other people who made it the top film. I listen to the songs in my car, and at home. I was one of the ones in the theater watching it last week, but I did not sing along, I was just there to enjoy it on a bigger screen.
There’s nothing wrong with liking popular movies, or movies that are marketed to you. There’s nothing wrong with marketing working, doing its job, serving its intended purpose.
It’s only wrong if you can’t find movies that nobody else but you (and a few others like you scattered around the world) like.
(P.S. I’m not trying to be obtuse, or a smartass. 君の名は。 is called “your name.” outside of Japan. I simply prefer to use the original title as a personal choice, and I can pronounce it correctly as well (something like “key-me no nye-wah.” The literal translation is “what’s your name?” which is where the international title comes from. I also prefer to watch it in Japanese without subtitles, despite it being fully translated to English as an option. I don’t know Japanese. I’ve just seen it enough to know exactly what’s going on at all times.)
There’s no reason not to type 君の名は (Your Name) and the literal translation is “Your name is…”
“What’s your name?” is the implied meaning, not the literal translation.
Also, both the production and distribution companies are Japanese, and must have signed off on the English title. You can use it.
i think there’s a difference between truly “pleasing” the audience and simply occupying their screen time, which is all Netflix’s algorithms are based on.
the amount of time you watch a show/movie only correlates to how much you enjoyed it to a limited extent (like the difference between “awful” and “tolerable”). To Netflix, the 2 hours you “watched” a just-okay movie is the same as the 2 hours you watched a movie you truly love. True enjoyment doesn’t matter, all that matters to them is how much you watch, and that means making things just-good-enough so you won’t turn them off.
It’s more like “key-me no nah wah.” The hiragana is きみのなは. Your pronunciation is basically きみのないは.
Thanks for an interesting recommendation!
IMDb link