Today I would like to talk about something that I think is a big problem with the movie, television and streaming industry: Review bombing. Review Bombing is when a small section of viewers and/or fans decide ahead of time that they don’t like a decision made by an upcoming movie or show. This decision is usually a casting decision, and it’s usually because a woman or a minority has taken on the role that has historically been filled by white men or women. This small group of viewers then goes onto sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, and uses bots to overwhelms movies with negative reviews. This recently happened with Disney’s The Little Mermaid, because Hale Bailey, playing the title role, is a woman of color. Disney’s trailer of the movie on YouTube was bombarded with down votes. As of yesterday, it had gotten over 1.5 million downvotes.
I think review bombing is a bad idea for several reasons. Today’s audience is different than the audiences in the last century and Hollywood needs to adapt its characters and stories to reflect this change, and we should respect that. Also, movies have been ‘whitewashed’ for decades, as Hollywood used to cast white actors in non-white roles all the time, and still occasionally does (for example, the original West Side Story only cast one Puerto Rican, Rita Moreno, in the entire movie. More recently, the movie Gods of Egypt cast an ensemble of white actors for non-white Egyptian parts). Casting non-white actors in traditional white roles balances this out a little, and allows minority representation to exist where it once did not. Lastly, review bombing is just dumb because people are reviewing movies they haven’t seen, and reviews should be based on the content, not someone’s personal issues or identity that have nothing else to do with the movie.
I was encouraged when the Me Too movement took off a few years ago. I was happy to see people like Harvey Weinstein brought to justice for the way he treated women in Hollywood. I would like to see this movement continue, and support movies that celebrate diversity while discouraging practices such as Review Bombing against movies that try to be inclusive.
That’s it for now. See you at the movies!
I think review bombing is a bad idea for several reasons. Today’s audience is different than the audiences in the last century and Hollywood needs to adapt its characters and stories to reflect this change, and we should respect that. Also, movies have been ‘whitewashed’ for decades, as Hollywood used to cast white actors in non-white roles all the time, and still occasionally does (for example, the original West Side Story only cast one Puerto Rican, Rita Moreno, in the entire movie. More recently, the movie Gods of Egypt cast an ensemble of white actors for non-white Egyptian parts). Casting non-white actors in traditional white roles balances this out a little, and allows minority representation to exist where it once did not. Lastly, review bombing is just dumb because people are reviewing movies they haven’t seen, and reviews should be based on the content, not someone’s personal issues or identity that have nothing else to do with the movie.
I was encouraged when the Me Too movement took off a few years ago. I was happy to see people like Harvey Weinstein brought to justice for the way he treated women in Hollywood. I would like to see this movement continue, and support movies that celebrate diversity while discouraging practices such as Review Bombing against movies that try to be inclusive.
That’s it for now. See you at the movies!