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There is a disgusting new tactic being use by certain studios that is now coming to light. The Flickering Myth guys were discussing it and the sources on their latest podcast, go there for that info.

Basically, studios have been surfing forums they control and altering what you're seeing so they can paint objection to a film in a certain light.

Using Ghostbusters as an example:
-Reports from the set are not good. Fights among the cast, a bad script, reshoots, etc. have all been leaked, yet aren't the narrative for why this movie will bomb or be labeled as bad.
-Melissa McCarthy reportedly hates it.
-Kirsten Wig was telling people during filming that she just wanted it done so she could get away from it.
-The first trailer was released WAY behind schedule as the studio knows they have a turd on their hands.
-The first trailer released is the most hated video in YouTube history. All legit criticism was that the movie looked terrible and the jokes were old and it was a poorly edited trailer.
-"Names" have been making statements of support, like Dan Akroyd whose statement said, "It's funnier than the original." He wrote the original, is he really going to say something like that? Also please note the way "he" references the sex of the actors in the new one implying sex based criticism.
-The narrative has clearly been that misogyny is behind the film's less than positive reception.

Apparently, this stuff is all the studio's manipulations. They know the movie sucks and they're intentionally trying to turn it into a social issue to get folks into the theater and dampen real criticism. They've been deleting legit comments where they can, and leaving all the misogyny and racism. That's how they're manipulating the public.

Real, legit critics are refusing to review the film now because they know it's going to suck and they know if they tell the truth, they'd be labeled as misogynistic.

This new trend is sleazy as hell and dangerous as fuck.

Does this all sound familiar? It should. It's the same thing that Fox did with Fantastic Four. Remember how the movie's narrative became "If you don't see/like it, you're racist?"

And all of this isn't speculation. Like I said, this is news being broken from actual sources. So these are legit tactics employed by studios.

Not good.

(One could make obvious connections to tactics of our major political parties, but that's a discussion for elsewhere.)

Dangerous? How? I don't read critics much. I certainly don't care what Judd Apatow thinks of what I think about him.

Malcolm wrote:Dangerous? How? I don't read critics much. I certainly don't care what Judd Apatow thinks of what I think about him.

Good question.

As I point out, they're created more and more division among the movie going public. They're doing so by creating a false narrative of racism or sexism or whatever helps sell tickets.

It's dangerous because they're making people hate one another. They're making people not trust one another. They're making people so smug in their correctness or so resolute in their opposition to change that those folks are considering actual violence. (Ask anyone with a conservative agenda that has shown up at a left wing rally.)

And even if you think all that is hyperbole, and they're not the only ones guilty of this (they're not), and people should still be responsible for forming their own opinions (they should to a point), then it's still dangerous because this wave of hate they're creating is now silencing critics who fear the backlash if they speak the truth.

Sure, they're just movie critics, but this is just movies, and these same tactics are being used elsewhere with the same results...

It's dangerous because they're making people hate one another. They're making people not trust one another. They're making people so smug in their correctness or so resolute in their opposition to change that those folks are considering actual violence.

Are you talking about cinema or UO?

They're doing so by creating a false narrative of racism or sexism or whatever helps sell tickets.

Hell, it can do more than sell tickets. It can buy you votes.

it's still dangerous because this wave of hate they're creating is now silencing critics who fear the backlash if they speak the truth

I suppose they'll have to suffer the same slings and arrows every critic of every media does.

They know the movie sucks and they're intentionally trying to turn it into a social issue to get folks into the theater and dampen real criticism.

It's almost as if they want to maximize profit and suck as much money from people's wallets in one weekend as humanly possible. Confounding behaviour, that is.

It's dangerous because they're making people hate one another. They're making people not trust one another.

I think you've got the causality reversed here. They're absolutely levering open the left/right rift between people to shove advertising in there, but that rift is already a gaping maw that needs little in the way of opening on their part.

Not saying what they are doing isn't 1) on purpose, and 2) despicable. It is. But it's not causing more damage then already exists.