We have reviewed several films who were targets of review bombings over the last few years over the course of this series. To get right down to it, why do review bombs really happen? What demographic are the main review bombers? What are the underlying biases against diverse groups that leads to this? We will answer those questions in the rest of this article.
How Does Gender Affect Review Bombs?
One significant factor is the gender gap between critics and reviewers being dominated by men. As seen in the review bombing for Marvel’s Captain Marvel, many negative review bombings and social media critiques came from the male demographic. Since comic books were created and made for by men, seeing the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Universe upset many of the older male demographic that had grown up with a traditional white man being cast as the superhero.
How Does Race Affect Review Bombs?
Not only is the traditional audience meant for white men but the people reviewing films such as Captain Marvel are predominantly white men. Overall, white men make up the vast majority of print, television, and film reviewers with men making up 65% and women 35% of print, broadcast, and online film reviewers in early 2020. If a film is not geared towards white men, chances are it will likely not receive the highest ratings in that demographic. Since that demographic is the largest one that reviews these films, this is why diverse films tend to receive lower ratings and less positive visibility.
“Bastien tells Salon, ‘But male critics, since the medium’s birth, have shaped the canon and the markers that are used to judge what makes a ‘good’ film, [and] it doesn’t surprise me that anything that targets women or is viewed as feminine is implicitly seen as less than.’ ”
Nico Lang, Salon
Who Does the Film Critic Industry Favor?
The film critic and reviewing industry typically favors white men’s reviews over women’s and also judge films led by women or other underrepresented communities. As you can see from this chart, male reviewers review films that are typically directed towards women, much lower than female reviewers in Rotten Tomato. This goes to show the discrepancy in ratings of films is skewed because more men are reviewers coupled with the low ratings does not give the most accurate review of a film.
Who Needs to Do Reviews?
As Brie Larson said, “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time…It wasn’t made for him! I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color.” Films need to be critiqued and reviewed by a wider range of demographics. If most reviewers are white men, films directed or starring more women, POC, or other underrepresented communities, chances will be viewed in a negatively biased light. Review bombs happen when the demographic of reviewers themselves are not an accurate representation of who is watching.
