Justified in what sense?
I mean, there's plenty of films I would personally rank above it, but it is a classic and I can understand the mass appeal. So yeah, it being ranked #1 is understandable.
We all know The Shawshank Redemption is one of those movies with large loyal fan bases over at IMDB who create multiple accounts to rank it a 10. The same happens with other movies like The Godfather, The Dark Knight and Pulp Fiction. The practice of using multiple accounts to drive up its rankings has to be considered when determining whether its place at the top of the IMDB rankings is truly justified.
shareI don't think this is true, especially for older movies like Shawshank and Godfather.
Perhaps there's some crazy fanboys for more modern Superhero-type movies that might have nothing better to do than what you're suggesting, but still, IMDb takes this account and weighs votes accordingly.
It's clearly true for those movies. Those movies all have over 2 million votes on IMDB. Where do you think all those new votes keep coming from? Being old doesn't prevent those movies' current legions of fans from voting multiple times on IMDB for them. I don't know how IMDB would or could "take that into account" and all the evidence suggests that it doesn't do so in any way.
share"Where do you think all those new votes keep coming from?”
Maybe younger people watching the movie for the first time? Or older people who are new to IMDb? Or literally anyone who had seen the movie at some point but never bothered with IMDb ratings until they decided they wanted to vote?
"Being old doesn't prevent those movies' current legions of fans from voting multiple times on IMDB for them. I don't know how IMDB would or could "take that into account" and all the evidence suggests that it doesn't do so in any way."
Well, just take a look at the IMDb Ratings FAQ--specifically "Weighted Rankings":
IMDb publishes weighted vote averages rather than raw data averages. The simplest way to explain it is that although we accept and consider all votes received by users, not all votes have the same impact (or 'weight') on the final rating.
When unusual voting activity is detected, an different weighting calculation may be applied in order to preserve the reliability of our system.
There's over 2 million votes for Shawshank Redemption on IMDB. Your explanations can't account for that unusually high number of votes. The average movie doesn't have anywhere close to that many votes on IMDB. The average movie only has a very small fraction of that. These movies at the top of the IMDB rankings have been there for many years. And they keep getting so many more votes. There's no other way to explain it.
I don't know that people voting on IMDB from multiple accounts is "easily detectable" or that IMDB even cares to detect it. For all I know, if IMDB has ways to thwart them then those people have found ways around those obstacles. For all I know, IMDB's detection of "unusual voting activity" doesn't include the type of voting that these people are doing. Maybe the "weighted rankings" system on IMDB is broken. And for all I know, that voting system is only there to counter people trying to hype up brand new movies while they're in theater and it's not meant to thwart voting with multiple accounts on older movies. The results on IMDB speak for themselves.
Come on now Rusty. Let’s not be silly.🙂
shareI gave it a 10 because I think it's a 10. No fake accounts or any such tomfoolery from me. I'm sure I'm not the only one...
shareI can understand film companies undertaking deviousness like that in order to promote a new film ...
but fans do that just for shits and giggles ?
sound like a lotta hard work just to keep some old film high in the rankings
I don't think it's just for shits and giggles. I think it's mostly obsessed movie fans who are determined to get their favorite movie to the top of the IMDB rankings.
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I don't recall ever meeting anyone -- in real life or online -- who thinks The Shawshank Redemption is the greatest film ever made. But most people do seem to rate it quite highly, so it's a sort of statistical quirk, like if 'tea' were to top a 'best beverages' poll... Most people like tea, but how many people would tell you tea was their favourite drink? How exciting is tea?
Also, the IMDb Top 250 is self-perpetuating. Young adults wishing to widen their film experience and watch a few of 'the classics' use that list as one of their main resources. And, frankly, if you haven't seen much yet, you're possibly more inclined to trust 'the wisdom of crowds' the IMDb system represents.
Is it justified? A lot of people really like the film, so... yes. Would it be my choice? No. Nowhere close. I only think it's OK.
Why would it be Justified? Justified isn't the highest rated movie on IMDb.
sharein terms of movie making, ya its like exhibit A of filmmaking, story telling, pacing, character development etc like all the big well loved classics.. but theres also the subjective aspect of "how much did i like that story and characters?"
its okay to me. i have about 100 other films id rate higher not because they are superior filmmaking wise, but because i enjoy and like them more.
Can't be a better prison movie than Shot Caller
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