MovieChat Forums > The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) Discussion > Low IMDB rating explained by ideology me...

Low IMDB rating explained by ideology meatpuppets?

posted 18 years ago by anonreviewer
23 replies | jump to latest

It is interesting to see the distribution of votes for this movie, which caused it to be very low rated.

Lok at the distribution:
Votes Percentage Rating
196 3.7% 10
172 3.2% 9
435 8.1% 8
723 13.5% 7
987 18.4% 6
964 18.0% 5
732 13.6% 4
484 9.0% 3
307 5.7% 2
367 6.8% 1

This movie has a good cast and good production values. Right? It is no cheapie movie, certainly. But look at how many voters gave it a 1 or a 2. More than 12% gave it a 1 or a 2.

THere is only one reason why so many voters would slight this movie taht way--IDEOLOGY!

There were large numbers of voters who felt that this movie represented their ideological enemy. I am sure they would tell you that it was "racist". I tdo not think so. Instead it told the truth. Now, I am the furthest thing from a rightiwnger. This movie pointed out some hypocrisies that are not often told in our society. Why is that?

I think that these people -- liberals, to be precise -- who voted 1 oer 2 or 3 were simply reacting to their ideological programming. THey are like puppets, robots, unthinking biological machines who have been programmed to fight the ideological fight for the upper class. This ideology that they have been given is a mirror image of that given the rightwingers. Both sides have been programmed to fight a ideological battle. That battle is one that helps the upper class keep the battle away from issues that would hurt the fat wallets of the upper class.

This movie was judged politically (actually pseudopolitically, and more ideologically) by those voters.

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[–] vincevega918 18 years ago

I think people who rated it poor just take life too seriously to either have a good time or actually turn their ignorance off for 5 minutes to actually realize this sort of dramatical stuff actually happens in the world. But of course when you have the FCC nazis controlling the media people are numbed like hampsters to just refute the possibilities that every system is corrupt and bought off by the right hands, which are manipulated by the course of reason and money.

[–] rsgre 18 years ago

I have never seen this movie, but I know it seems to fall into that catagory of: "worst movies ever made". Everyone I know that saw it, just about walked out because was soooo bad...
Regards,

RSGRE

[–] valro 18 years ago

No, the reason this movie got slammed was that it was not a successful adaptation of the book. I remember talking with someone I used to work with about it. This was shortly before the movie came out. He went on and on about how he couldn't see how the book could have been possibly been made into a movie because it had an incredibly complicated story. Some books just shouldn't be made into movies because they don't work. It has nothing to do with ideology or politics. It appears you're reading into something that isn't there.

[–] eoval 13 years ago

Major ditto.

Liberals think conservatives are evil;
Conservatives think liberals are stupid...

[–] sanookdee 12 years ago

The book was a huge bestseller. I think the low rating (like mine) are because of the huge disappointment in the movie adaptation and the terrible casting. Compare this to a similar adaptation from a best seller into a movie, Gone with the Wind. GWTW tried to stay as true to the novel as possible and the public, that loved the book, also loved the movie. The Godfather also stayed true to the novel and it was a smash hit as a movie. There was way to much "artistic license" taken by DePalma and the screen writers.

[–] Prismark10 10 years ago

The problem with the film is the miscasting, a poor adaptation and a film that never quiet gels.

Its that man again!!

[–] dioro 17 years ago

This distribution is about as normal of one as you'll find on IMDB. Sure it got some 1's and 2's it didn't deserve, but it didn't deserve the 9's and 10's either.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099165/ratings

[–] saugoof 17 years ago

Thanks for brightening my day tiger! That's one of the funniest posts I've come across in some time. The fact that you seem serious makes it even funnier.

Just for the record, I haven't voted for this movie but if I would I'd probably give it a 2, not because I'm part of your vast conspiracy, but because it's turned a great book into a rubbish movie. If I'd only every seen the movie by itself I'd probably have given it a 4, not a great movie but by no means the worst movie ever made. But knowing that it came from such great source material it deserves all the 1's and 2's it gets.

If you're like me, it's possible you're a clone generated from my stolen DNA

[–] J.O. 17 years ago

The reason behind the low ratings is because the book is so highly regarded. People who flat out loved the book hated the movie because it did not live up to the book. It couldn't have. IF they wanted to make a feature out of it, they probably should have done a miniseries or something since there were so many plots and intertwined events that it was difficult to get them all in one sitting.

As far as being "racist" or anything like that, if anything this film pulls its punches. In the book, the charachtes are FAR more stereotypical. Race and ethnicity play a much bigge role that in the movie. In fact, I believe some of the backlash to the movie was for that very reason - that it wasn't "true" enough.

Either way, it probably doesn't deserve a 1 or a 2. But it cetainly doesn't deserve many hgh marks either.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] excel99 17 years ago

THere is only one reason why so many voters would slight this movie taht way--IDEOLOGY!

You're funny! But I agree with you that ideology plays a part in the bad rating this film received. My personal ideology is to rate low films which SUCK!!!

Yes, there are some great actors. Yes, a genius director was behind the camera. Yes, the book was awesome (by most accounts). AND THE FILM STILL SUCKS!

Now, you tell me, why should it get a higher score than, say, a 2?

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Goomba01 16 years ago

When I saw who was in it, I thought it was going to be really good and the beginning was very interesting but it got more and more boring until I felt like it was going on too long. I don't know about the ideology or racist stuff or whatever, I just thought the story was boring. I rated it a 5. I'm pretty lenient about rating movies in here.

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