Rotten Tomatoes
From Free net encyclopedia
- For use of tomatoes against performers, see Rotten tomatoes.
Image:Rotten Tomatoes Logo.jpg Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of movies and video games. The name derives from the vaudeville-era cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad. The website created a distinctive means to summarize the general critical opinions about these works.
How the site works
The Rotten Tomatoes staff search the Internet for as many websites as possible that contain reviews of particular films and games; from the amateur to the professional. Once found, the staff uses the aggregate data to determine if the review is positive ("fresh", marked by a small icon of a red tomato) or negative ("rotten", marked by a small icon of a green splatted tomato).
The website keeps track of all of the reviews counted (which can approach 200 for major films) and the percentage of positive reviews is tabulated. If the positive reviews make up 60% or more, the film is considered "fresh" in that the majority of the reviewers approve of the film. Conversely, if the positive reviews are less than 60%, then the film is considered "rotten." In addition, major film reviewers like Roger Ebert are listed in a sub-listing called "Cream of the Crop" which tabulates their reviews separately, while still including their opinions in the general rating. When there are sufficient reviews to form a conclusion, a consensus statement is posted which is intended to articulate the general reasons for the opinion. This rating in turn is marked with an equivalent icon when the film is listed, giving the reader a one glance look at the general critical opinion about the work.
In 2004, the website IGN Entertainment acquired Rottentomatoes.com. In September 2005, IGN was bought out by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Accolades and criticisms
This site has been praised as an effective way for film reviews to challenge the hegemony of movie marketing by providing a simple, yet comprehensive, resource in which reviews can be referenced. At least one major newspaper, the Toronto Star, regularly publishes the ratings in its entertainment section weekly.
On the other hand, the website is sometimes criticized for being a measure of how many people liked a film, rather than how high they scored it. Thus only films with broad appeal get the highest scores, while great but controversial films can sport low ones. Another complaint is that reviews in more obscure entries may be labeled incorrectly (and a positive review given a "rotten" score) and go uncorrected. These mistakes can tip the balance in a close rating and can be enough to change the "consensus" on the site. This may happen more often in videogame entries.