Last week I completed a bucket list item by submitting a ballot in a high-profile movie poll. Here’s what I learned in the process.
Prestige– After completing my list, I felt some anxiety that it was overly concerned with high art darlings and neglectful of more accessible fare. It’s a weird concern to have a list that features two animated family films, a fantasy movie, and a horror flick. As I examined the feeling further, I realized I was reacting to my own tendency to distinguish between movies that I like and movies that are “good” in some other sense.
There are pros and cons to such a distinction. Acknowledging value in movies that confound or infuriate us is important. But identifying value can be difficult, and often devolves into recapitulating received wisdom. I think this is how we get the worse of the film bros, who uncritically gobble the movies others deemed “good” and then feel superior because they can parrot back that they are, in fact, good movies.
Anyway, I felt a mild but complex blend of envy, admiration, and self-doubt when I saw my friends submit lists of genre flicks that were (seemingly) unconcerned with received notions of status. I genuinely like all the movies on my list, but I also reached for titles that seemed to do something more than entertain me. I don’t know if that was the best approach.
Popularity– When I was younger, I sometimes felt critical of popular movies that made these lists, assuming people voted for them due to some lack of creativity or knowledge. When making my list, it suddenly became obvious that your voting is limited to what you’ve seen. Popular movies show up more often because, by definition, more people have seen them so more people have the potential to vote for them.
Sincerity– Two days after making my list and sharing it with friends, I suddenly realized how obscure most of the titles were. I worried that others might think I was trying to look cool or smart with my picks. I wasn’t! Most of the obscure stuff is international, and I came across it from doing March Around The World for the past eight years.
For me, this is a lesson in giving list makers the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes people do try to project an air of sophistication, but just as often (or more) they sincerely like things that I don’t like, or haven’t heard of.
Individuality– I wanted a ballot that felt like “me.” I made sure my interest in animation was well represented. (Earlier versions of my list had up to five animated films!) I switched out Mulholland Drive for Pulse at the last minute because the latter felt more idiosyncratic to me. Anecdotally, I saw other people taking a similar approach. I wonder how this might change in more collectivist cultures.
Diversity: I didn’t select my movies based on the demographics of the directors, but I’m pleased with the diversity (of gender, race, and nationality) I ended up with. Since you’re limited to what you’ve seen when making your list, it’s important to do your homework on the front end.
Recency bias– Most of my movies are things I’ve seen in the last five years. Obviously the movies themselves are from a range of different years. I wonder how recency bias might have affected these sorts of polls before the advent of home media.
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