Unimpeachable statistical evidence: Film critics are liberal
April 13, 2008
Actually this is all very unscientific, but somewhat interesting nonetheless. For a project in my class on media and politics, I compared the Rotten Tomatoes ratings of films to their box office in order to see if there is a correlation between how many critics like a film (the Tomatometer) and how many moviegoers like it (box office grosses). I know my sample sets are flawed and all, but I’ll be damned if I wrote that paper and I’m not even gonna get a blog out of it. Thanks to David Dalpiaz for the statistical help. The person, I mean.
The Control Group
|
TOP GROSSING |
Box Office |
Rating |
|
Titanic |
600,779,824 |
82 |
|
Shrek 2 |
436,471,036 |
89 |
|
Star Wars 1 |
431,065,444 |
64 |
|
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 |
423,032,628 |
54 |
|
Spider-man |
403,706,375 |
90 |
|
Star Wars 3 |
380,262,555 |
80 |
|
Lord of the Rings 3 |
377,019,252 |
94 |
|
Spider-man 2 |
373,377,893 |
93 |
|
The Passion of the Christ |
370,270,943 |
50 |
|
Jurassic Park |
356,784,000 |
86 |
|
HIGHEST RATED |
|
|
|
Toy Story 2 |
245,823,397 |
100 |
|
Bus 174 |
216,158 |
100 |
|
Deliver Us From Evil |
196,585 |
100 |
|
Taxi to the Dark Side |
194,615 |
100 |
|
The Taste of Others |
635,282 |
100 |
|
The Sweet Hereafter |
3,252,652 |
100 |
|
Toy Story 1 |
191,773,049 |
100 |
|
Sense and Sensibility |
42,993,774 |
100 |
|
The Player |
21,706,100 |
100 |
|
Red |
4,043,686 |
100 |
Movies with Liberal Messages/Themes
|
LIBERAL THEME |
Box Office |
Rating |
|
Fahrenheit 9/11 |
119,194,771 |
83 |
|
Sicko |
24,540,079 |
93 |
|
Bowling for Columbine |
21,244,913 |
96 |
|
Dogville |
1,530,386 |
70 |
|
Fried Green Tomatoes |
80,100,000 |
82 |
|
FernGully |
24,650,296 |
67 |
|
The American President |
65,000,000 |
89 |
|
Bulworth |
26,525,834 |
77 |
|
The Crying Game |
62,549,000 |
100 |
|
Dead Presidents |
24,200,000 |
63 |
|
Malcolm X |
48,169,908 |
95 |
|
The Last Supper |
442,965 |
67 |
|
Three Kings |
60,652,036 |
94 |
|
Bob Roberts |
4,479,470 |
100 |
|
The Contender |
17,804,273 |
77 |
|
On Deadly Ground |
38,590,500 |
0 |
|
Nixon |
13,560,960 |
74 |
|
John Q |
71,026,631 |
23 |
|
The Motorcycle Diaries |
16,756,372 |
82 |
|
JFK |
70,405,498 |
82 |
The correlation coefficient for the control group was 0.6938172023, while it was a paltry 0.2309258957 for the movies with liberal messages or themes. The coefficient represents the degree to which one data set correlates with another - basically, critics and audiences are more in agreement if the number is higher. There’s a pretty significant difference here, suggesting that film critics as a whole tend to endorse liberal flicks more than the general populace does.
Also fun: using CelebPolitics.com’s lists of the most liberal/conservative films determined by the cast’s ideology.
|
LIBERAL CAST |
Box Office |
Rating |
|
The American President |
65,000,000 |
89 |
|
Meet The Fockers |
279,167,575 |
39 |
|
Tell Them Who You Are |
38,580 |
85 |
|
The Game |
48,265,581 |
78 |
|
The Mirror Has Two Faces |
41,252,428 |
54 |
|
EdTV |
22,362,500 |
64 |
|
The Price of Tides |
74,787,599 |
79 |
|
The In-Laws |
20,440,627 |
37 |
|
A Few Good Men |
141,340,178 |
86 |
|
A Perfect Murder |
67,629,105 |
55 |
|
Sleepless in Seattle |
126,533,006 |
78 |
|
Mad Dog Time |
80,026 |
20 |
|
Postcards from the Edge |
37,963,281 |
89 |
|
Face/Off |
112,225,777 |
93 |
|
Flatliners |
61,490,000 |
50 |
|
Radio Flyer |
4,651,977 |
53 |
|
Shark Tale |
160,762,022 |
34 |
|
Basic Instinct |
117,727,000 |
60 |
|
Shining Through |
21,733,781 |
25 |
|
Disclosure |
83,000,000 |
57 |
|
CONSERVATIVE CAST |
||
|
Dave |
63,270,710 |
97 |
|
Dodgeball |
114,324,072 |
70 |
|
A Smile Like Yours |
1,163,576 |
8 |
|
Casper |
100,328,194 |
42 |
|
Dennis The Menace |
51,270,765 |
25 |
|
Son of the Mask |
17,010,646 |
5 |
|
The Mask |
119,938,730 |
75 |
|
Miami Rhapsody |
5,221,281 |
41 |
|
Down Periscope |
25,785,603 |
5 |
|
Honeymoon in Vegas |
35,208,854 |
69 |
|
Soapdish |
36,489,888 |
75 |
|
House Arrest |
6,970,578 |
8 |
|
My Girl 2 |
17,359,799 |
15 |
|
Osmosis Jones |
5,271,248 |
53 |
|
The 6th Day |
34,543,701 |
40 |
|
The Specialist |
57,362,581 |
4 |
|
An Eye For An Eye |
26,792,700 |
16 |
|
Assassins |
30,306,268 |
13 |
|
Cliffhanger |
30,306,268 |
78 |
|
Delta Force 2 |
6,698,361 |
0 |
Here? Liberal cast coefficient: 0.7397525597. Conservative cast coefficient: 0.5970928143. Much closer to the control group than the variable group, even strengthening the argument that critics are more likely to recommend a liberal film than a person is to see it.
So yeah, film critics are probably more liberal than the moviegoing audience, but who can blame them when conservative actors make such horrible movies? I mean, really, Son of the Mask? Delta Force 2? Wow.
Acenate
Entry Filed under: /acenate, Film Reviews. Tags: A Few Good Men, A New Hope, A Perfect Murder, A Smile Like Yours, An Eye for an Eye, Assassins, Basic Instinct, Bob Roberts, Bowling for Columbine, box office, Bulworth, Bus 174, Casper, Cliffhanger, Crying Game, Dave, Dead Man's Chest, Dead Presidents, Deliver Us From Evil, Delta Force 2, Dennis the Menace, Disclosure, Dodgeball, Dogville, Down Periscope, Ed TV, EdTV, Face/Off, Fahrenheit 9/11, Fern Gully, FernGully, Flatliners, Fried Green Tomatoes, Honemoon in Vegas, House Arrest, JFK, John Q, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings 3, Mad Dog Time, Malcolm X, Meet the Fockers, Miami Rhapsody, Motorcycle Diaries, My Girl 2, Nixon, On Deadly Ground, Onibus 174, Osmosis Jones, Passion of the Christ, Pirates of the Carribean, Pirates of the Carribean 2, Postcards from the Edge, Prince of Tides, Radio Flyer, Red, Return of the Jedi, Return of the King, Rotten Tomatoes, RottenTomatoes.com, Sense & Sensibility, Sense and Sensibility, Shark Tale, Shining Through, Shrek, Shrek 2, Sicko, Sleepless in Seattle, Soapdish, Son of the Mask, Spider-man, Spider-man 2, Star Wars, Star Wars 3, Star Wars: A New Hope, Taxi to the Dark Side, Tell Them Who You Are, The 6th Day, The American President, The Contender, The Crying Game, The Game, The In-Laws, The Last Supper, The Mask, The Mirror has Two Faces, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Passion of the Christ, The Player, The Price of Tides, The Sixth Day, The Specialist, The Sweet Hereafter, The Taste of Others, Three Kings, Titanic, Tomatometer, Toy Story, Toy Story 2.
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TALES OF INTEREST!!! &laq&hellip | July 2, 2008 at 8:11 am
[...] though his comparison of box office receipts and Rotten Tomatoes ratings was blatantly stolen from my study of film critics’ political leanings. Just [...]