Inside Out: A Film Review in the Age of the Internet
Many people view watching movies as a form of leisure or pastime. However, there is a whole field of arts and studies dedicated solely in filmmaking. Likewise, many effects, techniques, and visuals are employed by directors and filmmakers not only to heighten the experience of the audience watching the film, but also to add a layer of depth and complexity in the film that is consistent with its overall theme. The end result of these techniques is a film that incorporates a meaningful plot with visually aesthetic features that make the process of movie-making an experience by itself.
Because people like to see the greatest and finest movies, there are people who dedicate an occupation in reviewing and critiquing recent and notable movies. They watch the movie and analyze its contents, and then give an honest opinion about the movies and the people behind it. The audience will then read the review preferably before watching the movie, thus influencing the popularity of the movie. Therefore, the reviews that the movie gets is a major factor in determining whether the movie will fare successfully at the general public or not. With this, it can be said that film reviewers play a major hand in the movie industry, as they control part of the general opinion over a movie. They also play a hand in molding the tastes of the general public, as their opinions determine what is considered of excellent quality and which ones are trash (Frey 3).
It is interesting to note that the impact of film reviews, and the very nature of it, have changed over the years, even so with the advent of the internet. Film reviewing has come a major way, thanks to the internet. For example, popularity of films increased dramatically and the internet gives many people the opportunity to review films,. An analysis of how the film critiquing has transformed through the Internet will be done, using Pixar’s movie Inside Out as an example. This movie, while a highly entertaining and successful movie in its own right, can have part of its success attributed to its general reception to the public, which was then generated that the reviews it accumulated.
Inside Out is a 2015 animated film by Pixar and directed by Pete Docter. It is all about five anthropomorphized emotions—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger—inside the mind of a little girl named Riley, and their adventures as they try to manage Riley’s mind in coping with the new changes in her life such as leaving their old home and moving to San Francisco, along with a new school and classmates. Joy has been the primary emotion that controls Riley’s brain. However, when Sadness accidentally turns some of Riley’s memories into sad ones, a conflict between Joy and Sadness ensues that results in them getting kicked out of headquarters. The rest of the movie involves these two characters trying to find their way back in order to make Riley normal again, while the remaining three emotions—Fear, Disgust, and Anger, try to make Riley’s mind function efficiently in their absence.
The premise of the movie is an interesting one—it implies that all of us are governed by emotions within our brain that influence our actions and feelings. The movie’s take on issues in psychology, emotions, and relationships make this movie so popular, which is helped by the fact that the one who produced it is Pixar, which is well-known for making highly successful animated films such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story and WALL-E. Since this is an animated film, it appeals to people of all ages—children can enjoy the animations and the story of the movie, while older audiences can appreciate its references on psychology and adult life.
Another reason for this film’s success is the favorable reactions it garnered even way before the film’s release. In general, it can be said that the Internet is a major determining factor for this film’s success.
Internet and Popularity of Films
One good thing about the Internet is that it gives people access to a variety of information. Naturally, information about upcoming films are included there, along with other information such as its director, screenwriters and the like. This makes people who are interested in such data have an easier time to access the information about the films that they actually like. For example, it serves to inform what films are still in production and what will be released soon. In other words, people have a greater access to knowledge in films in ever before thanks to the Internet.
This greater access to data has allowed many changes when it comes to the movie industry. Take the case of film festivals. Before, the ones who frequent film festivals are the ones which have exclusive knowledge of the films before they are released, and they have the liberty of watching and reviewing its contents before the general public does. Therefore, any movie that would be screened at such festivals would ultimately be irrelevant, since they would be unknown to the general public. However, this is not the case anymore thanks to the Internet. What has become an exclusive place for film buffs before has become the vector for film makers to promote their films even before its release. Film festivals help to spread the popularity of a film to prospective fans, who in turn generate hype on the content of the movie. These people will review the movie, which will be followed by reviewers from print publications, which will then reach the general public (Brody).
The hype that happens even before the release of the movie is what has happened during the days before Inside Out was released. The news that Pixar, a favorite name in the film industry, will be releasing a film about feelings was met with positive reactions from all over the Internet. Sites like Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and the like propagated memes, excitement, and joy for the movie, which paved the way to a highly positive anticipation even before the movie was released. When people who first saw the film were impressed with what they saw, they further circulated this fact on the Internet, thereby spreading the good reviews of this film via word-of-mouth. Inside Out ultimately redeemed Pixar’s status in the film industry after releasing films which are not successful like their previous ones such as Brave and Monsters University.
Internet and the Art of Film Reviewing
Another role that the Internet plays in film reviewing is that allows people to review films regardless of status or prior experience. Anyone with an access to the Internet can give their opinion on a movie on their sites and blogs. In fact, the reviews that these people made can be considered to be of the same importance that the ones that professional reviewers make (Tyron 126-127). While this cannot be considered as trustworthy as the ones made by professional film reviewers, these people represent the opinion of the public regarding the film. These opinions of these people are ultimately affected by the ones with the same opinions as theirs, thereby creating a community of like-minded people who are open in exchanging ideas with one another. Thus, their opinion is a hodge-podge of many ideas, rather than the impersonal and unbiased ones that professional movie critics give (Kallay 212). However, film critics are still essential as they give an initial impression on the film before they are watched, thus saving viewers from wasting money on a potentially bad movie (Byrnes).
In the case of Inside Out, the support of the film was created by the myriad of people who established communities with those who expressed similar opinions regarding the movie. While reactions from the movie were highly favorable at best, there were some different opinions with regard to the characters in the movie. The five emotions each have their own communities, which then view the film differently depending on their character of choice. This provides many angles and perspectives of the movie, which in turn gives it a greater room for analysis.
Conclusion
Film reviewing has always been a critical part in film-making, as the opinions of film reviewers ultimately determine what is good and what is bad in the movie industry. With the modern age of the Internet, film reviewing has also come a long way. It greatly provided a greater network for the film industry by expanding its popularity, and it allows internet users to become reviewers themselves. These have transformed the film industry in general in a more complex manner than has ever before—the Internet audience has employed a level of sharing of ideas and opinions which ultimately shape the general review of a movie. Pixar’s Inside Out is a testament of this. While a movie about emotions seems like a novel idea and thus would attract moviegoers by themselves, the popularity of the concept and its creators have made it one of the favorites of the Internet fan base, thus greatly expanding its popularity and thus the reviews it receives.
Works Cited
Brody, Richard. “The Film Critic in the Internet Era”. The New Yorker. Condé Nast, 17 January 2014. Web, 11 June 2016.
Byrnes, Paul. “How to be a Film Critic in the Internet Age”. The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 8 May 2016. Web. 11 June 2016.
Frey, Mattias. Introduction. Film Criticism in the Digital Age. By Mattias Frey and Cecilia Sayad. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2015. 1-18. Print.
Kallay, Jasmina. “The Critic is Dead”. Film Criticism in the Digital Age. Ed. Cecilia Sayad. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2015. 211-241. Print.
Tyron Chuck. “Toppling the Gates: Blogging as Networked Film Criticism”. Reinventing Cinema. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2015. 125-148. Print.
