In a move to homogenise its rating system to the modern norm of very little choice at all, Netflix have recently watered down something they’ve been doing for years. Instead of stars, a long-standing rating method in film and TV for decades, the service will now only allow users to thumbs up or down titles.
And it’s totally the wrong call.
Using Netflix for the first time since the update yesterday, it was a strange new world. Like Netflix’s own marketing materials for the change says, it feels like a dating app. You are matched with content based on what you do and don’t like based on a percentage. As much as that works for something like Tinder based on pure first impressions, it just doesn’t translate to Netflix.
For instance, say you kind of liked Legally Blonde but don’t really know why, you could have given it three stars; a nice, non-committal rating that would have limited but not hidden recommendations of similar titles. In the future, you might have seen John Tucker Must Die and Clueless pop up as recommendations, though not necessarily.
The new update guarantees that those two movies will be showcased to you, your uncertainty be damned. Felt like Reese Witherspoon was the only bright spot in what is otherwise a pretty flawed movie? Tough, now it’s time to watch a topless Jesse Metcalfe and listen to Motion City Soundtrack.
The rating shift also doesn’t seem adequate for something like horror. As one of the easiest genres to produce, there are, in no uncertain terms, a lot of absurdly terrible horror movies out there. Previously, the rating system on Netflix allowed a gauge of just how bad a horror movie was (there were few that ever received higher than four stars). I had a way of working it out: if it has one and a fraction stars, it’s watchable. If it has a flat, single star, avoid it like the sprinting undead. With the new ratings, you could guiltily adore Cockneys vs. Zombies and then be paired with dozens of other zombie movies that are outright trash.
It doesn’t seem like this translates particularly well to regions with lesser Netflix, either. As someone who has accidentally slipped and somehow had access to US Netflix by total accident despite living in the UK, the disparity in the depth of libraries is almost hilarious. With the star system, it was much easier to wade through the sludge of UK Netflix and find a few hidden gems. Not the case with thumbs at all.
Most importantly, however, boiling down your verdict on a film or TV show to just one of two choices is a disservice to the complexities and intricacies of its production and composition*. There is so much that goes into making movies and shows, whether it’s the music, acting, or even something like special effects. By giving just a thumbs up or down, it’s ignoring all of that and hardly giving a measured review. There’s a reason why Siskel & Ebert were outliers.
The backlash over the change has seen many subscribers ask to revert back to the stars of old, and I’m with them. Sure, the previous system was flawed, but certainly not broken. Netflix, if we can quietly go back to giving Nine Lives the five stars it deserves, we never have to speak about this again.
*I had no idea how to make this sound less wanky.
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