Star Ratings

I think star ratings are ghastly when applied to art.

When I say art, I’m talking specifically but those art forms that are most often subjected to star ratings:

Movies and books.

(And if you’re thinking those don’t count as art, I’m thinking you’ve never made a movie or written a book.)

To be clear, it’s completely valid to have strong positive or negative emotions about a piece of art. I watch movies that I don’t enjoy all the time. I dislike plenty of books. Just as often, I’ll find myself all-consumed by a movie, delighted by a book I can’t seem to stop thinking about.

What is offensive to me is taking subjective stance (love/like/didn’t like/hate) and applying an objective rating (1-5 stars).

I don’t think there is a such thing as 1 star movie or a 5 star book. How can there be when one person’s 1 star “didn’t finish” is another person’s 5 star “keeper shelf.”

How can a movie be one star and five star?

It can’t be.

Yes, you could dismiss it as a simple shorthand. “Oh, it’s just a quick and easy way to keep track of which movies we liked or didn’t…”

But I’d argue this shortcut is a caustic one.

Star ratings ecourage us to think of art as a commodity, especially on sites like Amazon where novels and movies are subjected to the same rating system as batteries, and plastic food storage containers, and toilet paper.

Batteries can be objectively bad if they don’t hold a charge. Plastic food storage containers should get a 1-star rating if the lid cracks with first use (no, you’re talking from first bitter first hand experience…)

And let’s be, really, 1 star toilet paper is basically a crime.

But is it right to slap the same 1 star rating to a book as subpar batteries, shitty tupperware, or toilet paper that doesn’t do its job?

I’d argue that’s the bigger crime.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Anth and I watched The Sandlot and National Treasure. I enjoyed both immensely. But I wouldn’t recommend either to my parents. Or come to think of it, most of my friends.

What I enjoyed in that particular moment, on that particular day doesn’t translate to all people in all situations.

Does that make it a one star movie? Five star?

I recently finished The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. It was well written, well-researched, and interesting, but I didn’t love it. A mood thing, probably. So … two star? Four star?

Art isn’t a product. It can’t malfunction. It can’t arrive broken. It doesn’t owe you convenience or personal resonance.

Maybe we stop trying to score books and movies. Maybe we simply experience them.

And make room for others to do the same, without bias.