Ranking My Thoughts

I’ve been thinking a bit about Top X Lists. These are not to be confused with the “X things that will make you go, ‘whoa!’ Number Y will make you go, ‘gee whizz!’” lists that people associate with clickbait. That’s not to say that ranking things can’t be turned into clickbait -- there’s something authoritative about them that makes people crave either validation or something to be mad about -- but it seems like declaring something “best” or even “tenth best” has qualities to it even people who “take themselves seriously” seem to gravitate towards.

But at the same time, these people who take themselves seriously also, I think, find it the hardest to put together a self-respecting list? Like, I take movies seriously (though I wouldn’t call myself a critic or anything like that) and I still find it difficult to rank movies. I have to add some category on top of it, like “Top movies of 2019” or “Top 9 Best Picture nominees.” And yes, I understand there can be some methodology to these lists. Some places will poll multiple people in order to make a list in aggregate as if that’s any better than asking everyone in China how long the emperor’s nose is.

For the three lists I’ve made on this blog so far, I have to admit a little bit of not only recency bias but also interest in making a compelling list to read. I want there to be a decent mix of things people have heard of in case they haven’t seen them yet and also some unknowns. And when it comes to the unknowns, I mostly do it because I want to share these movies (this is the reason I tell people), but there’s also a bit of superiority in it. Like an “I’ve seen this thing and you haven’t” sort of feeling. I try to downplay it, but I can’t say it’s not there.

This sort of methodology does mean that a lesser-known movie is more likely to sneak onto a Top X list. That means it’s not really a Top X list at all, though. Because again, they present themselves as authoritative. These are meant to be “the best,” no matter if they are popular or not. But then I’m left with questioning why someone would even write such a thing. An objective piece (no critical analysis is objective but as something that wants to be speaking from a position of authority, Top X lists sure try to be) would mean a lack of need for anyone else to write one. We’d just consult the algorithm of rankings and that would be that. X is better than Y.

So maybe it is all just clickbait dressed all fancy and done by someone important. That seems like the far other end of the spectrum, though. Dismissing opinions on the internet that are written out like this simply for being opinions, or with a disingenuous word like “clickbait” seems a bit dangerous too. You can and should dismiss them for other reasons (being bad opinions is certainly at the top of the list there) but not that one.

-F