It seems the DVD Talk reviewers are all very obviously liberal. Can we get at least one conservative reviewer to obtain the illusion of balance?

Thank you.

Examples?

Well, it's probably a simple matter of liberal documentaries coming out, and who wants to review them but a liberal reviewer? They do so in force. I see them all the time at the top, anti-Bush documentaries, a review for SAVED, etc.

If no conservatives have applied to be reviewers, well, then, there's nothing that can be done. Still, the bias is apparent to me.

Why is the movie review even an issue? You don't like the reviewer's opinion, ignore it. Who cares if the review is liberal or conservative.

Because these movies deserve a different voice, a voice from a different side of the ideological divide. Still, it's predictable that anytime I see anything divisive in the top box there, that I know how the review is gonna land.

A diversity of opinion, as they say, would do everyone a service.

There's another one, HEIR TO AN EXECUTION, a sympatheic portrait of the Rosenbergs. Blech.

You know on our application for new reviews there is nothing on it which asks what someone's political ideology is. Same is true with the forum.

We look for people who write well, love movies and know DVD. I honestly couldn't give a rats ass if my reviewers are Demos, Republicans, Libertarians, or otherwise, it has no bearing to the task of reviewing DVDs.

Also I don't think it's the job of a DVD site to provide any balance whatsoever. Our reviewer write what they think, and it's as simple as that. I never exert any editorial control one way or another over our reviewers ideology in their reviews, nor do I reject DVD screeners which come in for conservative movies. (The guys who did Farenhype never sent it to us, so its not reviewed, while Bush Family Fortunes, Hunting of the President, etc were all sent to us for review).

There are plenty of reviews written by our reviewers I definitely disagree with.

See my review of the Passion vs. 2 other reviewers:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list....he%20Christ%20

But the point is, this site isn't a reflection of one person's ideology, it's a group of over 30 writers who have a symphony of options on movies, and I can tell you not all of them can so easily be grouped into the label 'Liberal'.

Thank you for the reply and the clarification of your position. As a believer in free speech, though I have my clear preferences and I have thusly stated them, I certainly would never imagine that anything like "balance" is possible. As I said, even in the best cases, it's an illusion.

Further, if you object to all reviews being classified as "liberal," then it's plain to me at least, that they aren't for me, and don't speak to me or someone with my concerns. I know where I stand.

I thought Geoff turned off this feature.

You need a subscription for the paradigm now? Damn.

I think that the number of conservatives on this site far out number the liberals so I dont think its an issue...But you dont have to be a liberal to like movies, even if there are some liberal ideas in it. It may be just a case of some people with a conservative ideology who are open to a number of movies, and dont bring their political beliefs into a review where it isnt really necessary.

Really? I always thought there were more liberals on the site... perhaps it just appears that way because some of them are very vocal about it.

Not only is it crazy that you bothered to edit your post, but you honestly make no sense at all (seriously, you're just another one of those "making something out of nothing" members).

Just drop it, you're really reaching here.

Hey, don't tell me what to do. Nobody asked you. You wouldn't understand this, anyway, I fear. It's way over your head that anyone could have an opinion that doesn't conform to your rigid and narrow confines. Excuse me. Please return to your pop culture idols. Nothing to see here.

Both of you guys knock it off. Rival11, if you don't understand what he posted, there are polite ways to ask him to clarify what he meant. JoebobX, just because he might have been rude doesn't mean that the topic is "over his head."

Don't make

I think a good movie is a good movie regardless of the political slant. I personally feel that both Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Passion of The Christ are two of 2004's best films, even though they are on opposite ends of the spectrum. But every reviewer brings his/her personal politics, ethics and morals into a review...the good reviewer is able to put those aside and still be as fair as possible to the filmmaker.

Yes, it did bother me and I posted without thinking and I apologize for my words - my reply was out of line.

I do understand completely. What triggered my response is how you immediately came to the conclusion that "all the reviewers are liberals" with absoultely no proof. I know you said that you were ultimately looking for "an illusion in balance" (via a conservative reviewer) but you immediately made a false accusation on something you had THOUGHT was true, you just assumed after reading some reviews that all reviewers were liberals (which Geoff cleared up in his response) - your first post clearly shows this.

Your second reply just showed that your first was unecessary - I guess I replied the way I did because of you not being able to come to that conclusion without having to start a thread about it.

Like many others - I feel that there are far more conservative views here - but once again, a lot of people see the opposite so it looks like it comes down to how you see things - which of course is completely fine.

Once again, sorry for the bashing/thread-crap - It was uncalled for but in the future (and NO, I am not about to tell you what to do, just suggesting) you may want to first ask a question before posting an assumption.

This amuses me.

I may be young, but I've voted Republican for president both times I've voted (I will not be in 2004, but that's because...y'know what, I'm going to leave this alone). I consider myself a conservative. Of course, it may be hard to tell that in my pilates and 10,000 Maniacs DVD reviews...

But I loved <b>Saved</b>. And while I didn't agree with many of the conclusions drawn in F-9/11, I thought it was a well thought-out film.

Does this mean I'm going to hell?

RS

Can we have a conservative dvd review sub-forum?

People will get anything they want out of a review.

Over the course of the nearly 2 years I've been doing reviews here, I've been called a racist, anti-Semite, homophobe, homosexual, junkie, traitor, Nazi, commie, neo-con, Zionist apologist, fascist, heartless, revisionist... did I leave anything out?

Oh yeah, I was once called a "fat tweaker". And I'm at my freakin' fighting weight! What's a tweaker?.... Nevermind.

Perception is everything. People will skewer a perception of liberal/conservative slant whenever their personal values are threatened. I find it way too interesting that people who get upset about such things tend to enjoy classifiying things as either one of two options. Liberal or Conservative. Republic or Democrat. Communist or Fascist. Pick a side.

They'll never understand that the vast majority of people are smack dab in the middle.

Hmm ... I'll go with Fascist.

das

Matt's cool. It's Jeff Shwartz you gotta watch out for.

I suspect that the OP was in part referring to my review of DC 9/11. (Maybe not.) But that movie is a piece of garbage and is mindless cronyism in action. As a reviewer I'm supposed to voice opinions and interpretations and I cant say "well, this movie is mindless cronyism and ass-kissing nonsense, but the lighting was very nice so I'll give it a very positive rating. When your whole film is political you'd better put some thought into the politics. If you don't then I'll call you on it (not that the producers of that film care what I think.)

Sometimes threads in here spring up criticizing the reviews because people don't agree with them (often hypothetically since they haven't seen the films in question.) However, they're reviews, made to be taken as one person's criticism. When someone tells me to be objective I have to wonder, how? The nature of a review is subjective. That's all it is. Obviously a review shouldn't be a soapbox for unrelated poorly-thought-out ideologies, but neither should the film. And when it is it's gonna get slammed.

I happen to think that there's a diversity of opinion on this site that makes the review section more rewarding than most.

JoebobX, I think you'd be helping out a lot of people here if you pointed to examples of reviews with an overpowering liberal slant.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=11271

ptttth

Psh. My liberal bias can trounce yours any day.