Filtered Criticism

I think one of the things that plagues some people is this whole notion of "filtered criticism". This is sort of the opposite phenomena of ultra-sensitivity to criticism. Those who are ultra-sensitive to criticism will be presented with an area of improvement the midst of a litany of praises and accolades and walk away wounded and defensive. Filtered criticism isn't the opposite in the sense that a person is impervious to criticism. Rather, the hearer takes the criticism and latches on to a throwaway positive comment and interprets it as a wholehearted and passionate endorsement.

I was reminded of this phenomena when my wife and I recently watched a movie which had a number of great critic taglines but was truly awful and a waste of two hours of my life. "Out of context" movie critic blurbs on posters or DVD cases is probably one of the most hilarious examples of this. I'm not an industry expert, but my understanding is that movie studios realize that professional critic reviews and word of mouth are influential drivers. So the marketing gurus at these studios mine these reviews for hearty and witty compliments and place them in their television, radio and print advertising. "Two Thumbs Up!" is seen as a big deal for these marketers, and they understandably brag about this when they can.

Let's take for example "Little Fockers", otherwise known as "Meet the Parents, Part III". In full disclosure, I thought the first one was hilarious, the second was disappointing, and didn't even bother watching the third given overall bad reviews. I went to movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes for its review of Little Fockers and found that the reviews were pretty awful - around a 9% our of a possible 100% score. Now if I'm a shrewd (and perhaps less than scrupulous) marketer, here's where I do some magic:

"It may be time to try another household for laughs." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly becomes:

"Another household for laughs!" - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

"I thought it would take years for Owen Wilson to appear in a movie worse than "How Do You Know," but he has outdone himself." - Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune becomes:

"Owen Wilson .... has outdone himself!" - Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"'Little Fockers' may not be the worst, most vulgar, most pathetic and least funny picture of the year. But it's a strong contender for second place behind the picture Brett Favre allegedly sent over his cellphone." - Kyle Smith, New York Post becomes:

"Picture of the year... it's a strong contender!" - Kyle Smith, New York Post

"The sheer pleasure of the first film in 2000, already dimming by the time we got to "Meet the Fockers" four years later, has officially gone kaput." - Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times becomes:

"The sheer pleasure of the first!" - Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

"I'm afraid the DeNiro of The Godfather, Part II and Goodfellas has mostly faded from my mind, replaced by the DeNiro of the Fockers -- a grim-faced comedian who tends to make me sad... Alba is charming until her character gets sent to the stupidity factory. " - Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine becomes:

"The DeNiro of The Godfather, Part II and Goodfellas! Alba is charming!" - - Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine

So you look at the out of context reviews and you can't help but think that this is going to be Oscar-worthy gold. Heck, after my little bit of wordsmithing, I come to two conclusions: (1) I need a marketing job in Hollywood, and (2) I really want to see Little Fockers.

So while this is a phenomena that afflicts those who have severe self-awareness issues, there's probably a little of this in all of us. At times, we just don't want to hear fair and warranted criticism and we tend to hear what we want to hear. Naturally, selective listening takes a number of different forms, but when it starts to affect relationships and our ability to sharpen ourselves as people, it's no longer a laughing matter.