There's an interesting concept with user reviews, in that they're inherently OF the people, whereas critical reviews are FOR the people.
In a way, critical reviews are like celebrity chef cookbooks in that they should be considered aspirational. What we HOPE to be watching to please our senses of austerity, versus the pulp trash we might actually prefer to be watching.
Similarly, sure, we might WISH we were making / eating boeuf en croute regularly, but if you go to a recipe site, the highest rated reviews is more likely to be chicken soup, or something more accessible / makeable on a weeknight.
It's always fun to review Plex and routinely see <95% critic ratings, 25% user ratings> or vice versa, but the deltas are more often closer than not.
I don't know if I have a point to make here other than to point out that there's utility in noting the distinctions between aspirational and practical, and that serious critics have always given off a vibe of divorcing themselves from the practical, preferring arthouse to action, and in both arenas, Julia Childs-esque figures that can bridge the gap between the aspirational and the practical are extremely rare.
Essentially that what we talk about liking and what the general population actually like are very different.
They interviewed this woman, who as an art student learned all about 'high art' and 'low art' and in a moment of loss of inspiration went back to using some low art she appreciated as inspirationn:
In a way, critical reviews are like celebrity chef cookbooks in that they should be considered aspirational. What we HOPE to be watching to please our senses of austerity, versus the pulp trash we might actually prefer to be watching.
Similarly, sure, we might WISH we were making / eating boeuf en croute regularly, but if you go to a recipe site, the highest rated reviews is more likely to be chicken soup, or something more accessible / makeable on a weeknight.
It's always fun to review Plex and routinely see <95% critic ratings, 25% user ratings> or vice versa, but the deltas are more often closer than not.
I don't know if I have a point to make here other than to point out that there's utility in noting the distinctions between aspirational and practical, and that serious critics have always given off a vibe of divorcing themselves from the practical, preferring arthouse to action, and in both arenas, Julia Childs-esque figures that can bridge the gap between the aspirational and the practical are extremely rare.