05/08/2012

How (Not) to Use 'Best' Lists

Fraud or not, I will not complain about Citizen Kane being kicked off the top of Sight&Sound's famous Greatest Films of All Time poll results table by a vastly superior movie. Having said that, I wonder why anyone might want to get worked up over this, as many people do. These kinds of polls don't measure objective greatness (which doesn't exist), but mere expert opinion. And no one's forced to sit through the whole list.

Having said that, some people do, probably out of some feeling that doing so is an achievement to be proud of. This strange practice is most beautifully exemplified by imdb commenter remurmur, describing his experience with the silent film serial Les Vampires:
For the record, I only watched Les Vampires due to being on the list of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which I am most diligently working my way through. [...]

It was one of the most difficult things I've ever forced myself to watch. At least it's silent, which allowed me to be productive in listening to about 7-8 albums from the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list while Les Vampires caused my eyes to glaze over.
Man, you're doing it wrong! The actual use of these lists is that they might alert you to stuff you'll like that you would not otherwise have learned about. If the new Sight&Sound results cause one person to discover the not-that-well-known La passion de Jeanne d'Arc and love it as much as I do, it will have served a useful purpose.

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