Skip to content

Why Reviews Are Important When I’m Picking Media To Consume

When I was in secondary school, I began to become fascinated by the worlds of anime, manga, movies, TV shows etc. while also doubling down on my passion for video games. However, as you might imagine, this was quite a lot of media to juggle while I had to attend school and do homework. I had to try to determine what was worth spending my precious time and money on and one of the ways I could determine that was to watch and read reviews. When I spoke to my friends about this, I distinctly remember them saying “Ignore the reviews. Just watch what you want”. While I partially understood their reasoning, I thought it might be worth discussing why reviews remain important to me when it comes to picking the media that I consume.

I probably should emphasise that when I began to explore these media, I wasn’t entirely sure where to begin. I had watched plenty of movies and TV shows and played many video games as a kid but I was entering a new world of more mature media and had no idea where to begin. Not to mention that I was practically clueless about where to begin with anime and manga. While I did ask friends and family what some of their favourites were, I wanted to learn even more and find some hidden gems. To do that, I sought out reviews of media that I found interesting to see what the reviewer’s thoughts were and whether I should check them out.

A picture of my horror film collection in October 2020.
When I discovered horror films in secondary school, I had no idea where to begin and I turned to online reviewers to find out what movies I should seek out.

As I mentioned before, I had a limited amount of free time to explore these mediums back in secondary school and, even these days, I still find myself having to plan out my schedule to decide when I should watch/read/play something. By watching/reading reviews, I can minimise the times that I end up watching/reading/playing something that I either do not care for or actively despise.

Of course, the other resource that I, and many others, have to manage is my money. While not as much as a factor these days for those who consume digital media as there are plenty of subscription services that allow people to consume these products on a flat monthly basis rather than per product, I, as a fan of physical media, must be conscious that I cannot buy everything that comes out and must pick the titles that are most likely to appeal to me. By watching/reading these reviews, I can make a more informed decision when I spend my money on these titles.

The Devil’s Rejects.

However, returning to what my friends said to me, I understand where they were coming from. Just because something is well received does not mean that I will necessarily enjoy it and, likewise, just because something was poorly received does not mean that I can’t enjoy it. One of my favourite movies of all time “The Devil’s Rejects” only has a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes while another movie I enjoy “Alien vs. Predator” has a terrible score of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. Likewise, a video game that I enjoyed quite a bit “Sonic Lost World” was savaged by critics, particularly on the PC.

The important thing to remember is that reviews are only one factor, albeit an important one, when I’m picking what media to consume. If I’m interested in a product and I think I’m going to like it, I’m still going to pick it up and try it regardless of the reviews. However, I almost always want to know about the product I’m going to buy and I confess that I rarely blind purchase and, in the few events that I do, I only do so if the title is very cheap.

Critically reviled but I enjoyed the game nonetheless.

Ultimately, I still consider reviews to be quite important to me when I’m picking which media to consume. However, I try not to let them blind me to other possibilities and to continue to check out products that I may enjoy, regardless of what the reviews say. Let me know if reviews are important to you when you’re picking what media you’re going to consume, how much a review factors into your purchasing decision, whether you think reviews are helpful or harmful to the various entertainment industries and any additional information you might have on the topic.

Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!

Leave a Reply