Secondary Audience Research - imdb

The Internet Movie Database, [http://www.imdb.com/] shows the top four, highest-rated movies in the film noir genre to be Sunset Boulevard(8.7/10), Double Indemnity (8.6/10), The Third Man (8.5/10) and TheMaltese Falcon (8.4/10).

In looking at the user rating statistics for Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) it is interesting to note that 83% of the users who chose to rate the film were male compared to 17% female. Non-US voters rated it almost as highly as US users, at 8.6 compared to 8.8, showing that despite its unmistakably American identity, it still appeals globally.

The lowest average user rating can be seen in the female under 18 category, showing it does not generally attract young girls or female teenagers at all. Also revealing is the higher average user rating the higher the age category, from an average of 7.7 by “under 18”, to a dramatic increase to 8.6 from “18-29” and “30-44”, and an even higher 8.8 for the over 45s. Males, no matter what the age, rated the film consistently highly, from an average of 8.5 to 8.8 across all age groups.

The average rating from IMDb staff is noticeably higher than the average user rating, with an impressive 9.4 out of 10, suggesting that this film – perhaps, indeed, the genre – is especially appreciated by a more discerning and demanding demographic of film enthusiasts and critics, as well as mainly male over-45s, having been exposed to the genre more. However, the user rating percentages showed that 36.3% of votes gave the film a 10/10, showing us it is a hugely popular film with a significant resonance with today’s filmgoers.

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) was significantly more popular with males than females on IMDb, with 85% of scores gathered from male users and only 15% from females, as well as accruing an average 8.6 from men and a significantly lower 8.3 from women. It was slightly less popular with non-US users (48% of voters, average of 8.4) than US users (52%, avg. 8.7), more so than with Sunset Boulevard, but still with a respectably high rating, again suggesting a broad global market.

The lowest average score is again from the under 18 female demographic at 4.1 – even lower than that of Sunset Boulevard. Males under 18, though scoring it far higher at 7.5, still pulled down the average rating which is much higher with the older age categories (for example 8.5 from the 18-29s.) But the consistence in the higher rating of 8.5 – 8.8 from each age demographic shows that this type of film will and can be appealing and successful among most age groups above 18, and is an indication of the audience we need to be targeting.

The prevalence of lower female interest in both sets of user stats prompt us to question why perhaps these films do not appeal as much to women as to men. The most logical conclusion we can come to is that the misogynic undertones of most, if not all, movies in the film noir genre render the films less appealing and less relatable for women, as women are portrayed through “the male gaze”, and the audience are invited to see through the eyes of a male spectator. As a group we can create our film adhering to this convention and knowingly alienate our female viewers, or subvert the trend with the intention of modernising film noir.
 By Emily Atkinson