History Main / QualityByPopularVote

Compare CriticalDissonance

Contrast ItsPopularNowItSucks, OpinionMyopia.

-->'''Thomas Kinkade'''

-> "The number one quote critics give me is: 'Thom, your work is irrelevant'. Now, that's a fascinating, fascinating comment. Yes, irrelevant to the little subculture, this ''microculture'', of modern art. But here’s the point: my art is relevant because it’s relevant to 10 million people. That makes me the most relevant artist in this culture, not the least. Because I’m relevant to ''real'' people."

But quality is subjective, and even then some people look for quality in different aspects. In entertainment, some people value the story in every work, other people value the story in some works but the action in other works. Some people might overlook flaws due to a work having sufficient amounts of relatability, WishFulfillment, or {{Fanservice}} (sexual or otherwise), whereas for others, those same aspects (Usually and mostly the latter two) may exacerbate or even BE the flaws. And since individuals will differ in tastes, even hugely popular works won't be liked by everyone.

But quality is subjective, and even then some people look for quality in different aspects. In entertainment, some people value the story in every work, other people value the story in some works but the action in other works. Some people might overlook flaws due to a work having sufficient amounts of relatability, WishFulfillment, or {{Fanservice}} (sexual or otherwise). And since individuals will differ in tastes, even hugely popular works won't be liked by everyone.

The Latin name for this is ''argumentum ad populum'', or the ''ad populum'' fallacy, ''but'' the opposite is also a fallacy. A work isn't lesser quality just because it's popular, or lesser quality because it's unpopular, or vice versa for either of those.

Popularity directly correlates to Quality.

But quality is subjective, and even then some people look for quality in different aspects. In entertainment, some people value the story in every work, other people value the story in some works but the action in other works. Some people might overlook flaws due to a work having sufficient amounts of relatability, WishFulfillment, {{Fanservice}} (sexual or otherwise). And since individuals will differ in tastes, even hugely popular works won't be liked by everyone.

But quality is subjective, and even then what some people look for the quality in different aspects. In entertainment, some people value the story in every work, other people value the story in some works but the action in other works. Some people might overlook flaws due to a work having sufficient amounts of relatability, WishFulfillment, {{Fanservice}} (sexual or otherwise). And since individuals will differ in tastes, even hugely popular works won't be liked by everyone.

A.K.A. Popularity Equals Quality.

There's just [[ArtisticLicenseLogic one flaw]]: Quality and popularity are not the same thing. Sometimes the work is popular for reasons other than quality (relatability, WishFulfillment, SexSells, etc.) And perhaps more importantly, what's big among the masses won't always fit your personal tastes.

The Latin name for this is ''argumentum ad populum'', or the ''ad populum'' fallacy.

The converse of this can happen, where the public decides that if a movie/TV show are commercial failures, they're bad.

Contrast with LowestCommonDenominator, CriticalDissonance, and ItsPopularNowItSucks.

It's rare that you get to watch a TV show or film without hearing popular opinion on it beforehand. This often sets up expectations for the soon-to-be-viewed work; the more uniform and enthusiastic praise garnered by people of it, the more likely you're going to anticipate a knock-your-socks-off feature and wait with bated breath for your turn to extol it. After all, forty reviewers can't all be wrong! This is frequently used in RealLife advertising, with slogans like: "Because X (number of) people can't be wrong!".[[note]]How many people smoke?[[/note]]

->''"God, I hope you are wrong. I hope the industry has not yet sunk into the state where the game with the most number of copies sold is assumed to be the best."''
-->--'''Timothy Cain'''

It's rare that you get to watch a TV show or film without hearing popular opinion on it beforehand. This often sets up expectations for the soon-to-be-viewed work; the more uniform and enthusiastic praise garnered by people of it, the more likely you're going to anticipate a knock-your-socks-off feature and wait with bated breath for your turn to extol it. After all, forty reviewers can't all be wrong! This is frequently used in RealLife advertising, with slogans like: "Because X (number of) people can't be wrong!".

A.K.A. PopularityEqualsQuality.

There's just one flaw: Quality and popularity are not the same thing. Sometimes the work is popular for reasons other than quality (relatability, WishFulfillment, SexSells, etc.) And perhaps more importantly, what's big among the masses won't always fit your personal tastes.

The latin name for this is ''argumentum ad populum'', or the ''ad populum'' fallacy.

Contrast with LowestCommonDenominator, CriticalDissonance and ItsPopularNowItSucks.

There's just one flaw: Quality and popularity are not the same thing. Sometimes the work is popular for reasons other than quality (relatability, WishFulfillment, SexSells, etc.)