It's become ubiquitous — and quite contentious

到處都能看見它，也帶來不少爭論。

This chart helps to explain why.

這張圖表解釋了原因

We're releasing more films now than ever before.

現在比以前有更多的電影

And in a world of excess choice, people need guidance to make tough decisions.

面對大量的選擇，人們需要方向來做決定

Which is why we need services like Rotten Tomatoes

這就是需要爛番茄這類網站的原因。

The internet staple got its start in the late 90s.

這個大網站建於 90 年代末

And in 2016, Fandango bought its parent company.

2016年，Fandango 買下母公司。

Now, you go to buy a ticket, and there it is.

買好電影票，進到網站就行了。

Which makes that rating important to understand.

了解背後的評分機制很重要

Because the tomatometer — it's more complex than you might expect.

因為爛番茄「新鮮度」的算法可能比你想得還要複雜。

Films can earn one of three designations: rotten, for movies rated 60% of critics gave a positive review.

影片分成三種標示：6 成以下的影評人推薦，標示「爛」

Fresh, for those earning a rate above 60%

6 成以上的影評人推薦，標示「新鮮」

or Certified Fresh.

或「認證新鮮」。

That's reserved for films that were reviewed 80 times and 70% or more of the reviews are positive.

「認證新鮮」的電影要有 80 則影評，7 成以上的影評人給予好評

5 of those reviews need to be from top critics.

其中 5 位得是頂尖影評。

Critics submit a review with their own rating,

影評人照自己的方式評分

or sometimes Rotten Tomatoes asks the critic if it's positive.

有時爛番茄會問該則評論是不是給予好評

If it's borderline, Rotten Tomatoes usually says the review is fresh.

難以判斷時，爛番茄通常都會當好評來看。

Rotten Tomatoes depends on a small army of reviewers to make the tomatometer work.

爛番茄依賴著一小群影評，計算新鮮度

There's about three thousand critics that are counted right now though not every critic

評分會算進爛番茄的影評有近三千位，但影評並非每部片都評分

reviews every film so it's usually a few hundred per film.

所以通常一部片只會有數百則影評。

That's Alissa Wilkinson — she's a staff film critic at Vox.com.

Alissa Wilkinson 是在 Vox.com 上班的影評

Which means her reviews count toward the official Tomatometer.

也就是說，爛番茄的新鮮度會算入她的評分

But the nuance in Alissa's writing is largely reduced to the rating you'll find near the

可是 Alissa 文字評論的細微差別

top of her articles.

多半會簡化成她文章上頭的評分。

Because Rotten Tomatoes uses a thumbs up thumbs down method on everyone's reviews it means

因為爛番茄是用「好」和「不好」的機制來區分每則影評

that it kind of makes a vaguer statements of consensus.

這會讓影評間的共識評價不太明確

we don't get a sense so much of people who have mixed ideas about a film.

我們就容易忽略對電影不褒也不貶的評論。

Look at these two films: Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant, and Barry Jenkins' Moonlight.

比較一下，雷利·史考特的《異形：聖約》跟貝瑞·傑金斯的《月光下的藍色男孩》

Both films are certified fresh, but the similarities end there.

兩部片都是「認證新鮮」，但只有這點相同了。

Alien was an underwhelming blockbuster sequel with a reported budget of 97 million dollars.

雖然沒有熱烈迴響，但《異形：聖約》是賣座強片的續作，預算估計為 9700 萬美元

Moonlight was an Oscar winning drama from a fledgling director with a budget 1/24th

《月光下的藍色男孩》是新進導演拍的奧斯卡得獎片

the size of Alien's.

預算只有《異形：聖約》的 1/24。

Both films achieved the blanket consensus needed for the certified fresh badge.

兩部電影都達到了「認證新鮮」的最低標準

Alien finished with a Tomatometer at 70% — toward the low end of the certified fresh spectrum.

《異形：聖約》有 70% 的新鮮度，屬於「認證新鮮」的尾端

Moonlight received a 98 percent Tomatometer — near total consensus.

《月光下的藍色男孩》則有 98% 的新鮮度，幾乎是一致好評。

But Alien was rated 6.4 out of 10 on average, after Rotten Tomatoes converted critical star

但爛番茄把影評人的星級、字母跟數字評分換算成滿分 10 分的尺度後

ratings, letter grades, and number scores to its 10 point scale.

《異形：聖約》的平均得分為 6.4 分

Moonlight, on the other hand, earned an average rating of 9 out of 10 per review.

《月光下的藍色男孩》的平均得分則達到 9 分。

Most critics loved it and agreed with one another.

可見大多數影評喜好這部片，並達成共識

So the two films earned the badge, but were qualitatively world's apart.

因此，雖然兩部片都是「認證好評」，品質卻是天壤之別。

Here's another scenario:

舉另一個例子：

Both Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, and Jordan

克里斯多福·諾蘭的《敦克爾克大行動》

Peele's Get Out are highly rated and certified fresh.

和喬登·皮爾的《逃出絕命鎮》都是評分高而且「認證好評」的電影。

But according to the Tomatometer, Get Out edges out Dunkirk by 6 percentage points.

不過就新鮮度而言，《逃出絕命鎮》贏了《敦克爾克大行動》 6 個百分點。

If you saw these scores on the Fandango purchase page, you might think that critics rated Get

如果在 Fandango 的購票網站看到這個分數

Out higher than Dunkirk.

你可能會以為影評給《逃出絕命鎮》比《敦克爾克大行動》高

The Rotten Tomatoes page for each film shows that

但爛番茄裡兩部電影的獨自網頁顯示

Dunkirk earned a higher average rating per review.

《敦克爾克大行動》的平均得分卻比《逃出絕命鎮》高。

Dunkirk earned a lower tomatometer because there was less agreement among critics — more

《敦克爾克大行動》的新鮮度比較低是因為影評間比較沒有共識

variance in the data.

造成數據上有更多變動。

And when there is less consensus, the rating is lower.

只要共識程度比較低，分數就會變低

But a cute single tomato rating just can't give you all that information.

但僅僅一個可愛的番茄標示，無法提供這麼多資訊。

Other rating systems try to circumvent these problems with their own methodology.

其他評分網站試著用自己的方法來避開這些問題

Metacritic, the most visible aggregator aside from Rotten Tomatoes, is very subjective.

爛番茄以外最常見的匯總網站 Metacritic 就非常主觀。

It casts a much smaller net than Rotten Tomatoes, and generally does more interpretation and

Metacritic 採納的影評比爛番茄少很多

weighting in their scoring.

更會自行詮釋跟權重計算影評的評分

Metacritic is also less transparent about their rating system than Rotten Tomatoes is.

Metacritic 的評分機制也不如爛番茄透明。

So, is there a one-size fits all, killer method to get digestible and accurate reviews of

那有哪個強大萬能的方法

film in a fraction of time than it logically could take?

能瞬間收集精闢又易懂的影評呢？

Absolutely not.

沒這種事。

That's preposterous;

太異想天開了。

the whole point of the Tomatometer is to help you make a decision quickly.

爛番茄的新鮮度只是要幫你迅速做出決定

If you want context, you click and then you read.

如果想知道更深入的資訊，點開來看就行了

Or, watch.

或是觀賞。

And in a world of limited time and excess choice, we all benefit from a bit of guidance.

在時間有限、選擇多樣的世界裡，我們都會因一點點的引導而得到好處

Just make sure you know how your guide is getting you there.

只要確定能明白引導你的背後機制是什麼。