Do you think people actually like—or are claiming to like—a movie just because Netflix recommends it? To me, it seems more likely that this just reflects increase availability: more people suddenly have access to a movie, so more watch it and some of those will like it.

I can see how people, especially on a dating site, would feel pressured to mention something highbrow, but the social pressure itself isn’t coming from Netflix.

They weren't pressured to like it, but without the "algorithm" showing it to them, they never would have discovered it.

And yet I find it impossible to muster any indignation at the idea of more people watching and enjoying Amélie.

>> harder to find new (or new to me) films serendipitously.

There are places. I wouldn't condone copyright violations but the various forums used by filesharers are the modern incarnation of the film rental shelf. People publish collections based on their own tastes regardless of copyrights, contracts or other limitations. These are movie lovers and will point you to films that you would never normally consider. It is then on you to hunt down these recommendations through legal means.

I have discovered many a great European scifi series through filesharing forums. Getting hold of a legal copy is often difficult, but I'd rather spend effort to obtain a great thing than wade through the sea of junk 'recommended' by netflix. Currently I'm trying to find a copy of "The City and The City", which appeared on a pirate feed a few weeks ago and looks like a great series.

This is obviously useless for almost everyone, likely including you, but I urge anyone in or near Seattle who has this problem to check out Scarecrow Video[0] which has over 100,000 films in a variety of formats organized by director.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarecrow_Video

I think everyone is overestimating the importance of the "favorite movie" section of a dating profile.

Once a dating profile has been created it is RARELY edited in anything but photos.

No one was going back to put Amelie into their favorite movies. They just were filling out the BEAST LIST of requirements and personality tests, and quickly filled in that field with a non embarrassing movie they had seen recently.

I think this years most favorite movie was probably "GET OUT". But that shit will be a footnote except for film buffs in 3 or 4.

It might be interesting to analyze how it is you serendipitously find new films and whether that could be applied to a site like Netflix. Is it a cover that catches your eye? A recommendation from a passerby? A random pick off the shelf? Etc. Any of these approaches could be replicated in a web interface.

I think Stumbleupon was quite clever at what it did and I'm disappointed more services haven't picked up on the "Give us a broad category and pull the lever to make the slot machine spit out something you've never seen before" approach to content. But it does give me hope that algorithms can provide the experience of serendipity if the people designing the application make that choice.

>It might be interesting to analyze how it is you serendipitously find new films and whether that could be applied to a site like Netflix.

Netflix seems to have a borderline religious obsession with keeping the UI "simple",

A "random film" button would be welcome IMHO. (Or random within categories)

> I'm a film buff and I think so. A lot of people don't seem to go out of their way to obtain films aside from looking at Netflix recommendations.

I suspect that's not Netflix's recommendations, but just having it added to Netflix. Anything new tends to get a lot of views, as people actively go through the "New" category.

I'm rarely satisfied with recommendation engines, but I actually got good results with https://movielens.org/ - maybe worth a try for you.

Also, Mubi is a great resource for films, curated by themes, topics and users. Unfortunately their streamign/licensing model of showing a small selection of films for a limited time isn't very useful to me. Nevertheless the content is great: https://mubi.com

Presumably the people who liked Amelie would have enjoyed it both before and after they saw it, but how could they know they liked it until they knew enough about other people liking it and why those people liked it to like it themselves?

I can't tell if you think all/most the people who claimed they liked Amelie are dishonestly reporting they liked it because it is important for them to like something other people like?

I think the point is not that they are being disingenuous, but that even people who are deliberately trying to like obscure things nowadays are primarily just consuming what Netflix shows them.

In 2018, if you're primarily using Netflix you're not deliberately trying to find obscure stuff. ;)

Here, this should keep you busy for a while:

https://mubi.com/lists

i mean Amelie does fucking own though