I think the majority of normal people don’t have a side at all, and aren’t really engaged in this conversation, because they honestly don’t think about it to that extent once they’re done watching it. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that either. They watch the thing, they like parts of it, dislike others, and either they’re happy with their experience or they’re not. The majority of normal people just move onto the next thing at that point. They never join a side.
I disagree. Most people see a movie and then either had a good time or a bad time. Yes, they’ll probably stop thinking about it once they get to their cars unless they really liked it, but they still had an opinion. You don’t have to argue online to have an opinion about something.
I’m confused with what you’re disagreeing with, then. I never said they didn’t have an opinion. I specifically said they’re going to form opinions as they watch it, and then… not care enough about sharing those opinions with strangers on the internet to be part of the conversation. They’re not picking a side. That’s most people.
Most people having the conversation on the internet though, aren’t the majority of people who watched the movie. And of the people who ARE making sure to turn their feelings on the movie into long, extended conversations (or even content, which then spurs its own content-focused conversations nested within) the idea that argumentative loudmouths are a small minority doesn’t hold weight, in my experience. Maybe they’re not the majority, but it’s a lot closer to 50/50, and again, more often than not the loudmouth brigade being the “minority” doesn’t matter because they’re the ones steering the conversation anyway.