Gender, comedy and reviewing culture on the Internet Movie Database

Abstract

Despite its self-proclaimed position as “#1 movie website in the world” IMDb has been the focus of surprisingly little academic attention. The academic work which does exist has typically focused on its user-generated content and has, in various ways, used this as a means of investigating a sub-section of the film audience whilst nevertheless acknowledging that IMDb users are likely to differ from film audiences. This article explores whether gender identity is one of the ways in which IMDb users and film audiences may differ. Based on an analysis of IMDb’s own rater demographics, combined with a content analysis of IMDb reviews for three contemporary gender comedies – (500) Days of Summer, The Hangover and Bridesmaids - I argue that IMDb is discursively constructed as a male space where male voices and systems of value dominate.