830 Messages
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26.4K Points
Why is the keyword "surrealism" on 10,508 titles?
Someone seems to believe that any title that is not strictly realistic deals in surrealism. That includes all science fiction and fantasy films/shows as well as absolutely anything that's animated.
"Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself."
TOM AND JERRY: THE MOVIE and THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER do not deal with this cultural movement in their plots, and neither do 99% of the other titles.
Even if the idea is that all non-realistic movies are surreal (which is ludicrous), that would mean the keyword surrealism is being used as a subjective description of the film.
The keywords should not be describing movies as surreal any more than they should be calling them exciting, heart-breaking, or bizarre.
The issue with this keyword is 10 to 15 years old. I thought it had been resolved a long time ago.
keyword_expert
2.7K Messages
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47K Points
1 year ago
I don't know what the solution is, but I agree the "surrealism" keyword has been overused to the point of being completely dysfunctional and meaningless (much like the "psychotronic" keyword).
I do have the following keywords in my private lists for a future public proposed mass merger. But that won't solve the problem of these keywords' severe overuse.
surreal (562 titles) --> surrealistic [this one was at 64 titles on 08/28/2022 but has recently been manually eliminated, not by me] --> surrealist (147 titles) --> surrealism (10572 titles)
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jay_spirit
830 Messages
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26.4K Points
1 year ago
I'm in favor of merging those three keywords, but it looks like surreal and surrealist have just as many inappropriate titles as surrealism.
What if all three keywords were removed and banned?
Then we might add surrealist movement to any titles that are explicitly about the movement, or have surreal sequences created by avowed surrealists.
The latter type would include SPELLBOUND (1945), which has a dream sequence by Salvador Dali.
Dali teamed with Luis Bunuel to make an entire surrealist short film, UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929). And then Bunuel went on to make feature-length surrealist films, like THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972).
Surrealist movement would apply to them, but not to Spider-Man movies or even fantastical sci-fi dramas like THE MATRIX.
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keyword_expert
2.7K Messages
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47K Points
1 year ago
The same contributor who often inappropriately adds the keyword "surrealism" to titles also often inappropriately adds "grindhouse-film" and/or "psychotronic-film" to the same titles. It's obvious it's the same person doing this because these keywords are often side by side on the keyword pages.
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Michelle
Employee
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16.2K Messages
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300.4K Points
1 year ago
Hi All -
As I understand the issue, there is a valid argument for keeping the three separate keyword,s but they have been used incorrectly on a high volume of titles. If this is the case, a very large-scale clean-up will need to be done.
Additionally, in order for IMDb staff to identify any contribution patterns, we will need some examples to investigate. You are welcome to post a small list of titles here where the keywords are incorrectly listed and our staff can investigate further.
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bradley_kent
1.3K Messages
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22.7K Points
1 year ago
This WAS much discussed I the past, with, as I remember it, the conclusion that SOME animated films are surrealism and SOME are not. The "isms" are valid subgenres, but they are often misunderstood, i.e., expressionism vs. impressionism. Look to paintings for examples and definitions.
I have never added "cult-film" (much overused) or "midnight-movie" (outdated?) to any title, but do feel that "psychotronic-film" is a valid subgenre (to many, if not to you) as defined in several books, including encyclopedias and directories that list such titles.
I agree that some have mistakenly applied these keywords. IMDb needs to agree on definitions and distinctions rather than just delete them.
(I once taught a university course on Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and the "isms" were much discussed and debated, and there were always justified disagreements.)
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jay_spirit
830 Messages
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26.4K Points
1 year ago
The keyword surrealism does not apply to any of the titles listed above, nor does it apply to thousands of other titles to which it is attached.
I suspect that the same person added the keyword to all those titles above. If that is true I hope the staff will take appropriate action.
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bradley_kent
1.3K Messages
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22.7K Points
1 year ago
I don't remember working on ANY of the above titles. BUT, talking dogs, cats, mice, etc. are NOT realism. I wish they were.
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keyword_expert
2.7K Messages
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47K Points
1 year ago
@jay_spirit @Bethanny
Just a hunch, but I believe the same contributor (possibly using more than one IMDb account) who has been inappropriately adding keywords like "surrealism", "maximalism", "postmodern", "grindhouse-film", "midnight-movie", "blockbuster", and "psychotronic-film" to numerous titles is also responsible for improperly adding the keywords "cult-figure," "cult" and related keywords to titles, and also for improperly adding certain inapplicable keywords to popular films like The Shining, as discussed in this thread:
Improper keywords repeatedly added to The Shining (1980)
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Michelle
Employee
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16.2K Messages
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300.4K Points
4 months ago
Hi @jay_spirit & All -
My apologies for the delayed staff reply. I am circling back to this older thread to confirm that I have filed a ticket (#P95625517) for the appropriate team to investigate all reported titles.
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