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The Wizard of Oz Most 'Influential' Film of all Time According to Network Science:
The Wizard of Oz, followed by Star Wars and Psycho, is identified as the most influential film of all time in a study published in the open access journal Applied Network Science.
Researchers at the University of Turin, Italy, calculated an influence score for 47,000 films listed in IMDb (the internet movie database). The score was based on how much each film had been referenced by subsequent films. The authors found that the top 20 most influential films were all produced before 1980 and mostly in the United States.
Dr. Livio Bioglio, the lead author, said: "We propose an alternative method to box office takings—which are affected by factors beyond the quality of the film such as advertising and distribution—and reviews—which are ultimately subjective—for analysing the success of a film. We have developed an algorithm that uses references between movies as a measure for success, and which can also be used to evaluate the career of directors, actors and actresses, by considering their participation in top-scoring movies."
Applying the algorithm to directors, the five men credited for The Wizard of Oz are all in the top eight, with Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick ranked third, fifth and sixth respectively. When the authors used another approach to remove the bias of older movies—which, because they were produced earlier, can potentially influence a greater number of subsequent films—Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Brian De Palma occupied the top spots instead.
When applied to actors, the algorithm ranked Samuel L. Jackson, Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise as the top three. The authors noticed a strong gender bias towards male actors; the only female in the top ten was Lois Maxwell, who played the recurring role of Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond franchise.
[...] The authors suggest that their method could be used for research in the arts and by film historians. However, they caution that the results can only be applied to Western cinema as the data on IMDb are strongly biased towards films produced in Western countries.
Explore further: Automated method beats critics in picking great movies
More information: Livio Bioglio et al, "Identification of key films and personalities in the history of cinema from a Western perspective", Applied Network Science (2018). DOI: 10.1007/s41109-018-0105-0
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 02 2018, @03:53AM (1 child)
While I agree it's distressing, at least those three actors have some chance of being viewed as "influential" or at least well-known.
The fact that the only highly-ranked female actress was a random person in Bond films that many folks will never have even heard of should have been a clue that this algorithm is likely complete bullshit.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday December 02 2018, @04:48AM
That one checks out. Very hard for a Female Actress to be in the Top Ten. So much comes down to, how do the breasts look? If she has nice Tits but no Brain, possibly she can do very well.
But for the movies it's bullshit. What about Home Alone 2: Lost in New York? Very successful film and it's the best of the 5. Because of me. I was very honered to play -- brilliantly -- Billionaire Donald J. Trump, Owner of the luxurious Plaza Hotel in New York. But we had some tremendous Female Actresses in that one. Catherine from Canada. And Brenda Fricker of Ireland. She doesn't do Porn. But, she should have. Because she was very "sexy." I had some great times with her. And she has the best name for Porn. The absolute best. PERFECTO!!