Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, Don’t Look Up is a satire about American society being too divided by politics and distracted by pop culture to notice a comet hurtling to earth – and it has become Netflix’s third-most-streamed film of all time within just three weeks of its 2021 Christmas Eve release. Of reviewers, however, only 54% gave the film a favorable review according to Rotten Tomatoes – with Nick Allen, a critic on film website Ebert.com, describing it as, “A disastrous movie, Don't Look Up shows McKay as the most out of touch he's ever been with what is clever, or how to get his audience to care.” However, criticisms like Allen’s seem to also be out of touch with audience sentiment – where it scored a 78% audience approval rating. “Who cares about the experts,” says a Reddit user. "They don't own how I perceive things."

Don’t Look Up, joins the likes of other 2021 films like Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Red Notice, and Marvel’s Eternals where fans’ reactions were overwhelmingly positive despite critics being much less enthusiastic. This discrepancy speaks to a media landscape where people are seeking out technologies that connect and give a greater voice to everyday individual critics – this can be seen in the rapid growth of online communities like cinephile social media platform Letterboxd, which grew from 1.7 to 3 million users over 2020. The success of Don’t Look Up can be seen as part of a growing shift towards decentralized means of evaluating artistic endeavors – where people who share a common passion and purpose can exert greater influence than more traditional forms of cultural critiques and they want brands to support and facilitate that autonomy.