The New York Times Magazine posted an interesting look into the public race ($1M prize, tech geeks!) to improve Netflix’s Cinematch recommendation software and the fascinating conundrum that all the civilian programmers working on it now are facing: we call it the “Napoleon Dynamite” Effect.
To summarize the Cinematch software and this contest: Netflix offered up a giant cash prize to anyone who can improve the recommendation software by 10%. Sounds small but every time the software is improved even a tenth of a percentage point it recommends more overall and more accurately to users, who then rent more movies. Since customers are paying on average $16.99 a month for a subscription it is key that Netflix keep them engaged and checking out movies or else the value of the subscription plummets and customers cancel. This 10% increase is hugely valuable to Netflix. Meanwhile the geeks stumbling through code and algorithms have hit a wall – they can’t seem to quite get to this 10% mark because of the effect of a the ratings on a certain subset of indie movies, the flash point of which is “Napoleon Dynamite.”
The other polarizing indie-minded gems the programmers have noticed this same glitch with are: “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “Lost in Translation,” “Kill Bill: Volume 1” (note, not volume 2!), “Sideways,” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.”
It’s fascinating because, later in the article, one programmer talks about his recommendation algorithm taking on a life of it’s own and spitting out things he’s completely unable to explain, like a correlation between “Joan of Arc,” “W.W.E.: Summer Slam 2004,” Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House,” and the comedy film “It Had to Be You” – weird but it can be traced by the same algorithms that predict those who love “Sex and the City” do not give a crap about “Star Trek.” However, the above mentioned little group of 7 indies is throwing the entire recommendation system out of whack to the tune of 1.2 stars on average! Which is huge considering everything else has a margin of error of around .4 stars at the highest.
The theory as to why which we most agree with is: these films are all movies that got buzz or would have been recommended by other humans but your average movie watcher might not actually enjoy the snarkiness of “Napoleon Dynamite.” Hell, your average Wes Anderson fan might not have enjoyed the off-the-rails craziness of ‘The Life Aquatic.’ In the end they were all films that were so talked about that people felt they had to watch them to participate in the general public discourse about pop culture. The reactions to them, however, vary so wildly that it’s apparently not even something a computer can track.
In summary: your opinion of “Napoleon Dynamite,” be it positive of negative, is conclusive proof of your very humanity.