The Rating System and How to Use It

On a scale of one to ten how happy are the workers of Disney? On a scale from Neil Patrick Harris to Elton John just how gay can a gay guy be?

I got both of those answers yesterday. A gay best friend of mine took me to Downtown Disney, or in other words, the cheap part of Disney. He picked me up at my place and proceeded to play Cher’s greatest hits. It didn’t help that he wore a monogrammed Ralph Polo shirt. On a scale of gayness, I would rate this drive a six. I would rate him a solid ten.

Which got me thinking about rating and rating systems. I wondered, is it the person who gets rated or the personality? We rate movies based on content, but it’s much different with people. Isn’t it? Here’s an example: back in 1954, Dial M for Murder was released under a PG rating. For those of you who don’t know, the movie was about killing Grace Kelly. Not a film for the kiddos, you see.

Take for instance this guy, dancing to the band at Downtown Disney, wearing denim on denim with jewels on the shirt. He was older, nearing seventy to say the least and having a grand old time. He mainly danced by himself, until a little girl, wearing a Cinderella gown, got up and danced with him.

Granted, we only walked past him, but his personality rang through- and not just from the outfit choice- but also by his ability to dance by himself, in a crowd of well over a hundred people. I would rate the man himself an eight, the outfit choice a low two.

As we walked around, deciding on which over priced restaurant would satisfy our rumbling tummies, I rated gay best friend. He always laughs at my jokes, sometimes makes me laugh (his sense of humor is blatantly sexual) and pays for anything (with a minimal effort of me fighting and saying I could pay my own way). With all of these things put together, I rated him a nine out of ten. One point off for using Grindr.

But I wondered, could I rate myself? As we chose a restaurant, I ran through a list of things I could rate about myself. My sense of humor, ten out of ten. The way I care about certain things and people, eight out of ten. My writing, the way I dress and many other things are up for debate.

I figured we rate things to better understand them. We all know an R rated movie will have some nudity, drug references or even murder. They might not have any of that but got its rating from the premise, like killing a beloved screen goddess. We know, well should know, not to bring kids into an R rated film, but many still do.

Here’s a question for you, dear reader, if you could, what would you rate yourself?