The TV show Breaking Bad entered its fifth and final season two weeks ago. Many speculate that “binge watching” is in large part responsible for the growing success of the show. Thanks to Netflix, a subscriber can watch an entire season of all new episodes back to back in one or several marathon sittings. Now, with their original shows House of Cards and Arrested Development, Netflix is beginning to explore creating TV shows with these binge watchers in mind.
This is opening up the possibility for a shift in the way TV is created and has some people worried. As the term “binge” suggests, it can’t be good for us to indulge in an abundance of the “boob tube,” feeding our feel-good cravings.
Lisa Cole Smith
|
TV critics and lovers are also ambivalent. Some say binge watching goes against the creative integrity of the medium designed for watching in installments over a long period of weeks. Others bemoan the loss of the “water cooler” experience that allows watchers to feel connected to a larger community viewing the show at the same time.
No one is sure how many people engage in binge watching, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is a large number of people of varying ages and walks of life. As research develops around this trend we may see the radical move of television programming changing to suit viewers’ habits. And I say that is a good thing.
I don’t think the choice to watch one series at a time in large chunks has only to do with addictive natures. I, like many others, have already made the choice to unplug from network and cable TV. I refuse to build my schedule around viewing or to sit and flip channels endlessly looking for something to watch. Nor do I allow advertisers to decide what I see. I much prefer to choose the times I want or need to relax and lose myself in a story. Like reading a good book, it’s better when I can nestle in with a cup of tea and snuggle with a blanket, my husband and the dog on the couch.
Perhaps this development could change how we use TV and the possibilities for it as an art form. As one of the most accessible forms of entertainment, it is one of the few ways in our busy and expensive lives that we might be inclined to deeply engage our imaginations in story.
And story is important. When we are allowed to immerse ourselves in a storyline we step into other people’s lives and forget ourselves for a while. We experience empathy and often for characters and people very different from ourselves, sometimes disturbingly so, and are challenged by how easily we relate. We are confronted with moral questions brought on by our active role in choosing programming. “Can I justify spending this much time with these characters and these situations?”
Granted, bingeing on mental junk food and violence may not be edifying, but what if we are intentional in allowing our viewing to help us formulate our own internal worlds? Is it possible that television could be used as an aid in abiding with God? In personal character building? I am shaped by the story worlds in which I place myself and can use them to help me develop. For example, there have been many TV shows that have given me models of independent, female leaders who I could turn to as mentors even when I didn’t have them in real life. Watching characters negotiate challenging situations helped me understand my own better.
I’m not advocating that we become a nation of bingers on TV, but I’d like to hope we might be able to use these new innovations to help us shape ourselves into the people and culture we would like to be. The question for Christians really becomes, “How can I use media, entertainment and my own down time to build up my character, my concern for my neighbor and my relationship with God?”
In what ways might this shake up in the entertainment industry be an opportunity for us as viewers to become more empowered as authors of our own cultural experiences and shape an alternate vision of our world just by what we choose to watch? One thing is for certain, every day we have more freedom to curate our creative and cultural lives. That level of choice is a very good thing and a responsibility not to be taken lightly.
Lisa Cole Smith ([email protected]) is pastor of Convergence: A Creative Community of Faith, in Alexandria, Va.