We all know someone who has shut themselves indoors for an entire day to marathon through an entire series of a television show or movie series and this someone might just be you. This is the wonderful art known as binge-watching. It doesn’t only relate to television and movies, people also like to read through a book trilogy as fast they can, especially if it’s a series that has a movie coming out soon. I know I’m definitely guilty of binge-watching. I only just recently took a dive into 10 Studio Ghibli movies in preparation for the new movie that’s coming out. But forget about me for a moment; let’s get to the topic at hand.
How exactly is binge-watching affecting the media as a whole? Well let’s look at this from another point of view. Television shows and radio have a specific broadcasting set-up in which the show you are watching transitions into advertising. These advertisements are helping the companies who produce our shows make money and it also keeps them on the air. Television companies like NBC and ABC keep a close eye on television ratings and how many viewers there are. If the series is having consistent low ratings, it’s most likely the company will pull the show from the Network. But wait, what does this have to do with binge-watching?
Nobody is watching these shows as it airs.
Ever since companies like Netflix and Hulu came along, people had access to an entire season’s episodes the day it’s released. While this isn’t much of a problem for Netflix Originals like Orange is the New Black, which is now entering its third season, it happens to be a problem for the shows that are running on network television. If the television show isn’t getting any viewers then it isn’t making money, and if the show isn’t getting viewers, then the network is losing out on money and ratings as well.
So is binge-watching beneficial to every genre of media? Not for television. The year Netflix came out it gained a huge 2.3 million fan base, this led to a downfall in television since people didn’t really want to wait week by week to watch their shows. Television happens to be doing very good again since 2008, but it’s not the top media outlet it used to be. “Appointment television” is something taken from Brian Dunphy’s lecture “The Experience of Binge-Watching.” He states that television broadcasts basically demand us the viewers to watch the shows that air exactly when it airs or else you risk spoilers from your friends, and the king of all spoilers and trolls, the internet. This is absolutely terrifying for most people because we hate to be spoiled, especially from shows like Walking Dead and Game of Thrones which constantly kill their developed characters. Not everyone has the time to wait till Sunday nights to catch a show at 10 o’clock at night. Good luck avoiding spoilers because The Walking Dead official Facebook page spoils their own show the day the episode comes out. This is a punishment for those who don’t follow their show religiously.
Unfortunately, this goes for film as well. To binge-watch an entire movie series because a new sequel is coming out might ruin the whole feeling of it. A good example of this comes directly from my mass media class. My professor watched Before Sunrise when it first came out in 1995; I was only two years old at the time. Before Sunrise ended on such a good cliffhanger on whether or not these two love birds will ever meet again, while I only had to wait a few days to watch the next movie, my professor had to wait about ten years! He then had to wait an extra eight years for the conclusion of the trilogy to come out. What I watched and enjoyed is nothing compared to an almost twenty year-long wait for this trilogy to end.
However, when it comes to other media outlets, binge-watching might not be that big of a problem at all. For example, there’s no real loss for those who sell books and magazines. They’re earning money and also developing a fan base. But for the reader, it might be a different case. For example, one who reads the Harry Potter series started this series in 1997; you probably found the book in your elementary school’s scholastic book fair. The final book in the series came out in 2007. That’s 10 years’ worth of a huge fan base getting larger and larger, discussing what happens next, developing a connection with the huge cast of characters, and overall developing a connection with the author who created it. But a person who decides to pick these books up and read it in a span of a week won’t get to experience this at all; do they really get to develop a connection? They never get to experience the suspense of what happens next.
“People take pride in just the fact that they have watched or read something, that should take years, in only a few days or weeks.”
Now let’s get to my opinion about this whole subject of binge-watching. As I’m currently writing this blog, I’m also currently behind on 20 episodes of anime. Hold on, let me rephrase that;
I’m currently watching TWENTY different anime shows that air once a week, each series spanning from 13 – 50 episodes. It’s definitely insane to constantly keep track of all these episodes; I usually save them for Wednesdays since I’m off from school. However just like Dunphy states in his lecture again, there is something known as appointment television. These series get released on all different days of the week, so I’m constantly risking all types of spoilers from all different sources of media. However, I’ve learned to be okay with that because I’m still developing connections with all these characters and the amazing plot most of these shows have. I enjoy talking with my friends about anime, discussing characters true intentions and who is going to get killed next. (Because unfortunately, the Japanese love killing their main protagonists by episode three) By watching these shows as it airs, I get to be a part of something bigger, a fan base that waits week after week, all of us with deep connections, examining every little detail the creators leave for us. Watching these shows as it airs, is the most beautiful experience one can have.
Not to say I’m not guilty of binge watching, I occasionally blast through 13 episode series as I wait for my currently airing shows to be released. This isn’t very difficult to do considering each episode is about twenty minutes long; I’ll finish a thirteen episode series in at least one day. I don’t find anything wrong with that. In fact, I take pride in it. I suffer from the “Seven Deadly Sins of Binge-watching” as quoted from Dunphy’s lecture. I get so greedy because the internet is filled with millions of anime series that I’m constantly finding something new. I get angry when a series doesn’t air an episode. I’m envious of those who get the show earlier in other countries.
I’m kind of like Scott Pilgrim, except I’m not fighting seven evil ex-boyfriends. I’m just fighting these sins for my one true love of Netflix.
Anyways, while I do take pride in how many series I have under my belt, I’m not proud of binge-watching. In fact I regret the whole experience because it’s pretty dull. I still get very emotional with characters, but I lose out on the whole developmental process.
So in a perfect world without spoilers, watching a show as it airs is the best experience one can have. You get everything the show has to offer, you develop connections with every character and everyone watching it as well. You also feel like you’re part of the world that the creators developed for you the viewers. It’s the true experience.
It all depends on the person and what they’re satisfied with. Most people watch shows for themselves, for their sole experience only. There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing god once in a while. But having so much power comes with so much responsibility.
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