On Comfort Viewing And Trying New Things

on comfort viewing and trying new things

the thing is that mental health professionals everywhere are acknowledging that most people have "comfort shows" or "comfort movies". series and films we've seen hundreds of times, probably the closest we can get to reliving a good childhood memory. it's warm, it's comforting, it's known. there is nothing unexpected around the corner -- we know the storyline well, we know how it ends.

hollywood isn't "out of ideas". it's capitalizing on this phenomenon, documented by streamers, this rise in "rewatchability" becoming more important than giving the story room to breathe. producers have always been in the business of making money above all else, and now that most of our content comes from huge media conglomerates, it's only getting worse. capitalism has long infected film and tv but it is in the process of swallowing it whole, because fewer and fewer types of movies are getting made and shown in theatres and series are getting cancelled if they don't appeal to the whole, wide world. reboots, remakes, prequels and sequels are a product of our "comfort viewing". they are repackaged tropes and worlds and characters that we know and may very well love. they are selling us something we've seen before, without the discomfort of having to tolerate something new, something uncertain, something unpredictable.

the thing is that mental health professionals also recommend we go on daily walks, or meditate, or take the time just to sit outside without a screen. we can and should indulge in our comfort movies and series -- the world is cold and harsh and we deserve to take comfort where we can. but sometimes, maybe, rewatching the same things over and over again is the media equivalent of spending the day in bed. it's warm in there, it's safe, but it's not exactly helping any of us move forward.

and sometimes it's okay to stand still. necessary, even. but on days where you do have the energy and the willpower to take yourself on a little walk, or to cook a gorgeous meal for yourself, you might want to try watching something new, too.

film and tv is supposed to entertain. yes. but it's also supposed to make us feel things, to make us understand ourselves and the people around us in different ways. it's supposed to help us process doubt, uncertainty, pain, grief, growing pains. it's supposed to show us perspectives we don't come across in our day to day lives. entertainment for the sake of entertainment doesn't always negate that, but, because we're in an age of media monopolies eerily similar to the studio era of hollywood, marketability and rewatchability are always going to be prioritized over everything else -- over the humanity of it all.

and these "alternative" shows and movies that come out -- projects like yellowjackets and the bear and everything everywhere all at once -- are only successful because people gave them a chance. people took the media equivalent of taking themselves on a walk, and they gave new media a chance.

the breakfast club would never get made today. not because of its insensitive and inappropriate jokes and tropes, but because a movie about teenagers just being teenagers simply wouldn't happen. it has no marketability, no potential for a franchise. so, that story isn't getting told. and it's not the only story getting ignored.

i could go on and on about the damage brought on by franchises and streamers, but i'll instead finish this by wishing that on days where you may have the energy to, try watching something you haven't seen before. a new series with fewer artifice and a lesser known cast; a movie about being, and the joys and pains that go with it. rent older movies at your local library, buy used DVDs from goodwill, check out MUBI or the criterion collection. your comfort show isn't going anywhere.