Engage!
Sliding into tolerance, tipsy and untransformed
We used to talk about movies, TV and books during quick breaks around the watercooler, or tipsy at the pub. Nowadays, maybe not so much, since we’ve gotten the chance to publish our opinions online.
Has this changed how we engage with entertainment?
How do we struggle with things we don’t understand?
More and more, I worry that we’re failing to work out what things mean, and what we’re supposed to take from them. How much time do we take to engage with stories, before we criticise them? As soon as you’re done watching or reading something, you can go online and see a YouTube video someone made about it, fresh from the experience themselves.
I sometimes enjoy listening to a podcast after watching something, finding myself somewhat miffed at all the negative comments. I go into the podcast, having enjoyed the entertainment, and come out wondering what I’ve done wrong. How did I miss all those plot holes and the terrible writing?
I occasionally go back to the work to figure out what the podcasters are talking about that I don’t seem to get. Fun fact: many of the perceived mistakes and plot holes aren’t there. I totally understand why writers and producers take a lot of information, like exposition or character work, out of their stories. They slow down the narrative. People will get bored. And podcast about it.
Once we come back to the work, we get a chance to renegotiate our relationship with it, and we may find that something has changed, and now we are able to engage with the text in ways we couldn’t before. But what has changed? The times? The world? The media? Maybe. But mostly, we ourselves have changed. And over time, we’ve learned things that change our relationship with the themes, structure, and meaning of the work.
Where initially we found fault with the creators, we’re now able to appreciate the work on a deeper level. And certain complaints fall away.
In the time of podcasting it’s become a lot easier to observe this process of engagement. Things will get talked about again, once there’s a distance. People’s appreciation of stories changes through time. What you struggled with back then, you may be able to appreciate better now.
How are we moved by a work? What makes the experience of engaging with it transformative? What makes us emote, as we read, listen, or watch? And how has our engagement changed in the time of Netflix and scroll? And as we sit munching, chatting, and fretting about perceived plot holes, how much of the work’s content, nay, the intent, are we missing?
Do we get the point of the work, or just tolerate being distracted as we slide over the surface? Is our fear of missing out making us miss out? And are movies, TV and books really being dumbed down to keep social media addicts interested?
Are we still immersed, and ready to engage with stories?
