The article was jarring, it went from "Netflix kills culture by dumping large swaths of it" to queer art history and its presence in contemporary anime, to what felt like a stretch to labor...
The article was jarring, it went from "Netflix kills culture by dumping large swaths of it" to queer art history and its presence in contemporary anime, to what felt like a stretch to labor theory. I'll only try to address what seems to be the central topic, which somehow had less than a third of the post dedicated to it, by referencing the title:
The Netflix Model Buries Our Media History
It seems to me that the new mode of streaming has exposed more content, and allowed more depth to be seen in it. Maybe if the show was shown a week at a time, JJBA wouldn't have revealed its link to Antonio Lopez. But releasing the entire show at once doesn't inherently cheapen the show, it's the society-wide behavior at this dump of episodes that dictates the response, ultimately the result of the individual decisions of millions. Since we as a society haven't opted to watch one a week, or even just one a day, it definitely changes how we experience shows. Shows have taken the paternalistic approach of releasing an episode a week, which goes over well for many, but you can just wait for the last episode and get your fix on a Saturday anyway.
I get the debate about shows having the issue of being "art" anymore, rather than a product that is created to be dumped for mass consumption, but arguably that's been a raging debate since before streaming. Do we really need a thousand sitcoms about the American nuclear family, or are they just a safe bet that'll attract advertisers? Does Family Guy say anything the Simpsons hasn't? It can go in any direction.
Temporal Distance Creates Psychological Presence
As far as the phenomenology of streaming has been a thing, it's been found that it is generally harder for a show to become a "hit" in the traditional sense because you don't get to stew in your own suspense for a week between episodes. I've noticed the difference in feeling between a particularly strong cliffhanger and the next episode. The show just hits different when you've waited a week for that story arc conclusion. However, I feel this is one of the many disjointed points in the article, even if I agree with her.
Maybe I'm being too literal, but I don't think streaming is the issue. It is arguably an issue, for people who care about valuing a show based on its social significance (i.e: being a hit), but that's not the damage to culture, it arguably only hurts the commercially produced show that will still get millions of views, and potentially billions in rewatches over the years. I'd say it's my old favorite rant about copyright being the issue. Fortunately, most new stuff is digital these days so, barring a coordinated attack on the world's data centers, we are unlikely to lose any newer media, but we're going to lose the majority of the last century's stuff. This current system isn't being fixed. As long as we're stuck with this copyright system, it takes a profit motive to preserve this media. If there's even a chance that this motive could shine its light on media we'll lose forever and cause it to be digitally archived, I'd say it's a good thing. In a sense having everything digitally available, even behind a pay wall, is a good thing because it also means it's somewhat trivial to liberate the content from this jail.. Now it's extremely likely that the moment a show hits Netflix or Disney's server it's immediately lost to the digital commons.
The idea of making appointment viewing out of older material is kind of novel, and it would be interesting to see a "mass watch party" based around making it an event, similar to what Twitch does...
The idea of making appointment viewing out of older material is kind of novel, and it would be interesting to see a "mass watch party" based around making it an event, similar to what Twitch does with Twitch Presents, but spread out across multiple weeks.
EDIT: Especially since there is a lot of stuff I want to watch on Netflix, but get put off by the initial time commitment, where as I wouldn't if it was a little more doled out.
Here's a question: Would you have watched a show of 10 seasons, 23 episodes per season, as they aired? You'd still be using around 10 days of your life in that case. The rest is just planning when...
there is a lot of stuff I want to watch on Netflix, but get put off by the initial time commitment
Here's a question: Would you have watched a show of 10 seasons, 23 episodes per season, as they aired? You'd still be using around 10 days of your life in that case. The rest is just planning when you watch it, instead of receiving a mandate from the network showing it.
My logic brain knows that it's the same amount of time, but the routine aspect of it makes it feel like it's more of a leisure activity rather than an obligation.
My logic brain knows that it's the same amount of time, but the routine aspect of it makes it feel like it's more of a leisure activity rather than an obligation.
I realy wish streaming services allowed me to watch stuff on-line with people in a synchronized fashion. It would be AWESOME to be able to watch a movie and chat with my big sister that lives in...
I realy wish streaming services allowed me to watch stuff on-line with people in a synchronized fashion. It would be AWESOME to be able to watch a movie and chat with my big sister that lives in Europe or to watch Riverdale with my little sister (she loves the show - I would be willing to endure :P) that lives in another state.
amazon has a function called watchparty. Different users (everyone needs to have prime access) watch the same movie at the same time. The party owner controls the playback (stop, go froward, etc)...
amazon has a function called watchparty.
Different users (everyone needs to have prime access) watch the same movie at the same time. The party owner controls the playback (stop, go froward, etc) and every member can watch in their selwcted language. There is also a group chat.
If people have an Oculus, Index, Vive, or WMR, they can use Bigscreen VR to watch Netflix or content from any other streaming site together too. Me and a few of my friends have done that a few...
If people have an Oculus, Index, Vive, or WMR, they can use Bigscreen VR to watch Netflix or content from any other streaming site together too. Me and a few of my friends have done that a few times in the past, and it's been a blast.
For non-VR, Watch2Gether supports YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitch, and also used to support Netflix and the like via its beta W2gSync app... although I haven't used that in a long time, and sadly it looks like they no longer really support it. :(
Edit: StreamParty apparently supports Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, however it is unfortunately a paid service.
The article was jarring, it went from "Netflix kills culture by dumping large swaths of it" to queer art history and its presence in contemporary anime, to what felt like a stretch to labor theory. I'll only try to address what seems to be the central topic, which somehow had less than a third of the post dedicated to it, by referencing the title:
It seems to me that the new mode of streaming has exposed more content, and allowed more depth to be seen in it. Maybe if the show was shown a week at a time, JJBA wouldn't have revealed its link to Antonio Lopez. But releasing the entire show at once doesn't inherently cheapen the show, it's the society-wide behavior at this dump of episodes that dictates the response, ultimately the result of the individual decisions of millions. Since we as a society haven't opted to watch one a week, or even just one a day, it definitely changes how we experience shows. Shows have taken the paternalistic approach of releasing an episode a week, which goes over well for many, but you can just wait for the last episode and get your fix on a Saturday anyway.
I get the debate about shows having the issue of being "art" anymore, rather than a product that is created to be dumped for mass consumption, but arguably that's been a raging debate since before streaming. Do we really need a thousand sitcoms about the American nuclear family, or are they just a safe bet that'll attract advertisers? Does Family Guy say anything the Simpsons hasn't? It can go in any direction.
As far as the phenomenology of streaming has been a thing, it's been found that it is generally harder for a show to become a "hit" in the traditional sense because you don't get to stew in your own suspense for a week between episodes. I've noticed the difference in feeling between a particularly strong cliffhanger and the next episode. The show just hits different when you've waited a week for that story arc conclusion. However, I feel this is one of the many disjointed points in the article, even if I agree with her.
Maybe I'm being too literal, but I don't think streaming is the issue. It is arguably an issue, for people who care about valuing a show based on its social significance (i.e: being a hit), but that's not the damage to culture, it arguably only hurts the commercially produced show that will still get millions of views, and potentially billions in rewatches over the years. I'd say it's my old favorite rant about copyright being the issue. Fortunately, most new stuff is digital these days so, barring a coordinated attack on the world's data centers, we are unlikely to lose any newer media, but we're going to lose the majority of the last century's stuff. This current system isn't being fixed. As long as we're stuck with this copyright system, it takes a profit motive to preserve this media. If there's even a chance that this motive could shine its light on media we'll lose forever and cause it to be digitally archived, I'd say it's a good thing. In a sense having everything digitally available, even behind a pay wall, is a good thing because it also means it's somewhat trivial to liberate the content from this jail.. Now it's extremely likely that the moment a show hits Netflix or Disney's server it's immediately lost to the digital commons.
The idea of making appointment viewing out of older material is kind of novel, and it would be interesting to see a "mass watch party" based around making it an event, similar to what Twitch does with Twitch Presents, but spread out across multiple weeks.
EDIT: Especially since there is a lot of stuff I want to watch on Netflix, but get put off by the initial time commitment, where as I wouldn't if it was a little more doled out.
Here's a question: Would you have watched a show of 10 seasons, 23 episodes per season, as they aired? You'd still be using around 10 days of your life in that case. The rest is just planning when you watch it, instead of receiving a mandate from the network showing it.
My logic brain knows that it's the same amount of time, but the routine aspect of it makes it feel like it's more of a leisure activity rather than an obligation.
I realy wish streaming services allowed me to watch stuff on-line with people in a synchronized fashion. It would be AWESOME to be able to watch a movie and chat with my big sister that lives in Europe or to watch Riverdale with my little sister (she loves the show - I would be willing to endure :P) that lives in another state.
amazon has a function called watchparty.
Different users (everyone needs to have prime access) watch the same movie at the same time. The party owner controls the playback (stop, go froward, etc) and every member can watch in their selwcted language. There is also a group chat.
I’ll look it up, thanks!
If people have an Oculus, Index, Vive, or WMR, they can use Bigscreen VR to watch Netflix or content from any other streaming site together too. Me and a few of my friends have done that a few times in the past, and it's been a blast.
For non-VR, Watch2Gether supports YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitch, and also used to support Netflix and the like via its beta W2gSync app... although I haven't used that in a long time, and sadly it looks like they no longer really support it. :(
Edit: StreamParty apparently supports Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, however it is unfortunately a paid service.
cc: @mrbig
Also, Plex recently added this feature.
Oh, snap... I use the Plex Media Server and have for probably a decade now, but had no idea that feature was added. Thanks for the heads up!