I want to stop watching tv shows. I mean completely stop. But the problem is that the quality of it is amazing, making the addiction so strong.
6 years ago, binge watching tv was a guilty thing, you'd watch crap like reality shows knowing it was shit and that you don't make yourself any smarter by watching that. But now, when you see the television and show market, the level has never been so high and the quality of the writing, acting and direction are high, real high.
My problem is this : I go to work, I do what I do for a living, thinking of coming home to the latest show I'm watching ("The Trip" UK, Coogan, Brydon, so good...). My life is around this addiction, this need to watch a good tv show, and when I'm done the next one. And the dealers like Netflix, HBO have lots of good dope to sell. I still find time to read and watch movie, but it takes more time and more motivation out of me. TV show is easy, it's short, it's good and I don't need to engage myself in a 600 pages or 2h30 screening.
But I also see a pyramid of culture being as follow :
- first, books. They are the smartest way to learn, feel and dive into a story, full on. You read something that goes inside you, deep. I start a book I have to finish it, good or bad, I tend to read classics so I go through them fully, there's a reason they are classic. I also find I have less time to read so I don't want to risk it on books that are not good, as in known for years to be.
- second, movies. The crew build a 2 hours story through amazing images, acting and writing. You dive as well, but for a fewer amount of time, two hours, three max in apnea, in a world that the people behind the movie offers you.
- third, Tv shows. It's easy, you dive in, if you feel suffocating, you dive out. It last 20 to 60 minutes, my attention can wander easily. I am not engaged and I know there is plenty more fishes in the sea.
There is also something perverse with this addiction of shows, that I believe I share with 80% of people of my generation. Other than the time spent is the "entertainment" part of it all.
Take shows like Narcos and House of Cards, they show you in an amazing way the truth behind drug dealing between Colombia and the government of the United States of America basically acknowledging the role of US in the cartel as a key player in the existence and strength of it all. Bribes, politics and governments were directly influenced by the cartel of Medellin then Cali.
House of Cards on the other hand shows you the reality of politics with men and women willing to kill and manipulate masses in order to achieve power. Wow ! That's amazing, these shows show you the hard truth, the reality in every sense of it all. But then what ? Then you watch this and you only think of coming back home to be able to stream the last episode or the new season.
The perversity is here : it is an entertainment and you watch it like that. If you summarise the truth behind these shows, the citizen should be in the street, questioning their government and making a fucking revolution every week of the year.
But no, you know it's real and it shows the dark side of it all, but it's too hard and it's easier to keep watching, instead of doing. Because I feel down by all this and I am too lazy to overtake power. So I'll order my burger and watch my show.