By Maddie Steele & Julia Burks
There are two kinds of people in the media consuming world: those who would choose to binge a TV series and those who would rather sit down to watch a whole movie. And there’s always those select few of you who just love it all, but that’s not what we will discuss today. The TV show people have their reasons for loving those short episodes that build upon each other the deeper you get into the series. And the movie people have their explanation for why they would rather sit and absorb all the characters that are on the screen for that two-hour stretch of time. Either way, you will hear from a TV show person and a movie person on their personal reasons for favoring one over the other.
The decision between these two boils down to time commitment. The amount of time you are willing to commit to a TV series or movie determines your preference. For today’s conversation, Julia Burks will be speaking on behalf of the movie person community, and Maddie Steele will be speaking on behalf of the TV show people.
Perspective Of A Movie Person
Julia Burks
Movies require more attention than TV shows because everything happens within one-and-a-half to three hours. If you’re going to watch a movie, it should be your brain’s main focus. I truly believe that many people don’t like movies because they don’t fully commit. I would argue that even though movies take commitment (and sometimes effort) in the attention department, they are so worth it. Where else can you get the story of someone’s entire life in two hours? Not in a TV show. In a good movie, there is no messing around with eight different subplots that span hours upon hours of screen time. We get the highlights, hopefully in a moving, beautiful, funny way, and then we get out of there.
Let’s be real, nobody wants to watch something when they can’t even root for the people whose stories are being told. The main reason a movie (or TV show) is able to draw you in is all about those characters. Movies have much less time to make a character lovable, relatable and well-rounded. However, TV shows take a little too much time in my opinion. Why does everything have to be a cliffhanger-worthy mystery? In a movie, the writers don’t change. Usually, weird plot holes can be avoided because of the smaller amount of content (unless we’re talking about the MCU, which, for the purposes of this discussion, we are definitely not). Movies usually have a more focused plot and structure. This makes me love the characters more. The time spent with them is shorter but much sweeter.
Perspective Of A TV Show Person
Maddie Steele
TV shows only require a short 30-minute-to-an-hour span of your time, which is great for those of us who have short attention spans. It seems like less of a time commitment for me to sit down–or being really honest, usually do something while watching that episode–and devote that time to the plot on the screen. TV series allow me to watch that one episode, take a break or do some homework and then come back and jump right back in. I don’t have to miss a whole chunk of the movie or pause the show if I have something to do in an hour.
Overall, TV series are more of an investment in the time department. It could easily take at least six months to get all the way through a particular series, but the enjoyment of the plot and the characters doesn’t have to end after the one episode. Character development in a TV show has to be a dream for any show writer or creator. You have season after season to invest in the characters and their personalities, and this is what makes these characters feel like your friends. When you spend weeks or months binge watching a TV series, the investment in these characters is intense. That’s what I can’t get enough of. TV shows allow more time for the characters to become real people.
The investment in the entire series as a whole feels like a huge accomplishment once you finish the series. Or if you’re me, you will go back and rewatch all of the episodes again (e.g. I am currently rewatching Grey’s Anatomy for the fifth time all the way through) because you forgot what happened in the first two seasons or love the predictability of knowing what is to come.
Conclusion
So what does this say about you? If you’re a TV show lover, you might be impatient, with a short attention span, but you love the commitment of a full TV series. If you are a proud member of the movie person community, you probably love to sit and absorb the whole story, all at once.
