Netflix’s Need for Profit Over Storytelling by: Samhita adapa

 Netflix’s Need for Profit Over Storytelling 

by: Samhita adapa

Nothing is more insulting than a movie or TV show assuming its audience is too stupid to comprehend what is happening on screen and Netflix is the biggest offender of this.  With Netflix recently buying Warner Brothers, people are left scared about their current and upcoming projects, whether they will be dumbed down to appeal to those who scroll while watching TV.

 The term Second Screen generally refers to those who have a laptop, phone, or IPAD on while having the TV on at the same time. This is why many TV shows are made for casual viewings, like Riverdale and Seinfeld. Both these shows are good. You don’t need to devote your entire mind to analyzing all the subtleties. Sure, there are jokes you miss if you don’t completely focus on the show, but it makes perfect sense if you are doing something like checking your phone or cooking while watching the show. This in itself isn’t the problem. The problem surfaces when Netflix intentionally dumbs down their movies and shows, which they refer to as content, so people can scroll through Twitter as they are watching the show. This becomes a problem when shows start becoming redundant when you focus on it, as you are supposed to. Storylines become stale and uninteresting. Dialogue becomes repetitive and inorganic. Netflix instructs screenswriters to intentionally do this, to have characters announce what they’re doing to the viewer just in case they missed it while watching a TikTok. 

The intent behind this is to keep viewers from turning off the show. If someone is on their phone during a movie and the movie is getting too hard to keep up with, they are more likely to shut off Netflix than their phone. By pushing more shows and movies that are “second screen enough”, viewers can be on their phone and keep up with the show at the same time. Because how else are they fully supposed to enjoy and digest a show if they can’t have TikTok open at the same time?

The issue I have with this is when this is being forced on movies and especially TV shows that have extreme potential. By doing this, they aren’t allowed to challenge things, be different. They aren’t able to be complex, subtle, and unique because they need to appeal to everyone, including those who can’t put their phone down to watch even one episode.

 Another issue that I have with Netflix is the binge model. Especially when they split seasons into parts. Part of the TV experience is the time you have to digest between each episode. You use that time to discuss, theorize. It’s a collective experience. Everyone is talking about it, everyone is excited. There’s a sense of community that comes with those weekly episode airings. Think of HBO Sundays. So many great shows are longstanding because of the experience associated with them, like, Succession, Game of Thrones, The Wire, The Sopranos. As I write this, Welcome to Derry is airing every Sunday and as soon as I finish the episode, I immediately bond over the shared experience with my friends or random strangers on Twitter. By releasing seasons through the binge model, you effectively kill this experience. Some people might have finished the entire season by the time you hit play on the first episode. When a whole season drops at once, you feel obligated to finish the show within a day otherwise you would get spoiled the moment you hop on some sort of social media. This hinders the enjoyment of the show as you are rushing through it. 

As if this couldn’t get any worse, there is the act of splitting the season in two. They do this to increase profits, to keep people subscribed for longer and keep the show relevant. This actively kills any hype there is for the next part of the season within that wait period. Take JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as an example. JoJo Fridays used to be a thing fans were excited for every week. When Netflix got the rights for Stone Ocean, they decided to release the season in batches, effectively destroying the excitement and anticipation for the season. 

Overall, I strongly disagree with Netflix’s model of television and the direction they seem to be taking. They are clearly prioritizing profit over quality and this is hurting the creative potential of their shows and movies. However, this doesn’t mean everything Netflix puts out is low-effort and lazy. There are tons of great Netflix original shows that clearly had a lot of effort put into storytelling and direction, like, Beef, Squid Game, Mindhunter, and Peaky Blinders. These shows prove how great television could be when there is time and care being put into it, not just being made for second screen viewing.