I have come to the conclusion that human beings are uniquely capable of feeling guilty about anything. Sure, we feel guilty when we call in sick and we're actually at the beach, or when we blow off one friend in favor of one who's more fun, or when we help our college roommate write that paper for the class she's on the verge of failing. But guilt over pure entertainment? Over which films we do and don't watch? Now that's some true guilt-talent.
It seems to be alive and well, though. Enough so that Newsweek columnist Brad Stone has coined a new term: Netflix Guilt. For him, the guilt first became uncomfortably heavy with City of God. The film was on his Netflix queue, showed up at his house, then sat there for 11 months while he waited for the urge to actually watch it. He finally sent it back, unwatched, costing him a calculated $66. As Stone describes the phenomena, a film is highly recommended and appeals to your "intellectual and aesthetic sensibilities," but after it arrives, "temperament, timing and ambiance are never quite right for the film's subject matter." Our guilt is compounded when we quickly watch and return movies that seem to have little artistic or intellectual merit, while the ones we feel we "should" watch just sit there.
OK, so I get it, and if I was a Netflix customer I can totally see myself caught up in the same cycle. (This is probably at the root of why I'm not a Netflix customer—I can never be sure what I'll be in the mood to watch at any given moment, so I'd rather make my decisions in the moment.) But isn't this sad? To feel guilty about which movies we watch or don't watch? Don't we have enough other things in life to feel pressured and guilty about? Can't we just watch the movies we feel like watching at the moment, and enjoy them in the moment? There are plenty of heavy and depressing films I want to watch at some point, but I've decided not to stress myself out over them. Somehow I have managed to watch many not-fun films over the years, and I feel confident that when the time and mood and company are right, I'll get to these other films I "need" to watch. (Hey, I just saw An Inconvenient Truth last night—not exactly a walk in the park.) In the meantime, this weekend I think I'm going to pick up Office Space and thoroughly enjoy it—guilt free.
It seems like maybe Stone of _Newsweek_ was reaching a little in coining the term Netflix Guilt (tm), right? I mean, I see what he's getting at--I too have felt I really should be watching (listening to, reading, looking at, and so forth) something high-brow and edifying, when in fact I was consuming bubble-gum pop (or even just something not quite so worthy or whatever). But it's hardly the same feeling I have gotten from true, genuine transgressions over the years.
It also seems decidedly juvenile. I remember carrying a copy of the Marx/Engels Reader around my whole Senior year of high school--how anyone ever put up with me I will never know--because I was sure I should be reading it. Of course, I never managed to get through more than a few sentences of _Capital_, and really never had the first idea what the "Manifesto" actually _meant_. I was reading, and for that matter, enjoying some fairly heavy books (Camus, Gide, Remarque that year), but still felt like I should be spending my time with "better" things. Same with movies, music, visual art, etc. I can't really remember when I decided I was done with that, but I'm sure it was after college. This was enabled at least in part by my contrarian streak--if those in power say that Britney Spears is crap, then by god I'm going to find a thing to like about her. It has had an enormous impact on my career as a musicologist, not surprisingly
Anyway, long and short, I can imagine thinking, "I should really watch X, but instead I'm going for episodes of Deadwood or whatever" (a recent Korean movie about the Korean War whose title I can not remember is in this category); but I absolutely can not imagine feeling guilty about it.
I agree with what you said about Netflix, though--I used to have it and it really didn't work for me. I just can't think a day or three ahead about what I want to watch. Until online movie rental becomes practicable I think it's the movie store for me.
J
Posted by Jaybriel on July 24, 2006 08:25 PM