CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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The Way Most People Consume Pop Culture

Monday, July 11, 2011

this entry brought to you by tokyo police club, "cheer it on"


I was listening to an interview recently with Dan Harmon on Marc Maron's podcast WTF. Harmon was talking about why his show gets so-so ratings despite being critically acclaimed, while Two and a Half Men continues to be the number one show. He said that they've done lots of market research on this, and even the smartest, hardest working people, like, say a nurse in the ER, works 12 hours a day, comes home, and they just want to relax, turn their brain off, and watch something comfortable and without challenge. And he said that he couldn't blame them, really.

The thing is, I've actually heard this exact sentiment said by real, non-market research people, and sometimes people that I respect(ish). It's a sentiment that I don't understand.

The thing is, no matter what your job is, it's horribly repetitive. Even if it's a high paying, highly respectable job. If you're a nurse in the ER, you're not rushing around trying to save gunshot victims all day. People come in when they have a really bad cough way more often than actual emergencies, and a good chunk of your day is measuring blood pressure, checking temperatures, reading prescriptions to people. Yes, some days are back-to-back horror, but a lot of it is the same stuff day in and day out. If you're a lawyer, the exact same thing. You're not always prosecuting a double homicide defendant, you're more often than not sifting through piles of paperwork for bullshit divorces. Accountants, scientists, politicians, no matter what job you pick, there are huge chunks of it that are utterly mind numbing. And then of course there are the lower-class jobs, the jobs the bulk of the country have, that are nothing but mind numbing.

So, to me, after 8 hours of mind-numbing repetition and boredom, please, for the love of god, engage me! Challenge me! Make me work that muscle in my head! It feels good! And obviously not everything I watch is of the highest brow possible, but the idea that you would avoid anything challenging because you've been at work all day seems completely self defeating. I want something invigorating, that I don't necessarily see coming.

It always amazes me when people go out and see something like Inception and then exclaim to their friends, "This is a movie that, like, you have to pay attention to," and they say it like it's a surprise. And I always wonder, why in the world would you want to spend time watching something that you wouldn't have to pay attention to?
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with love from CRS @ 11:50 AM 

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