In 1983, the series finale of M*A*S*H gathered together 106 million viewers across the United States.1 Ten years later, the series finale of Cheers tallied 80 million viewers. Since then?
Friends (2004): 53 million
Lost (2010): 14 million
The Office (2013): 6 million
Game of Thrones (2019): 19 million
More choices allow for more voices to be represented on screen. Thatās an objective positive. But when the entire potential viewing audience is presented with more choices, what can we know about what sticks? What gets remembered? How can we know when something has staying power and feels relevant long after its release?
Itās not just the sense of watching something together at the same time that creates a notion that a show or movie has reason to be remembered. The social component can go on for years afterward, as explained by Marina Watts who looks at the way people use film quotations socially:
Quoting films is similar to telling a joke, as it forms a closer bond between people. Michael Friedman PhD., [ā¦] states that when co-watching a movie with others, brain waves are in sync with one another. This is a sign of communication which does bond people together, both long-term and short. It is a way for people to form a connection without any intimacy at all.
Daniel Parris takes a dataset of user rankings from MovieLens to figure out what films continue to gain new viewers long after their release, and suggests a way of drawing a distinction between movies that have potential to be classics versus ones likely to be forgotten.
Paul OāCallaghan specifically targets The Shawshank Redemption, looking into how a film that initially flopped at the box office is still ranking as one of the internetās favorite films twenty years later:
And in 2015 it was declared Britainās favourite film by YouGov, whose survey statistically supports my own hunch as to why itās such a consistent performer. Looking at the vote broken down by age and gender, it fails to claim the top spot among any individual group, but emerges as the one film in the top 15 that every demographic enjoys.
Variety compiles a list of the 100 most popular movies programmed on cable television, along with an explanation of why films from the 80ās, 90ās, and early 2000ās hit that sweet spot for ācollision viewing,ā where someone will pause to watch some of a familiar movie they didnāt know was on. What makes collision viewing important? Commercial breaks. Why movies from those decades? Those movies tickle the nostalgia brain of the demographics advertisers want to reach.
And with The Shawshank Redemption as a prime example, this type of programming can raise the visibility of a film to iconic status.
Tonya Mosley talks with Kyle Chayka on his new book about content curation via algorithm, and the idea that discovering media via an algorithm flattens the audienceās taste by only offering more of what they already seem to like.
Gabi Belle considers the role of nostalgia in selecting what counts as a cultural touchstone, and how these choices reflect the comfort that they gave the audience in the past (as well as how the familiar is leveraged to create new work):
Pirelli takes a slightly different approach to the nostalgia conversation, looking at the ways the 20-year-nostalgia-cycle collapsed, and how the advent of technology like VCRs, the iPod, and streaming services distort the perception of what makes a classic by making the past more instantly accessible.
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ā±ļø Time to Write Sprint
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
Whatās a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but hereās the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Sometimes thatās all it takes to get some momentum going with your writing: You set aside this time for writing and nothing else, so youād better use it!
Shout out to Dallas Gow, Aimee Link, Brian Matusz, and Elyse Moretti Forbes for sprinting with us last week!
Previously on Innerestingā¦
In case you missed it, in last issueās most clicked link L.E. Carmichael thinks about the ancient victim of Mount Vesuvius who was recently discovered with his brain having crystallized into glass.
What else is inneresting?
CJ Chilvers proposes keeping a running list of mindless tasks for those moments when you donāt know what to do, but know you want to be doing something.
Jason Parham suggests that the social media landscape has changed, but so have we, and early adopters of the first wave of social media feel that this model just doesnāt fit them any more.
Feist joins a choir of hundreds to sing Nothing Compares 2 U2 in tribute to SinĆ©ad OāConnor:
And thatās whatās inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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Statistics used here come from this Axios article.
Take a moment to recognize the perfect emotional snapshot in this song that comes from āAll the flowers that you planted mama/ in the backyard/ All died when you went awayā