Thursday, November 16, 2017

My Dwindling Consumption of Entertainment

My consumption of current entertainment has dwindled to almost nothing.

This has been a gradual process, of course.  The last television series I kept up with was almost 20 years ago - and with The Severing Of The Cable ten years ago, such things are now non-extant.  My theater/film attendance, which peaked somewhere around the time of The Lord of The Rings, has also steadily dwindled away to where if I attend more than one movie a year in a theater, it is a remarkable thing,  My attendance of the theater, never something of note, is now essentially limited to plays and musicals I know a child in.

Part of this, to be sure, is financially and technology based.  NetFlix and You Tube have made it easy to find almost anything I want to watch for almost nothing - and if I am really pining for a film, I can go to my local large Quarter Price Books and spend less than the cost of a ticket:  $5 to $10 to own it.  When the cost of a theater ticket is $7 for an afternoon showing and $12 for an evening showing (and even more for one of the fancy Dinner and A Movie places), this begins to make a difference (to be fair, we have a "Dollar" theater near us, although they never seem to be in quite as good repair).

Part, I know, is the fact that these sorts of things are a time sink - and for an unknown product, a great risk.  The average film or play is 1.5 to 2.5 hours, television shows 25 to 55 minutes: is it worth it to risk my precious time on something that I am not sure that I will like with time I cannot get back?  And part, of course, is that the entertainment industry long ago seems to have departed from my values and mores.

But the biggest contributing factor seems to be, remarkably enough, that the entertainment is no longer entertaining. 

Oh, they can be exciting or gripping or occasionally moving.  But even within this there is little sense that I am entertained, that I am being taken away from my existence into another reality and come out on the other side as a better or more thoughtful person.  More often than not, it has come to be something that fills the time (and kills it) and something that is anything that just entertaining.  And why would I pay someone for that?

I am sure all manner of entertainment shall continue to be produced (after all, it does make money for someone), just as I am sure that my consumption of it will continue to decline.  After all, is not part of self sufficiency not that ability to entertain one's self?

2 comments:

  1. I'm in about the same place, TB. I was never a big movie fan. If I do go to the movies, it's because my wife wants to see something. I feel the same way; spending two hours of my weekend daylight "escaping" is not my thing. I've got things I want or need to do. Then there's "the message" permeating every film these days. Lately, that message is "Homosexuality is OK. Embrace the rainbow." Honestly; you can't get away from it! It's bad enough that you can't even get through COMMERCIALS on TV without that agenda being rammed down your throat. The last thing I want to do is to pay to see a movie, and end up seeing the "gay agenda," front and center, eclipsing the story line.

    Also; recent "political activity" has given me a huge reality check on "Hollywood." Tinseltown feels it can sell me something that demeans me, and get away with it. 'Not the case. Hollywood can keep its "product."

    'Nuff said...

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  2. I understand that entertainment stars, like anyone else, have opinions. Unlike most of us, those opinions are very directly tied to their product. The wise ones simple have no public opinion and do their jobs.

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