A few months ago, during a weekend with my wife and in-laws, we had some downtime and decided to watch Stranger Things. The viral acclaim had caught our attention, and we wanted to take the plunge. So, we gathered ‘round the TV and cued up Netflix.
Even as the enthralling set design, costume, and cinematography drew me into rural 80s Indiana, I found myself nonetheless perturbed by the slow plot and molasses-slow character development. Having several times suppressed the urge to say aloud, “SOMETHING HAPPEN,” I finally succumbed and complained aloud multiple times, “SOMETHING HAPPEN.” By the end of the third episode, enough had developed for me to feel relatively allayed. I settled into the watching, and my wife and I looped back to finish it one episode at a time over the next couple weeks to great enjoyment.
I realized in the time between our initial mini-binge and continuing to watch more that my critique was probably fairly rare. 1 Following the proliferation of full seasons of TV on DVD and the marathon watching it facilitated,2 Netflix has led the way in popularizing and sustaining a culture of binge-watching.
The writers and producers of Stranger Things, a Netflix-produced series, could operate knowing that a significant number of viewers would watch multiple episodes - if not the whole season - in one sitting; as a result, they could expend greater energy cultivating the world of the show in the early going and stretch the plot developments out more gradually to their binge-captive audience. Personally, I am not a binge-watcher, so the pace felt slow to me, a viewer who more regularly watches one, maybe two, episodes of something at a time.
The experience made me realize just how prevalent the concept of binge-watching has become. As far as I can remember, it first became a big-time, mainstream thing when Arrested Development was rebooted in 2013. When Netflix announced the new season, they opted not to release one episode per week, as conventionalized by network and cable TV; instead, they chose to release the whole season in one big chunk.3 This way, viewers could watch it at whatever pace they chose, giving consumers the power to choose their own adventure.
From then on, it increasingly became standard practice to release most web-based shows in one chunk, allowing viewers to sink their teeth into the whole thing, often all at once. This works much better for web-based subscription services, whose revenue isn’t as dependent on advertisers who likely want week-on-week viewership; however, TBS even ventured into the idea, lining up creative, unusual sponsorship to facilitate a live binge-a-thon when it debuted a new show, Angie Tribeca.
The thing that has always struck me as weird is that, even in our culture which is pretty permissive, relativistic, and hedonistic, we’ve usually seemed to know that extreme consumption is dangerous and typically acknowledged it as such. Somehow, however, show-binging has become mainstream and perfectly acceptable despite the thoroughly negative connotations that the word carried. Not sure about you, dear reader, but the word binge makes me think of, among other things, alcohol poisoning, overeating, or even the trials of eating disorders (“binge and purge”). Yet, here we are, in the midst of award season,4 when shows that were released for binge-viewing are some of the most popular out there and seem to drive the conversation as much or more than those aired by network and cable channels on the ol’ TV.
On the one hand, I am worried about our culture and socializing, as I basically always am. On the other hand, I am wondering about how our Church can engage with, dialogue with, and utilize (or perhaps push back against) the trends of our culture, as I also basically always am. Is there something in bingeing that is transferable to spirituality, religion, and worship? What about the cultural comfort with bingeing can be utilized in our ministry and catechesis? Is there an opportunity here for the Church?
As I think about it, I struggle with the applications, as I have a moderate personality and don’t typically binge on anything. I watch sports games one at a time. I read books a few chapters at a time.5 I go for runs for 3-4 miles at a time. I play guitar for 15-30 minutes at a time. So, it’s hard for me to imagine how to apply the same principle in ministry.
But getting beyond the sorry boundaries of myself, I find examples of what could be considered in some way a form of healthy spiritual bingeing. I think of my Ignatian-influenced friends who have undertaken extended versions of the Spiritual Exercises. I think of the youth events that thrive in length, even through the night, in extended vigils of prayer, Adoration, and music. I think of “40 Hours of Adoration” and perpetual Adoration practices in which communities sustain their prayer. Heck, I think even of Kairos retreats and the amazing impact these retreats have on kids when they take just four days without technology, school, or extracurriculars to intensively experience God and relationship.
It certainly comes with concerns. For example with Kairos, teens often struggle to sustain their faith following Kairos, as they are disappointed when the love that follows from intentionality and vulnerability on the retreat isn’t as easily discovered in everyday life, which causes disillusionment and disappointment.6 Just as we’re left with the uncertainty and longing between the releases of each season of a show, we must find sustenance between the intensive, high-quality or high-quantity experiences of our faith.
The Eucharist is the heartbeat of our faith lives, bringing us to intimate union with Christ each Sunday, and sending us forth to be His hands and feet to the world. We certainly need our renewals, whether in the form of a more “binge-y” recharge like an intensive retreat or a smaller, daily encouragement like Read the Catechism in a Year, and these can sustain us through the ebbs and flows of spiritual life.
So while I think the creativity of the Church and her ministers can surely find more ways to apply the realities of this cultural zeitgeist, I also acknowledge, both personally from my perspective and in my opinion as a pastoral minister, that bingeing isn’t the best. My life of faith, both as an individual and as member and leader of faith communities, shows me that the consistency of regular prayer, worship, and Sacrament is what sustains us.
1 And not just because I’m sort of an oddball and a frustrating mix of being excessively particular, vociferously critical, and a mild-to-moderate jackass.↩
2 My only real personal experience was with The West Wing (at first solely on DVD and then eventually via Netflix), which I have watched in its entirety four different times, twice semi-solo, once with my best friend/former roommate, and again with my wife. Even then, though I’d occasionally settle in for 2-3 episodes, it was not a full-on binge for me.↩
3 Call me lame, but I prefer the old way. I was very excited for The Man in the High Castle Season 2 to come out last month, and I watched the ten new episodes over the two weeks of winter break. Now, I am in limbo for a year while they write, shoot, and produce Season 3. I have pretty good self-control, but the time off of work set me loose; I’d rather have had an episode a season and delayed the dead period and anticipation until spring.↩
4 Let the record show, I care not a wit about these award shows. I’ll enjoy the video links to the monologues and funny sketches, but I don’t get into the debates over who should win what and subsequently struggle to contribute in those categories at bar trivia.↩
5 My wife’s favorite instance of this example: she loves Harry Potter and grew up reading the books as they came out while I only had seen the movies and never got into the book culture of it. When I was reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire during a plane ride, she was reading over my shoulder. I reached the end of the chapter in which Voldemort successfully reanimates himself into a body, and the book starkly declares, “Lord Voldemort had returned.” I closed the book, set it down, and leaned into a napping posture only to be interrupted as my wife guffawed. She could not believe I could stop there. I could not believe she didn’t understand I was ready to take a nap.↩
6 Events like “Fourth Day Meetings” and Kairos reunions can help, but teens struggle to acknowledge that the specifics of a retreat - the time, the space, and the context - will never all repeat themselves. The relationships found on retreat are what endure and what sustain one’s faith life: the deepened knowledge of self, the fuller sense of relating to others, and the stronger connection to God.↩
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