On a weekend evening, junior Chani Patterson and her group of friends gather together in her TV room, bringing food, beverages and friendship. As the group sets up and gets their night together, everyone is buzzing with excitement. Then the group of friends all sit together as they await to begin their TV marathon.
TV and movie marathon popularity has increased in the past few years from 15% in 2019 to 33% in 2020 and it just kept going up, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has become a routine for many U-High students. From getting engrossed in a show to building camaraderie with friends, students have many reasons that cause them to spend hours watching TV shows and movies.
Junior Ava Cohen enjoys binge watching movies because it allows her to see the plots of many movies as a whole, cohesive storyline, rather than spread out over time.
“I think it’s fun to watch a lot of related movies, like a series of movies, at once so you can kind of see how the plots fit together,” Ava said, “as opposed to waiting a long time in between each release date.”
One of Ava’s earliest movie marathon memories is from middle school when she and a group of friends watched all three of the “High School Musical” movies together. The next marathon she did was a Marvel movie marathon. Ava usually does her movie marathons with friends because it allows for interesting discussions.
“I think it’s beneficial to your movie-watching experience to hear people’s opinions because you discover more stuff you might have not even noticed,” Ava said. “Which is especially nice when you watch multiple movies in a row and you see everyone’s opinions. It adds some depth to what you have just watched.”
Like Ava, Chani finds that watching TV shows creates a sort of game where she and her friends can try to guess what will happen in the rest of the show.
“I like to watch murder mysteries and thrillers with my friends,” Chani said, “and it’s really fun with someone else because you start to make theories and hypothesize, and it’s fun to see the whole process unravel and see if you’re right or wrong.”
Chani also loves to binge watch shows because it gives her some time to relax and just become entranced by a show.
“It’s also a very relaxing thing — despite the theme of what I may be watching — I am truly relaxed,” Chani said. “It’s almost a form of escapism because you just get so ingrained in what you’re watching.
Binge watching also allows for a moment of being unplugged from a phone as the viewer dives deep into the show or movie.
“I also don’t have my phone with me because I like to be completely focused on what I’m seeing rather than being distracted by my phone,” Chani said.
After setting her phone aside, Chani gets ready to binge watch TV shows by getting everything she needs.
“Normally I will get water, some sort of beverage and some snacks,” Chani said. “Then I go sit on the top floor of my house where the TV is and the lights are off and I just get comfortable with a blanket as well.”
As the TV show starts to play, the lights dim and everyone goes silent, ready for their marathon to begin.
