Nostalgia and Friendly Competition: How to Marie Kondo Your Netflix Queue
All the shows you loved as a child are back. I clearly remember watching Full House as a kid during ABC’s Friday night TGIF lineup, and now my kids watch Fuller House on Netflix. I watched Gilmore Girls while I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, and now she streams the update. Queer Eye is back, along with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Double Dare.
So why are we watching all of these things we’ve seen before? Is the entertainment industry catering to our demands, or are we consuming whatever is placed in front of us? I think that the easy response to this trend is to say that entertainment has become lazy. Nobody has any original ideas, so they’re just remaking old stuff. Perhaps, but maybe there’s more to it than that.
Viewers crave comfort. We want to relax and feel better at the end of a long day, and reboots give us that. Shows like Fuller House are pure nostalgia, and Millennials in particular need the simple comfort found there. We’re living in an incredibly politically charged time, and the only thing that everyone can agree on is that the world pretty much sucks right now. When the reality around us is so scary, so upsetting, and so stressful, those feelings don’t need any outside reinforcement. They prod us to find distraction, and what better way is there to distract yourself from reality than by transporting yourself back to childhood?
Beyond reboots, feel-good TV rules. Everyone is watching and rewatching The Great British Baking Show (nine seasons + 4 seasons of the Master Class spin-off) because — SPOILER ALERT — the contestants are nice to each other. It’s just some charming, often awkward people hanging out and making cake together. At first I thought that was unique to British reality TV, but it seems to be infiltrating American shows, as well. Amy Poehler’s new competition show, Making It, shows nice people being kind to each other and making crafts. Queer Eye does an incredible job of approaching the sensitive subject of homosexuality with people who typically would be defensive and somehow coming away with understanding and empathy.
Marie Kondo’s best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has been released as a Netflix series. This sweet, tiny, childlike woman arrives, greets the home, shows people how to fold clothes, and leaves. She comes back later, tells them they’re doing great, and gives them some boxes. End of story. It’s completely non-threatening. There’s no Gordon Ramsey screaming in people’s faces. There’s no scolding, no being told that they’re not doing enough, no shaming. There’s something really powerful about the idea that we can pick up anything in our lives that doesn’t spark joy and get rid of it. In the midst of a shitstorm, at least we can control our own personal space.
Maybe it’s cheesy or vapid, but frankly, who cares? Enough of the cinematic snobbery; let’s watch whatever sparks joy in your life and delete the rest.
