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As I get older, I have had a harder time losing myself in many forms of passive entertainment if I can see the author's - for lack of a better word - schtick.

As I get older, I have had a harder time losing myself in many forms of passive entertainment if I can see the author's - for lack of a better word - schtick. So, with games, movies, books, music and even paintings - if I my brain picks up the process first and isn't impressed or curious by that aspect, I lose interest. This is mostly common with movies and games, where the cost and expanse of the created world often require some level of formulas/trope. It is the inverse in a lot of music, where I am fascinated by the process and production a lot and can appreciate it at both levels more. Similarly with great TV - recently I watched season 2 of Fleabag and realised I was lost both in the story telling and in wonder/amazement at it's construction and execution. Before full time work and a kid, there was a certain amount of time I could afford to lose myself in another person's creation, but nowadays if I start seeing the scaffolding, I can't unsee it. For this reason I am also starting to be drawn back to the sciences. I sometimes worry that I am finding it hard to relate to a lot of art and human expression because of this, so I try to 'lose' myself in it - but so much art (and predominantly so many games) require a lot of scaffolding. Interested if anybody else can relate and share how they deal with this.

_cairn 7y ago
Disclaimer: I agree with you mostly. I think your comment is an almost complete argument against playing video games. I do think it's a little incomplete to say that things inside a game can't translate to real world value. i.e. people sell accounts/items/characters for fiat currency with some regularity. Is that net-profitable or not? Maybe. Is it possible that time investment could have been spent elsewhere? Yes. And probably for better ROI. But in terms of ways that exist in this world for people to waste time/money/resources. Games seem like a very mild offender. Overall your comment makes a lot of sense though. Thanks for taking the time to write a well-thought out response to OP. Have a nice day!
justanothersys 7y ago
If you go to art school or study the humanities then this process of getting turned off after becoming aware of a piece’s “scaffolding” or let’s say... algorithm, usually happens much faster. The first thing that happened to me was I became aware that there is a production quality bubble in commercial media that keeps most people sealed in and once that popped I got more and more interested in obscure art related films, music, scenes, etc. like the things you would find on ubu.com. A lot of my old art school friends are still in this edgy mode and they no longer respect any populist media. Somehow I’ve come full circle because I got bored once I started seeing the “scaffolding” in all the radical 20th century and contemporary stuff too. Now I just try to find the free space where people are developing something new and involve myself somehow either as an early spectator or a participant. To put it simply, if you start watching Netflix as an anthropologist then you might enjoy the scaffolding once again.
- EL_Loco 7y ago
  'scaffolding' is a good term for this. It's hard for me to enjoy a movie, as I can see all the structure unfolding and can predict a lot of what's going to happen from the first 15 minutes or so. The good thing is that the very few great movies that escape this are true gems, but the bad thing is that I jus't don't have the drive/patience to watch movies anymore, so I don't get exposed to the very few gems.
  - Apocryphon 7y ago
    Maybe this explains the explosion in “critical entertainment”, such as movie podcasts, YouTube video essays that dissect films, and TV Tropes. People can also enjoy examining the scaffolding, if not the original work.
  - galaxyLogic 7y ago
    Isn't that much about how Hollywood works to produce "entertainment"? "Art movies" are different, more inspiring. For them the "scaffolding" might be there and made even more obvious it is scaffolding like in theater you sure know you are not looking at a real-life Swan Lake etc. There was a curious incident recently where Game of Thrones episode had a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts coffee mug visible in some scene. It broke the "magic", revealed the scaffolding for most people. But if you believe in fire-breathing giant dragons then why not also believe in multi-verse where things from Starbucks universe can occasionally mingle with Game of Thrones. It's magic!
gilbetron 7y ago
I'm with you 100%. Many of the things I used to really dig into, just don't grab me as much anymore. I'm not completely sad about this, though. It lets me explore other activities that I ignored before because of my fixations. I still play games, read, watch movies/shows, but it is really difficult to let go of the detached part of me critiquing constantly as I'm consuming. There's writers/creators behind there and I end up thinking about them and why they chose to do it this way or that. I find some things I enjoy enough that I can totally relax and get into, and honestly quite often it is things that have some rough edges. Thor Ragnarok and Last Jedi are two of my favorite movies in the past couple of years, and the reason I love them are reasons others hate them. Things that are weird or unexpected, even nonsensical. Because that makes it feel more real to me, in a way. Too many films and shows these days are slick as shit, and feel incredibly manufactured, like I can sense the teams of people working the material again and again until it is smooth and hitting the targeted emotional responses. The Flying Princess Leia scene in Last Jedi was dumb, but that made me love the movie more. The Original Trilogy had a bunch of dumb moments in them too, but JJ Abrahms Force Awakens had none of them (it had a different kind of stupid ;) ) and felt soul-less to me.

_cairn 7y ago

Disclaimer: I agree with you mostly. I think your comment is an almost complete argument against playing video games. I do think it's a little incomplete to say that things inside a game can't translate to real world value. i.e. people sell accounts/items/characters for fiat currency with some regularity. Is that net-profitable or not? Maybe. Is it possible that time investment could have been spent elsewhere? Yes. And probably for better ROI. But in terms of ways that exist in this world for people to waste time/money/resources. Games seem like a very mild offender. Overall your comment makes a lot of sense though. Thanks for taking the time to write a well-thought out response to OP. Have a nice day!

justanothersys 7y ago

If you go to art school or study the humanities then this process of getting turned off after becoming aware of a piece’s “scaffolding” or let’s say... algorithm, usually happens much faster. The first thing that happened to me was I became aware that there is a production quality bubble in commercial media that keeps most people sealed in and once that popped I got more and more interested in obscure art related films, music, scenes, etc. like the things you would find on ubu.com. A lot of my old art school friends are still in this edgy mode and they no longer respect any populist media. Somehow I’ve come full circle because I got bored once I started seeing the “scaffolding” in all the radical 20th century and contemporary stuff too. Now I just try to find the free space where people are developing something new and involve myself somehow either as an early spectator or a participant. To put it simply, if you start watching Netflix as an anthropologist then you might enjoy the scaffolding once again.

EL_Loco 7y ago
'scaffolding' is a good term for this. It's hard for me to enjoy a movie, as I can see all the structure unfolding and can predict a lot of what's going to happen from the first 15 minutes or so. The good thing is that the very few great movies that escape this are true gems, but the bad thing is that I jus't don't have the drive/patience to watch movies anymore, so I don't get exposed to the very few gems.
- Apocryphon 7y ago
  Maybe this explains the explosion in “critical entertainment”, such as movie podcasts, YouTube video essays that dissect films, and TV Tropes. People can also enjoy examining the scaffolding, if not the original work.
- galaxyLogic 7y ago
  Isn't that much about how Hollywood works to produce "entertainment"? "Art movies" are different, more inspiring. For them the "scaffolding" might be there and made even more obvious it is scaffolding like in theater you sure know you are not looking at a real-life Swan Lake etc. There was a curious incident recently where Game of Thrones episode had a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts coffee mug visible in some scene. It broke the "magic", revealed the scaffolding for most people. But if you believe in fire-breathing giant dragons then why not also believe in multi-verse where things from Starbucks universe can occasionally mingle with Game of Thrones. It's magic!

gilbetron 7y ago

I'm with you 100%. Many of the things I used to really dig into, just don't grab me as much anymore. I'm not completely sad about this, though. It lets me explore other activities that I ignored before because of my fixations. I still play games, read, watch movies/shows, but it is really difficult to let go of the detached part of me critiquing constantly as I'm consuming. There's writers/creators behind there and I end up thinking about them and why they chose to do it this way or that. I find some things I enjoy enough that I can totally relax and get into, and honestly quite often it is things that have some rough edges. Thor Ragnarok and Last Jedi are two of my favorite movies in the past couple of years, and the reason I love them are reasons others hate them. Things that are weird or unexpected, even nonsensical. Because that makes it feel more real to me, in a way. Too many films and shows these days are slick as shit, and feel incredibly manufactured, like I can sense the teams of people working the material again and again until it is smooth and hitting the targeted emotional responses. The Flying Princess Leia scene in Last Jedi was dumb, but that made me love the movie more. The Original Trilogy had a bunch of dumb moments in them too, but JJ Abrahms Force Awakens had none of them (it had a different kind of stupid ;) ) and felt soul-less to me.