Eat, Sleep, Watch, Repeat: The Psychology Behind Rewatching Shows and Films

Right so, if you know me you most likely know that I have the astounding ability to recite almost every episode of Friends.

And if you don’t know me, Hi I’m Maya & I have the astounding ability to recite almost every episode of Friends.

Lovely, now that we’re all caught up & introduced, on with today’s article on why we rewatch TV shows & movies and how they’ve been a huge source of comfort during 2020.

Just like enjoying the familiarity & comfort of catching up with an old friend & reminiscing about the good ol’ days, did you know that snuggling up & watching a classic flick or show can bring you a similar sort of comfort ? *DISCLAIMER: This article is no way a professional diagnosis. I’m not a professional at anything. Let alone diagnosing ppl I’ve never met with random things over the  internet. So yeah. This is just a few fun psychological facts for you curious bunch, who wanna know what it is about your favourite movies & programmes that makes them so damn re-bingeable.*

 So, if you haven’t guessed already, I have this really fun thing called *a n x i e t y*. Like many people out there who experience anxiety, I constantly have a whole whirlpool of thoughts & emotions & worries swirling around in my brain every minute of the day. In attempt to cope with this tsunami of stress, I find it relaxing to  get stuck into a new series every now & then... and then proceed to rewatch it 17 times until I can quote the show line-by-line, vocal-inflection-by-vocal-inflection at the drop of a hat (I know. Could I BE anymore annoying?? yes... yes I could lmao)

In the wake of COVID-19 (I know I'm sick of talking about it too but bare with me) we’ve found ourselves spending more time with ourselves than ever before. When we’re not baking banana bread or trying to  stay caught up with the latest tiktok trends, there’s only so much  you can do with your day that’s not just sitting & drowning in your thoughts (fun right !!!!!!!). When our world feels so scary & uncertain, why not delve into a fictional world that remains  perfectly untouched and exactly the same as when you left it ?

I personally found great comfort in becoming immersed in the world of Jane Villanueva in Jane the Virgin... for the 4th time in 3 years. Each day in lockdown consisted of my boyfriend & I texting each other ‘wyd??’ back & forth about 34 times, as if it would be anything different than what we did the day before lmaoooo. He would always reply ‘PS4’ & I would always reply ‘Netflix’, bar the occasional ‘making food’ (we’re obviously a really cool & hip happening couple, if I do say so myselffff *insert pout & peace sign combo*). When he asked which shows I was watching, it would always be a series I’d seen a million & 1 times, so he suggested I try a new one. I thought about it long & hard and eventually said to myself ‘hey, we’re in a global pandemic so why not go absolutely crazy and try a series i’ve never seen before eh’ so I did...

I made it through maybe 4 episodes of Community, when I felt the glaring eyes of How I Met Your Mother staring at me on the Netflix home page. I think you know where I’m heading with this. Yes I caved, I just couldn’t go on any longer trying to like Community when I knew Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin & Barney were waiting for me to tune into the crazy scenes at McLarens. And so my wild, rebellious attempt at straying from my glorious hub of comfort shows failed miserably.

So when I came across  a piece of psychological information in the form of a Tweet, that mentioned that those who suffer from anxiety  are typically known to re-watch shows & films because they know exactly what’s going to happen, which ultimately brings a world of comfort, it all finally made sense. It seemed almost too obvious,  that I felt so stupid for not thinking about it before loooool. I finally had an answer to why I'm so inherently stubborn with my TV show choices, hence, my interest in the topic and reason for writing this article. It felt like a huge epiphany for me and so I wanted to find out more, and thought I’d bring you along with me on this journey of discovery my dear reader... so let’s get into it & learn a thing or two together:

Whether you’ve watched it 1097 times or just chosen to let that blissful ‘first watch feeling’ adorn your mind & heart forever by savouring it once & never again, I’m pretty darn sure everyone has experienced finding that deep love & connection with a series or film (lool you’d think I was marketing a dating app for film lovers or something). So it’s not crazy to want to experience those same feelings of happiness all over again. We become so invested in the entirety of the show that popping on an old Gossip Girl episode every now & then feels like a warm hug; you know the characters and you  know their stories and they’ll never change or judge you. No matter what point in your life you’re at, you can always count on your comfort shows to help you escape from the trials & tribulations of  the real world for a half an hour (or more if you’re a binge-watcher like me wooo). To me, there’s something about just knowing all the lines or being able to mimic the facial expressions & emotions of the characters that is really damn comforting,  as strange as it may sound.

Through some [not very extensive] research I found further explanations that made me feel like an imbecile for not boiling down my rewatching habits down to the basics of what it is - a form of escapism. An escape from reality, an escape from your problems, an escape from yourself. For those 24min episodes you get to be the fly on the wall, watching the lives of Captain Holt, Jake, Amy, Rosa & the gang unfold from the safety of your bed, and the safety of knowing that nothing going on in your life has any bearing on what happens in the show. Your stress and anxiety will never affect the lives of your favourite characters. This form of escapism can be applied to the likes of books, music & maybe even food (Fun Fact: I once ate spaghetti bolognese on 6/10 days of a holiday bc *comfort food* & i mean, you can never go wrong with spag bol’ right ???).

In what can only be awarded the title of ‘The Most Fucked Up Year Ever’, 2020 redefined the meaning of ‘self-care’ to the point where day-drinking & staying in your pj’s for 4 consecutive days (I may or may not have done this... it’s a pandemic don’t judge hehe) became  the ‘new normal’. And in a time of uncertainty, fear and just genuine global fucked-up-ness, comfort is an absolute luxury & is needed more than ever before. When battling an internet connection fiasco on Facetime was just not on my To-Do list my attention jumped straight  to Netflix and what new offerings it had for my consumption. Apparently, the overwhelm we feel when scouring through the multitude of movies available on streaming services can lead to a decrease in happiness & satisfaction and may leave us reaching for the easy option, the tried & tested bank of comfort films we know and love; this phenomenon, coined by psychologist Barry Schwartz, is known as the ‘paradox of choice’. So basically, it’s not your fault that you stick to the same 7 shows, it’s society’s fault for giving you too much damn choice. I, for one, love that conclusion.

Friends really meant it when they said “I’ll be there for you”. Moral of the story is, enjoy your favourite flicks guilt-free because after all, it’s basically *self-care* & we need as much care as we can get these days (also feel free to bask in the knowledge that I am just as much of a bingewatcher/rewatcher as you so you’re not alone in your stubborn watching ways woooooo). xxx

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Graphics courtesy of the author