The “Rewatchability” Factor

One word that most Creators in the visual medium today often refer to is “Rewatchability”. In a world where streaming is picking up new audiences every day, there is a reason why Creators fixate upon this word no matter the medium. Let it be movies, series, or even short films; so much is planted into one frame that no consumer thinking straight can process all of the information in a single sitting.

Suppose the story is elegant and the viewers return to it out of their interest; it is lovely. It is admirable too. However, designing a product that flies over the radar on the first viewing but can be comprehended a little in the next couple of viewings is borderline senseless, if and only if it is intentionally complicated. I mean, shouldn’t stories be consumable and straightforward in a single go?

Rewatchability is an economic trick, and many consumers understand it, but why should they waste their time or money or sometimes both on an intentionally twisted idea? Why should any story be watched more than once? If anything, this is a failure more than a commendable success. However, to the contrary, consumers are running behind this convoluted content presuming it to be more innovative.

Every piece of work now is presented with hours and hours of explanations, videos telling us the symbolic meanings, references, inspirations, etc. What is supposed to entertain is now becoming exceedingly annoying. Most stories that could be narratively linear are now zig-zagged intentionally to add complexity and shoved with props with lore attached to them. Every story has sequels and prequels, and every frame is a painting ready to be decluttered.

A simple, autonomous story with a couple of characters serving a purpose is rare. In the madness of making the consumer invest more than necessary, please give them a convoluted product, marketing material like behind the scenes, the philosophy behind the writing. Also, set up interviews in which Creators themselves gladly explain their intellectual thought-process and are rated with the highest metric.

Even though it seems unreal, we no longer deal with complicated stories often, but we are complicating our stories to make a better deal with them.