Social Entertainment: LJ8

 Guo (2019) and Muriuki (2022) both made very interesting points about how social media influences our experiences with more traditional media like movies. Many times I've seen people flocking to social media to comment on television and movies while or right after watching them. Some even comment beforehand, going off of trailers and second-hand information. However, their discussions of movie watching becoming more social and engaging because of social media felt lacking because they neglected to mention one of, in my opinion, the most important advances in social movie watching: Group streaming. With apps like Discord or Zoom where people can share screens and computer audio with groups of people, distance and time don't have to prevent people from enjoying television or movies together. I have watched episodes of television shows along with friends and strangers both near (Gainesville) and far (Europe). This isn't even a new concept. Twitch did a similar thing years ago when I was still in high school. It began with the 24 hour Bob Ross stream by Twitch itself, allowing anyone to hop on anytime and watch along with hundreds of others. With live comments, group memes were created and spread, and even people who didn't watch the stream knew about some of them. This also happened with Power Rangers, where every episode was streamed all day for weeks, with people saving funny clips and more memes arising. Nowadays people aren't limited to sharing views with people watching shows at different times. People can interact and watch and talk together at the same time with social media and modern technology, making entertainment even more social than Guo's (2019) "second screening". 

As mentioned by Malnar (2021), I experienced the widespread social media outrage over the design of Sonic in his self-titled movie, and I witnessed the massive improvement that was made by the movie makers. Something Malnar (2021) neglects to mention about this situation, though, is the way the internet reacted to the change. Of course people were surprised and excited, but they also argued that people were obligated to see the movie now. People online thought that, because of this uncommon, costly decision, those who were vocal about the design and asked for redesigns had the responsibility to support the movie monetarily to show future movie makers that, yes, listening to people online and taking criticism to make a movie better is worth the cost and effort, leaving the door open for similar fixes and alterations to be made in the future. While this was a huge step for online interactions and communication, it could end up being a one-off event. People have to put in the work to make it happen again by showing they appreciate the actions of the creators and reward it financially. 


Comments

  1. Devin TitusApril 13, 2022 at 9:25 AM

    Hi Mikael, I completely agree that group streaming is an extremely important topic to discuss when considering the relationship between social media and broadcast media because it connects audiences and allows them to enjoy television shows together no matter where they live or where they currently are. I also remember when the original Sonic design was shown for the first time and fans were outraged because of how weird and honestly creepy it looked. However, the studio listened to the fan feedback and realized they had to do something and they did. After that, the design was completely changed and fans were much happier with the revised design. That is a great example of why marketing through social media is much better because it allows the creators of the content to receive direct feedback from the fans the content is intended for. Listening to the fans is extremely important because most of the time they just want the movie to do the character they are representing justice because it may be a character or group of characters that they have followed for many years through other various forms of content such as comics or videogames. Overall, I really enjoyed all of the examples you provided as they made the overlying points you were trying to make much easier to understand.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Demarko R.April 14, 2022 at 12:12 PM

    I found it interesting on how much you already knew about group streaming. I have tried to do it once a couple of years ago but was unable to figure it out. I knew of this from the use of YouTube. They have a way to where you can post a video and allow everyone to watch it at the same exact time or in the case of YouTube, to premiere it. I was unaware that things like this were not fairly new which is surprising that it was not mentioned in any of the readings.

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  3. Justin CrossApril 15, 2022 at 7:04 AM

    Hi Mikael,
    The point you made about critics of the Sonic movie feeling obligated to see the finished product is something I had not considered. It does seem rather hollow for someone to provide potentially harsh criticism of something, the creator modify it based on those comments, and then the original critic choose to not see the revised product. I can see where someone would feel a sense of obligation in that case.

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  4. Ian Haas' Learning JournalApril 16, 2022 at 7:12 PM

    You make a great point about live streaming services as a facet of social media. It has definitely democratized entertainment, allowing anyone to put themselves out there and be responsive to their fans in real time, and creating communities of viewers that might not otherwise have come together.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Phuc NApril 17, 2022 at 4:12 PM

    Hello Mikael,
    It is indeed interesting to see how social media has advanced itself over the years and now even share its influences onto other type of media, or in this case movies. Back then if you happen to find an interesting movie, you either wait until tomorrow to talk to your friends about it, or express it immediately through texting. Either of those methods are pale compare to what we have today. Movie group streaming, where hundreds, or even thousands of people can gather together on the internet, watching and commenting about the movie, all in real time. Not to mention making memes about it just like you said. Incredible to say the least.

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