TV Tuesday: Always With You

[yourlibrarian]

Quentin Tarantino called TV a forgettable medium compared to movies. At least one actor took offense: “Our shows, if I didn’t have the great fortune of being in them, really stick with me. I’m still thinking about Leftovers. I’m still thinking about Six Feet Under. The storytelling is what sticks with you.”

Does TV storytelling, and its memorability, differ from movies (in any way other than length)? Does it matter what kind of TV it is? Does familiarity play a role?

Comments

[aurumcalendula]

I definitely disagree that TV is inherently more forgettable. I also wonder how he would count recurring TV movies like Columbo

[yourlibrarian]

Indeed, it's not like these worlds don't cross over and aren't entangled. For that matter, Columbo is such an iconic character. People may recognize big celebrities from films but they'll remember someone from a small part in their favorite show. That's the opposite of forgettable.

[yourlibrarian]

It's not that I don't remember one-off movies, but to me they're more likely to be forgotten than when I've watched a season (or much more) of a show. The sheer amount of time I spend with a group of characters makes me more likely to remember their names (more likely, not guaranteed, it's a perennial weak spot), and details about their lives. There's so much that doesn't even go into movies in sacrifice of the plot or the action scene.

What I'd like to know is what Tarantino considers memorable in the first place. Because if it's a cool shot or line or fight scene, maybe he's better able to remember it because the entire story is so short.

[jo]

The sheer amount of time I spend with a group of characters makes me more likely to remember their names (more likely, not guaranteed, it's a perennial weak spot)

Same! I'm so bad with character names in some cases. Some series, I remember almost every character's name. Others tho... lucky if I remember the names of 2 or 3 of the main characters.

[alchemicink]

There's so much that doesn't even go into movies in sacrifice of the plot or the action scene.
100 percent agree with this! Movies just don't always have enough time to include everything, so you don't always get to know the characters as much as you'd like

[jo]

I completely disagree with him, and not just because I'm not much of a movie person. There are a handful of films that have completely stuck with me, and the reasons for that are 1) they just hit at a particular time in my life or reflected a particular time in my life (e.g. The Breakfast Club), or 2) they tie into a TV show - e.g. the Star Trek films and Galaxy Quest (the best non-Trek Trek film).

But otherwise, most films I watch don't stick with me. They just can't compete with the the in-depth closeness you develop watching characters over an entire series.

[alchemicink]

Firstly, that's such a silly subjective thing for Tarantino to say 🙄 Movies are his medium; of course they are more memorable to him.

But anyway, for me, I tend to find TV more memorable, perhaps because I watch more TV shows than movies in general. But also, I do think TV storytelling tends to give you a better opportunity to get attached to characters (which leads to thinking about them more frequently, which leads to being more memorable, yeah?). This is an overly broad generalization, for example, but the events of an action movie or a disaster movie might take place over the course of a few days. Maybe a rom-com spans a few weeks at most. But plenty of TV shows - particularly ones that last for multiple seasons - can stretch their stories out over years of time. I'm thinking about broadcast procedurals, for example, or Star Trek's "five year mission" or teen dramas where every season is a new school year. Regardless of length of the show, the viewer can feel like they're spending more time with those TV characters compared to a movie, which might feel more like just a snapshot of them.

Seperately, I also kinda judge memorability by how much I want to read/write fanfic afterwards 😅 and just looking at my ao3 account, I've only written for three movie fandoms... out of more than 50 fandoms total lol. TV shows are definitely not forgettable for me!