You know how there is that one movie you can watch multiple times without getting bored?
People fear that they are wasting their time by indulging in re-watches. But, in fact, re-watching a favorite movie might count as productive. Here are eight reasons to soothe your guilt:
1. We are drawn to things with which we are familiar because there’s a certain level of comfort in knowing what’s going to happen next. As much as most of us enjoy an element of surprise, there’s nothing as relaxing as knowing exactly how the next two hours of your day are going to play out.
2. While watching a new movie, you always stand the risk of being disappointed by how it turned out. What if you commit your time to the movie but it isn’t up to scratch? Old favorites never disappoint.
3. Re-watching a movie is similar to listening to the same song again, eating the same comfort food again, or re-visiting a favorite place. You do it because it’s an experience worth re-living, and it brings forth memories of the day you first did it. So, re-watching your favorite movie has an element of nostalgia attached to it.
4. Each time you re-watch a movie, you discover new details and nuances. Those details were always there, but you missed them the first time because you were more intent on following the plot. When you already know the plot, your mind gets the opportunity focus on minutiae.
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5. Familiarity and nostalgia both make re-watching a relaxing and comforting experience, which means it acts as a great stress buster. You don’t really need to pay much attention to the movie, and you don’t have to be prepared for any surprises. So, you can use the time to just release some tension.
6. Human beings evolve with time. The way a person perceives life changes every day. These small changes which get accumulated over time enable us to think about things we never thought before, to see what couldn’t have been seen earlier, and to push our imaginations further.
Therefore, with the benefit of hindsight, you interpret a movie very differently each time you watch it again.
7. The first time we do something is to mainly satisfy curiosity. While consuming a movie the first time, along with our curiosity, our aesthetic, intellectual, and sensual interests are also satisfied. Generally, our satisfaction is sufficient the first time and we do not go back to the same thing.
But in a few cases, the experience ‘grabs’ us, our liking for it is more than ordinary, and we go back to it again and again. This is for the purpose of ‘savoring’ it.
The motivation comes from a deeper interest – than simply curiosity – triggered in us. So, we consume it again and again to recreate the joy we experienced in that, or to savor it in detail.
8. Sometimes you need to be reminded of the message the movie gives as it might be more relevant to you at present than it was when you first watched the movie. Art can do this: speak to us in new ways at different times in our lives.
The fact that you want to repeat something you have done earlier is a testimony to the kind of happiness it gave you. And a happy mind is like a sharpened saw. So, go re-watch DDLJ, man! I won’t judge you, I promise. But make sure not to judge yourself too harshly either. Now you know that time spent re-watching a movie will never be wasted; in fact, in some ways, it will contribute to your efficiency.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Wikipedia, The Sun, Wikipedia
