Mozart wrote for audiences who were only half paying attention. If that is all he had done -- and it was all that most of his peers did -- he would be forgotten. But at the same time he also wrote for audiences who were paying the closest possible attention. He is remembered for doing both. It is quite a trick, as you will see if you try it. Netflix do not even see the need for it, and therefore, their "works" will be forgotten.
Not quite as highbrow, but Pixar stuff, particularly the earlier movies, manage to have jokes that work for kids and their parents. It was much appreciated.
The first few seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants are also masterfully crafted in this way
It already is. Every time they drop a new show, it's a hot topic for a week, maybe two, then it immediately falls out of the gestalt. No one brings up anything they've done in the future ever again. You barely ever hear anyone mention things like bird box.
oh I love the old shows that were written with two-level humor.
think foghorn leghorn with funny physical humor for the kids and subversive humor for the parents.
Sort of related -- I have friends who are immigrants to the US. They have a hard time with subtle types of humor, but some extra physical humor can sometimes let them have a good time anyway.
”He is buying a gift for his aunt”
"Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?"
That's in screenwriter circles called the hook, not the plot. You don't reiterate the whole plot for the innate viewers, you just deepen the hook, usually by giving wrong hooks, which are then replaced by better hooks.
It's not that Netflix invented TV scripting. Even with festival movies you turn it off within the first 5 minutes if you have to judge 200 to 2000 admissions in a month. Same with distributors. They certainly don't watch the whole movie if it starts bad. It usually doesn't get better in the third act.
Some TV is already like this. I recall critics of Teletubbies complaining about the repeated statements and actions (Tinky-Winky says "Again! Again!"). Then I spent time in Asia and all their popular entertainment (eg Running Man) continually repeats the last 10 seconds of each action. It's crazy making to me, but it evidently is what the viewers like.
The teletubbies is a bad example here, it's designed for babies where repetition is good for learning and development.
Some Asian content can be like this, sure, but I suspect that's stylistic rather than for the reasons Netflix are doing it.
Interesting, so Netflix is literally and not figuratively infantilizing its users.
The "user" is only half of a human anyway, 50% is the max consciousness people spend on whatever Netflix they have running as background noise. That's the target audience Netflix is optimizing for: half-humans. Saves them lots of bandwidth, expenses for quality, and yes, it needs a solid amount of exposition[0] to work.
There will never be another The Wire.
i believe that would qualify as "hanging a lantern"
http://bekindrewrite.com/2011/02/04/what-does-hang-a-lantern...
when done artfully it works well, rather than insulting intelligences, or seeming intentionally dumbed down.
Reminds me of the gift shop sketch from Mitchell & Webb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFtl2XXnUc
It’s so painful that I can’t even watch.
Some related discussions:
Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42529756
The new literalism plaguing today’s movies
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44567683
Why 90s Movies Feel More Alive Than Anything on Netflix