Unceremoniously Dumped đź“ş
The live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender dropped on Netflix last Thursday. Watching through, I enjoyed for the most part. It expectedly adapted a remarkable achievement in Western animation — a Nickelodeon cartoon with long-term storytelling based around war and fascism — into an above-average, if indistinct, CGI spectacle where the characters exchange grandstanding speeches.
It took me and my boyfriend a whopping six days to finish the eight episodes. The interruptions were my fault: I had a suit fitting and podcast recording in York, a social gathering in Sheffield, and a casual house move across the Humber. A quiet weekend, otherwise.
But, in that time, my boyfriend battled against an onslaught of spoilers. His family and friends had got ahead of us early on, then the Insta-algorithms took a break from the usual shitpost reels to throw up all kinds of plot-revealing videos.
I find it incredible how Netflix has gone for the binge-watch strategy here. At the press of a button, (reportedly) $100 million’s worth of TV has been unceremoniously dumped onto the platform — gambling on positive word of mouth rather than trickling in ongoing hype. The famed streaming model made sense ten years ago when they produced your House of Cards and Orange is the New Blacks as they were continuing the DVD boxset culture. Now? Well, it seems hard to rely on word of mouth if most people on social media are dodging spoilers like landmines, while others are uneasy to immediately give their thoughts without being targeted by a chorus of “boooo, you’ve ruined it”.
Not that I care much about social media discourse. But what was missing from seeing The Last Airbender was the sense of occasion. Nothing appeals more than appointment viewing. I love having a fixed slot every week to sit down and enjoy a programme. Knowing I have something to look forward to within a gruelling week of work and chores makes me a happier person. It is amazing to then discuss these shows at a leisurely pace; not feeling compelled to rush through the content in case my eyes or ears pick up a stray spoiler.
Sometimes the new episode per week schedule may not be the strongest. I liked Netflix recently aping BBC’s The Traitors thrice weekly release for their Squid Game gameshow — the dickishness of delaying the final episode so folks had a last chance to catch up was brilliant. But to put everything out there in one go and hope it doesn’t just disappear into the ether like 90% of their original film slate? 2014 called, it wants its media consumption back.