Psychologists believe that human beings tend to prefer things that are familiar. (File photo)
Dec 24, 2024 14:30 IST First published on: Dec 24, 2024 at 14:29 IST
Every person who has run a household, has, at some point, had to grapple with two essential dilemmas: First, deciding what to cook for dinner; and second, choosing the TV show or movie to stream, as the accompaniment to the meal. This December, Netflix made this choice a little easier by offering a catalogue of 25 Christmas movies you could, if you were so inclined, stream through the month. Indeed, in 2024 alone, Netflix released five new Christmas movies, with one dropping every Wednesday since the beginning of November.
The term “new”, one must acknowledge, requires a somewhat liberal interpretation when applied to Christmas movies. The plot — or whatever passes for it — in these films, must, almost by law, adhere to a template. The protagonist must have a successful career in the Big City™. A contrived reason compels them to visit their childhood home in rural America, after many years. Their family is wealthy, but they have always wanted to be independent. Now, an aged relative (dead or dying) wants them to return to the small town and manage the family business. They try to wriggle out of it but get stuck organising a Christmas party. The romantic interest appears — always a local resident — and sparks fly. The next 90 minutes or so are spent in the nail-biting suspense of not knowing whether the protagonist will leave their glamorous life and career in the Big City™ for love and settle down in a rustic retreat.
Netflix did not invent this genre, of course. The Hallmark movie channel was famous for making wholesome holiday fare over the years, and would even top network ratings in certain categories during the holiday season. This, in turn, resulted in advertisement revenue of more than $350 million. In recent years, Netflix too has decided to cash in on the Christmas cheer. According to reports, the latest round of Christmas movies factory-assembled by Netflix has received wide viewership, with the Lindsay Lohan-starrer, Our Little Secret, alone amassing 32.4 million views. The standard Christmas movie template clearly works.
Psychologists believe that human beings tend to prefer things that are familiar. This theory termed the “mere exposure effect” or “familiarity principle” holds that the more we are exposed to certain things — a cuisine, a song, or a movie — the more we begin to enjoy them, thus creating a feedback loop that makes us want to return to them on a regular basis. In a 2022 study, researchers found that when there is a time constraint at play, people opt for old and familiar experiences instead of experimenting with something new. This habit can be criticised as being wasteful, since there is an opportunity cost involved in revisiting known terrain. After all, every hour spent watching the same TV show is an hour spent not discovering a potential new favourite. But there are many documented benefits to consuming content that is familiar and repetitive.
“Comfort media”, as it’s popularly called, can be restorative and therapeutic, its predictable rhythms bestowing upon viewers a feeling of order and safety. Knowing how a movie or TV series you’re watching will play out — and the precise emotions it will invoke — eliminates the possibility of unexpected, unpleasant surprises. It offers a sense of control. In fact, avoiding experiments in the choice of entertainment, and returning to The Office, is a consequence of our evolutionary programming: We have evolved to choose tasks that require the least amount of energy, and a seventh rewatch of the adventures of Dunder Mifflin employees exerts less cognitive load than starting a new show.
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But you can, sometimes, have too much of a good thing. According to some studies, this appreciation for the familiar can have its limits and “too much familiarity can decrease liking”. Academics who subscribe to this view use the example of the upside-down letter “U” to illustrate their point. They argue that repetitive engagement with a particular item can lead to an initial rise in enjoyment, until over-exposure reverses the effect and distaste eventually begins to set in.
So, as you celebrate the end of 2024, don’t let guilt stop you from biting into the latest Christmas movies, or the relaxing holiday watch you’ve watched numerous times before. They can, to an extent, nourish your soul. But you’d be wise to employ some moderation in these indulgences; else, the saccharine-sweetness of your comfort media may end up corroding your teeth.
The writer is a Mumbai-based lawyer and writer
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