How Netflix is changing the way we consume entertainment

Mains Paper 4: Science and Technology
Prelims level: Media and Entertainment
Mains level: The new technology in TV viewership

Context

•  Everyone present subscribed to Netflix and Amazon Prime.
•  Netflix is dramatically changing the way we consume entertainment in India. It is giving us enormous choice.
•  The ability to watch at our convenience and, of course, it gives us the pleasure of binge-watching.
•  Who wants to wait for one whole week for the next episode to know what happened next?

Traditional vs New Method

•  Going to the theatre to watch a film is an experience larger than the film itself family outing, date, stolen kisses, popcorn and soft drinks.
•  If a lot of people in the hall are laughing, you also laugh, though you’ve missed the joke. You are moved to tears against your will, just because people all around you are sniffling. And, of course, there is the whole sensory experience.
•  You need to watch some films on the big screen, especially if you like seeing monsters eating skyscrapers.
•  Television was different.
•  We did not have to move from the sofa to enjoy a film, and we were happy with that for decades.
•  We could always switch channels.
•  All seemed fine with the world.
•  The theatre for that special film experience and, for the rest, television.

Will Doordarshan ever fund such a serial?

•  In fact, even private Indian film producers would baulk at tackling political corruption at a level more sophisticated than that of a murderous thug becoming a minister—Singham is the maximum we can get.
•  It can work both ways. Netflix and Amazon Prime are still free from Indian censorship, but one does not know for how long.
•  But as long as these services remain outside the net, Indian filmmakers have a chance to make the films they have dreamed of.

Way forward

•  There are several Indian shows and films on these channels that would never have got financed—or made the way they were through the usual processes.
•  Of course, there is nudity and foul language. But that is real life.
•  Netflix and Amazon Prime will change our concept of TV viewership, and what we should demand as intelligent viewers.
•  The format gives the viewer unmatched freedom, and the content gives more highs than Indian television has ever given.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) India could not develop a sound industrial base under the colonial rule because of:
1. policy of systematically deindustrializing India
2. India was reduced to the status of a mere exporter of important raw materials
3. India was turned into a sprawling market for the finished products
4. decline of the indigenous handicraft industries
5. increasing imports of cheap manufactured goods from Britain

Choose the correct statements from below code:
a) 2, 3 and 5
b) 2, 3, 4 and 5
c) 1, 2, 3 and 5
d) All of the above

Answer: D

Mains Questions:
Q.1) How Netflix is changing the way we consume entertainment?