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QOTD #92: How do you prefer your entertainment?

Discussion in 'Tilted Entertainment' started by genuinemommy, Oct 11, 2016.

  1. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Do you prefer your entertainment to be all-encompassing?
    Or do you prefer it to stimulate your own creativity?

    I ask this because I have noticed a trend with my daughter.
    Some of her video games envelop her completely. She is fully engrossed and absorbed in that game, and wants nothing to do with the world around her. She gets so involved that she forgets to eat or pee. It's kinda extreme, honestly. But, hey, she's 3. I have recently come to the realization that I should limit her exposure to things that are so all-encompassing. It's no fun to tear her away, but it's unhealthy to leave her in another world and allow her body to rot.

    Other video games, TV shows, and films encourage her to think creatively. She acts them out and wants to engage with her surroundings after watching them.
    Video games that fit this category include old-school Zelda.
    Children's programming that fit this category are Wild Kratts and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
    Films that fit this category seem to be older and live-action, including The Neverending Story and Swiss Family Robinson.

    It got me thinking... what kind of entertainment do you prefer?
    Do you want to be dragged fully into a world?
    Or do you want to be challenged to view your existing world in a new light?
    Maybe some of both?

    What entertainment options have you found to fit your interests?
    Share, explore, analyze your habits... or ramble incoherently. It's all good.
     
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  2. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    Rambling incoherently is my speciality.

    I think it depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to engage critically with something. Sometimes I want something to make me think, to make me ponder, to cause me to consider aspects of the world around me that I might not otherwise. Sometimes I want that experience where a creative work is a spark that sets off my own thoughts into new and uncharted territory. But then sometimes I don't want that. Sometimes it's been a long day and I just want to have a good time. I think both have their place.

    I feel like your dichotomy isn't quite a dichotomy; like, I think there's some overlap there. I think I can become fully immersed in something and also have that something challenge me intellectually, or I can not be fully immersed in something and not have it challenge me intellectually and still call that good entertainment. So I'm not sure I entirely agree with the premise, though I don't entirely disagree with it either.

    That whole "forget about the world" thing is something that seems to happen less and less often as I get older. I wonder if it's a function of age? Like, a three year old who has fewer experiences just is inherently more prone to wonder than a jaded grown up. Or maybe it's just because I have so many more obligations and responsibilities now that I can't afford to get so wrapped up in something that I lose track of the world around me. Certainly the all-night gaming sessions or movie marathons of my youth aren't something I'm really able to do anymore.
     
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  3. POPEYE

    POPEYE Very Tilted

    Location:
    Tulsa
    Depends on my mood as well. If I need to be taken away from my reality I look for that, and that will be a familiar 3 -4 hr epic movie. Which will include snacks and alcohol. Other than that just a little here and there. These days reading makes me sleepy, I used to escape with books.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    Depends on my mood.
    I like creativity and thinking...so that's why I like puzzles or especially strategy, things like Civilization.
    Or I just want a no brainer...not even big hand eye coordination, fun things like Diablo.
    Or all encompassing to me is investing myself in expression like Rock Band. Singing my heart out...or getting those drum beats down. (can't do guitar well)

    Media is music, films, books anything I can get my hands onto.
    Fantasy is a investment I can dive into and get lost.
    Action is a no brainer, as is SciFi.
    I love good thinking movies...things I can chew on and figure out, think about the implications and consequences.

    Non-fiction books I like perspectives...so broad history arcs,
    science takes me forever, because every paragraphs has so many implications that I expand on.
    I like books that give no angles of society issues I've encountered.

    The train and commute is where I like to ponder science abstracts...thinking games.
    When I want to escape...I go out and let go...Eats and dancing. (dancing is a BIG escape zone for me)

    Exercise or Martial Arts is a good escape or entertainment for me...even people watch.
    Or just go wandering...walk, bikeride, drive...see what's over the hill.

    I like all topics, so nothing is ever off limits.
    And if I can get someone to join me, even better.
    I like sharing. :)
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    This question made me think a little.

    Not sure if I'm weird in this aspect, but when I am partaking in some form of entertainment as described in this thread, I'm usually doing two things at once. If I'm reading, I'm usually also watching a game, a light TV show, or listening to sports radio. If I'm playing a computer game, same thing. If I'm watching a game or show, I'm almost always doing something else in the background too. It didn't always used to be that way. When I was a young adult I used to immerse myself in reading and block out the entire world. Somehow I think I've developed some mild adult ADD or something, where I have a tough time focusing long term without breaking it up into small segments.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  6. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I'm not sure if I get the question.

    Is it a question of whether we prefer passive or active entertainment? Or is it a question of whether we prefer escapist or mimetic entertainment?

    I could answer on both counts I guess, but I don't want to take this thread off in the wrong direction.
     
  7. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Provide both answers. I'm curious now.
     
  8. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Okaaaay, but it might open a can of worms...

    I tend to prefer active entertainment. By that I mean entertainment that requires input from me.

    Passive entertainment is basically where everything is given to you, and you passively accept it. It's not limited to television, but television is a prime example. To clarify, though, not all television is passive entertainment. Entertainment is no longer passive when it requires active thinking to deconstruct it or analyze it. For example, crime/police procedural shows aren't necessarily passive entertainment because in most cases, the viewer gathers clues along with the characters and will likely try to solve the crime before they do. Some do this consciously, but I'm the kind who does it subconsciously (though I admit that I don't tend to watch these shows).

    Other shows can be considered more active. Shows with intelligent writing can fall under this category. I loved Breaking Bad, and it was hardly passive entertainment because of the dramatic scope and the narrative arc. It was Shakespearian, which is rare in television.

    Basically: Entertainment that engages the senses and requires interpretation or response is active. Much of television, however, is passive. It's there just to digest and enjoy. There's a role for this kind of entertainment. It relaxes the brain, lets it shut down a bit. But I don't enjoy much of that, as my brain is geared towards thinking along deeper lines. I'm a very inner-world type person, so when it comes to entertainment, I want something that engages me and sparks my imagination, stirs my senses, and draws out my emotions.

    This can apply to all sorts of entertainment, but some formats are more geared towards active, such as reading or crafting, both of which require active engagement and mental inputs.

    Music can be both active and passive. We all know how to use music in the background, but I often actively listen to music, where it's the only thing I'm doing. I tend to listen to a lot of jazz and classical music, which lends to more active involvement in the music. Rock and pop and the like can be both, but it's easier to use that to just unwind and not think about it, just let the beat and/or melody and/or lyrics take you away.

    On the other side of the coin, entertainment can be either escapist or mimetic.

    I have a long history of struggling between which I prefer in this regard. My youth was filled with escapist fiction, music, tabletop games, and video games. I didn't watch much television or movies (relatively speaking), and so it made up a big part of my life. As I got older, I started to see the value in mimetic fiction and even film. By the time I was graduating high school, I had been exposed to enough of it to be unable to put it out of my mind. Although I went to college for marketing, I ended up going to university afterwards to study literature. And, as you know, I ultimately became a book editor.

    Looking at the cross-section of literature I've consumed, I run the gamut from completely escapist to completely realist, and everything in between.

    I now often find myself torn between the two. My early influences are decidedly escapist (fantastical), but some of the most inspiring and powerful works I've read are realist (or at least derived from realism). So now I find myself in this awkward position where I crave fantasy but cannot shake off the draw of mimetic fiction. It often sours my experience of reading fantasy now. It's as though I struggle to let my imagination appreciate it because of other factors such as writing quality (commodified vs. literary fiction), plot structure (meandering vs. purposeful), or whatever. It's like my tastes have shifted too far in one direction and I've been having trouble getting back into the kinds of books I used to love.

    It's not as bad as it was a while back. I've been slowly working to balance my view of things. For example, when I read escapist fiction, I read it as escapist fiction, and when I read mimetic fiction, I read it as mimetic fiction. For a while, I was applying the same standard to everything, which is a mistake.

    Am I rambling? I was going to talk specifically about video games, and also about listening to music vs. playing it, but maybe I should do that in separate posts....
     
    • Like Like x 3
  9. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    What a yummy post. My eyes are eating it up. Please, keep rambling.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  10. Stan

    Stan Resident Dumbass

    Location:
    Colorado
    I prefer entertainment to be live, loud, and in my face. If it doesn't distract me from every day realities, it isn't entertaining enough.

    It's hard to worry about work, daughters, or money when you are dropping down a steep cornice on skis. Likewise for doing 50 around a 15 mph corner on a motorcycle. While I enjoy recorded music, much of that comes from seeing a lot of live shows. Hard to worry about things when the band is playing at 110db.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  11. ralphie250

    ralphie250 Fully Erect Donor

    Location:
    At work..
    short answer:


    naked and in front of me
     
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