Hey, everyone! It’s Sadina here, one of the co-editors of Opus.
Let’s talk about Netflix.
What could be more addictive, more beautiful, and more destructive for students? Well actually, I did some research. I was sitting here, watching Gossip Girl instead of homework, feeling guilty. Then, I found that Netflix can actually make for better writers and artists. Let me clarify — this is completely outside of the Netflix and Chill culture — that’s something entirely different.
However, I do think there’s validation in what Netflix can do for creative writing. As literature students, we learn how to read and write like writers. Netflix shows us the story arcs that we can trace, series prolonged, stories stretched over multiple conflicts, inciting incidents, and yearnings. We learn to see gaps in the stories. Inspiration can be drawn from watching Netflix, whether it’s a movie or a series (even a short), because there’s a wide range of options of what to watch. One could watch The Constant Gardener, getting a touch of politics and love. Perhaps A Single Man which contemplates what makes life worthy and what can fuel a man after experiencing heartbreak. Or you could watch an animated film — the choices are endless. If you ever run out of ideas of what to create, scroll through the HUNDREDS of options and recognize that no story can’t be told. All you need is a twist, an original and compelling change that can turn a story upside down.
It also serves as a break for us. As students, and yes I’m going there, we are scheduled to burn out fast. Hope students seem to be going and going and going. When I’m not working on Opus, I’m a Resident Assistant, and one of the major things we speak about during training is to stop the glorification of busy. Students tackle so much between jobs, extracurricular activities, studies, family life, personal life, the list goes on. START THE GLORIFICATION OF NETFLIX! This is the exciting time where we can watching something to take a break using (but not abusing) Hope’s wifi. We can diffuse, reimagine, reassess.
Here a couple links for articles that talk about this. Even if you don’t buy the arguments, can we all agree that Netflix is at least good for background noise as you paint, write, sculpt, whatever?
Thanks for reading, and remember to keep creating! Have a great weekend!
