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Writer's pictureVasudha Iyengar

Why Do We Hate-Watch?

Movies and television shows are receiving more criticism than praise from audiences. But why do they continue to watch it?


Have you ever watched a movie or a television series solely to criticise or mock it?


I have to admit, I do.


It is one of my favourite pastimes and my most recent targets have been reality TV shows like The Kardashians, Indian Matchmaking, and Say Yes to the Dress. As I sat down with my friends last week to watch the second season of Indian Matchmaking, I wondered why I continued to watch the show despite how irritable I found the majority of the characters. This was not just me; my friends also participated in this exercise of watching the show solely to mock it.


When I logged on to social media I noticed that in addition to us, countless others were also engaging in this phenomenon known as "hate-watching". Through this article, I wanted to share some of what I found during my research. While there isn't much academic research on hate-watching yet, many of the written pieces on the web point to belonging and social comparison as reasons why we all engage in some form of hate-watching. But, before we get into these details, let's take a closer look at hate-watching.


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What is Hate-Watching?


Hate-watching refers to watching a movie or a TV show that we do not enjoy or no longer watch to criticise the show or its characters. Hate-watching does not imply that we hate the content; if that were the case, we would not consume it in the first place. Instead, people hate-watch because the content falls short of their expectations and/or they are disheartened by the wasted potential.

Hate-watching however is not criticism. While criticism is a reflection of the content and is often written after the content has been watched, hate-watching is the act of viewing the content to comment and nitpick it at specific times during its runtime. Both could point out details such as continuity errors or plot holes, but while a critic highlights these errors as their observation, for a hate-watcher these errors can be the source of several social media posts, such as tweets.

The strange thing about hate-watching is that we put in roughly the same amount of time and effort when we dislike a show as when we enjoy it. This idea is supported further by Jennifer Armstrong who identified a striking parallel between hate-watchers and fans. While both groups examine minor and major details of the piece of media or content, she suggests that fans do so to express their admiration, whereas hate-watchers do so to pick apart the content.

When we examine examples of hate-watching in terms of film, one of the most prominent examples is Fifty Shades of Grey. The film adaptation of E.L. James attracted criticism for lacking cinematic impact. Despite the criticism, the film proceeded to become a box office hit. Close examination revealed that some people went to see it despite not liking it, while others went to watch it simply because they didn't like it. The LA Times regards this movie as the “dawn of movie hate-watching”.

Since then, many movies and TV shows have been labelled as "hate-watch content." Pretty Little Lies, Riverdale, and Emily in Paris are among the TV shows in this category, as are films such as 2012, Suicide Squad, Godzilla, and The Mummy.


Why Do We Hate-watch Them Then?


Now that we have covered the basics of hate-watching, let us look at the two reasons why we choose to engage and indulge in it.


a. To Feel a Sense of Belonging and to Bond


As social animals, we have the innate need to belong or identify with a group. Hate-watching too provides us with an avenue to experience being part of a community. When we watch a movie or a TV show that we don't like, we can identify with several others who express similar thoughts as ours on social media through memes, tweets or reviews. This makes us feel that our beliefs are supported.

Furthermore, according to research, we may engage in hate-watching in some cases because everyone around us (friends, peers etc.), is consuming the content; to feel more accepted by them and avoid feelings of isolation, we may as well. Individuals in the study report that this allowed them to stay up to date on the latest trends, which helped them in social conversations.


In other terms, hate-watching act as a bonding experience. This was also supported by accounts of participants in the study who said that they would organise gatherings either in person or through video calls so people can collectively make fun of a show or a movie. This implies that, just as we can band together in support of something we like, such as fandoms, hate-watching is an example of grouping together based on dislike.


b. To Compare Ourselves


Hate-watching provides us with an avenue to compare ourselves with the celebrities and characters that appear on the screen. We, humans, have the tendency to create an evaluation of ourselves based on comparison with others; this process is explored in greater depth in the social comparison theory.

According to this theory, there are two ways we end up comparing ourselves to others, either upward or downward. Let us look at both of them in the context of hate-watching.


An upward comparison as the name suggests occurs when comparing ourselves with those who we perceive to be better than us. This form of comparison tends to be motivating as we would like to follow the path taken by those who we admire and also aspire to be like them.


However, psychologist JR Ilagan, suggests that this form of social comparison can also give rise to feelings of jealousy leading us to exhibit hate as a response to protect ourselves. For example, if we see a character from a reality TV series doing better, we might not like what they are up to, like the Kardashian-Jenner family.

On the other hand, a downward comparison occurs when we compare ourselves to those who we think are worse than us. By doing so we obtain some form of reassurance that we are doing well and also makes us feel better about our present situation. Furthermore, for us to take part in this, we do not necessarily have to be great at the skill, what matters is that we perceive ourselves to be better than someone else.


When we look at this in the context of reality TV, there are instances when some of the characters tend to make the most outlandish suggestions. As viewers when we compare ourselves to them, we feel we are smarter, thereby boosting our self-esteem. This idea was further supported in a study where participants admitted that they engaged in hate-watching to feel morally superior to the characters on screen.

At the end of the day, hate-watching can definitely be a fun activity, take it from someone who partakes in it frequently. However, experts advise us to proceed with caution as it can result in increased anxiety levels and low moods. If you don't feel like hate-watching, change the content and watch something positive, or engage in activities to channel your negative feelings, such as scribbling in a colouring book.


As an audience, we must consume everything in moderation, including hate-watching. Finally, we must be aware that while we might despise or be annoyed with what we watch, we continue to watch it because we secretly enjoy it.

References


Stanoeva, M. (2017). Hate watching trash Tv: Intersections of class and anti-fandom (dissertation). York University, Toronto, Ontario.


Van Gerwen, L. A., Chauvin, K., Puspasari, D., & Madison, T. P. (2021). Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Midwinter Conference. In ResearchGate. Norman; ResearchGate. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353390369_The_Road_to_Moral_Superiority_Was_Paved_with_Hate-Watching_A_Qualitative_Examination_of_Why_People_Watch_Things_They_Hate





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