Chrisicisms: Keeping (covid) positive
Musing on film and life from a state of isolation.
One of the things I did more of when I started this newsletter was occasionally post about current events, faith or personal musings. I stopped doing that when this became my sole place to write about movies, but I think once a week I might start slipping in something more like that. Less of a space for a review or essay, but just some general musings about life, as well as some scattered pop culture and film-related thoughts. I’ll use the term Chrisicisms for these, to keep them a bit on brand.
I’ve had a lot of time on my hands to think about that stuff lately, you see, because earlier this week, I tested positive for COVID.
I was sitting around on Sunday and mentioned to my wife that I couldn’t really smell anything. I thought of it as a “hmm, that’s weird” type of thing, but she’s a lot smarter than I am, and suggested I might want to take a COVID test just to be safe. I told her over and over that I was sure it wasn’t COVID, but that red line appeared pretty quickly to prove me wrong.
I’m perfectly fine, to be clear. We’re all vaccinated and boosted, and so my case is pretty mild (my taste and smell have already returned). I have a slight sniffle and some shortness of breath when I go up the stairs, and the fatigue hits pretty hard by late afternoon. But other than that, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was as smell blind as Dewey Cox, I probably wouldn’t have thought COVID was a possibility.
I feel about as bad as I would get with a mild sinus infection or spring cold (this is not a “this is just a cold” argument; I’m well aware that this probably is mild for me because of the benefit of vaccines and boosters). Mostly, I’m just embarrassed and annoyed. Embarrassed because I was pretty proud of my no-COVID streak for the last two years. Even when my wife got it almost exactly a year ago, I was free and clear. I’m not sure where I picked this up: Either at a family gathering, my kids brought it home from school, or during an Easter service. Not much I could do about the first two; that’s where we take on acceptable risks, I guess.
But I kick myself for getting lax on wearing masks at church. I stopped about a month or two ago. Mask requirements were dropping everywhere, cases were coming down. But even when I stood in a crowded sanctuary on Easter, I thought “hmm, I should probably be wearing a mask.” And I didn’t, because comfort. But at church, you’re pretty packed in, and you’re singing. I don’t know for sure that I picked it up there, but it’s as good a culprit as any. So, I feel like an idiot, and mostly I just hate that I was around others who I could have potentially passed this to.
But, it happens, and the only way to avoid risk completely is to become a shut-in. I’ve heard it said that everyone is eventually going to get COVID at some point, so I’m just thankful that by the time it landed on me, I was in a position where it was mild. My new job is a remote one, so I didn’t even have to change anything there. So, good timing.
So, that just leaves me annoyed. That John Mulaney “this might as well happen” feeling. My wife and kids all tested negative, thank God, but that means I’m isolated from them until Saturday morning. So, I’m annoyed that my wife has to handle everything with the kids after work while I’m up here. And while it’s not the worst thing in the world to step back two feet to the bed after work and spend the evening writing newsletters, reading and watching movies, it gets boring and lonely fairly quickly. On the plus side, I’m making great headway in my Franchise Friday pieces and plan to catch up with Moon Knight tonight. On the negative side, I’ve just spent 800 words complaining to you all about my mild COVID diagnosis because I’m bored and have no one to complain to.
But it’s a good reminder that we’re not done with COVID, even if our culture loves to pretend that we are. A year ago, there was a lot of talk about us coming “out of the pandemic,” but here we are in April 2022, and we’re already anticipating a fall surge. Thankfully, vaccines, medicines and general knowledge about COVID have improved to the point where deaths and hospitalizations are decreasing, and many people just have the sniffles like I do. But there are still millions out there who are immunocompromised or either can’t or won’t get vaccinated, and painting over reality to say “COVID’s all done” isn’t doing them any favors.
I’m not saying panic, and I’m not saying lock your doors and don’t go out. Do what you feel comfortable doing. But do it safely and smartly. And remember that “normal” is a buzzword, not the reality. People who talk about “going back to normal” are trying to force something that shouldn’t happen and ignoring changes that they don’t like or don’t want to face up to. Remote work is not going away. Masks aren’t going away. Boosters and vaccines aren’t going away. Occasional surges and lockdowns aren’t going away. And that’s all because COVID isn’t going away. Again, not saying this to fear monger or to get political; it’s just that the sooner we realize that life pre-March 2020 isn’t coming back, the sooner we can finally start planning what life looks like going forward.
Alright, I’m done talking about COVID. Let’s talk movies and TV a little bit, shall we?
Updates to a resolution
At the beginning of the year, I published a few movie-related resolutions. One of those was a resolution to not watch any trailers before seeing a new release. And I’ve kept that up pretty well. I saw my favorite film of 2022 (so far) with its surprises intact, and I’ve managed to avoid the trailers for Thor: Love and Thunder, Top Gun: Maverick, and The Bob’s Burgers Movie, just to name a few. I’ve been proud of my restraint, and it’s helped me temper my expectations when going into a movie, as well as avoid the onslaught of prediction videos and articles on movie sites.
That said, it’s made the moviegoing experience not as fun. It feels silly to dash out of a theater or pop in a pair of earbuds and stare at my phone in the minutes before a movie begins. And I have to be honest that pre-movie trailers are a big part of going to the movies. They immerse you in the world of make-believe, and at best they whet your appetite for what to see next.
And what am I trying to avoid? Getting a sense of what an upcoming release might be about and whether it seems fun? Or analyzing and nitpicking a movie to death before its released by repeatedly watching trailers on YouTube and reading breakdowns online? I’d argue it’s the latter that has taken the fun out of the movie experience. The former has always been an enjoyable part of going to the show.
And so, I’m amending my resolution. I’m going to allow myself to sit through trailers in the theater before a movie only. I’m still going to stick to not watching trailers when they drop online (and I don’t watch TV, so I don’t have to worry about prime time ads). So far, I’ve seen the trailer for Jurassic World: Dominion. And while I have questions (mainly stemming from the fact that I never saw Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), I don’t feel like I’ve obsessed enough over it to have any unrealistic expectations for the film. But it did make my moviegoing experience a little more complete.
Netflix’s big problem
I’m late to the party when it comes to writing about the very bad week that Netflix had. The streaming giant lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year, and anticipates dropping lower in the coming months. The stock plummeted 35% in the wake of that news, losing the company more than $50 billion. The trade publications were abuzz throughout the week, smelling blood in the water at the once-formidable streamer.
Let me clarify that last sentence: Netflix is still formidable. It’s not going anywhere, and it’s very possible that in a few years’ time, it might still be the biggest streaming service. But we’re living through a shift in how we consume our content, and Netflix is no longer the only player. And services like HBO Max, Disney Plus, Hulu and Amazon Prime have become so readily accepted that Netflix is no longer a shorthand for the streaming experience anymore.
And many of those competitors are doing it much better than Netflix. And cheaper. A basic HD plan for Netflix costs $15, the highest out of any of the streamers (for comparison: HBO Max is close behind at $15, Criterion Channel is $10, Hulu with ads is around $12, Disney Plus is $8-ish, and Apple TV + is still a steal at $5 a month). And, yes, you get an unfathomable amount of content for that price.
But quality matters, and Netflix has so much content that I don’t know how the ratio of good to bad really shakes out. Yes, there have been some great Netflix movies: The Irishman, Marriage Story, Roma, and more. But there have been even more Adam Sandler cash-ins, Ryan Reynolds “comedies,” and films that have the visual appearance of a movie but have been rendered soulless by the desire to use an algorithm to reach a desired audience. Likewise, there are some great TV shows. I Think You Should Leave, Stranger Things, and The Crown (which I haven’t seen, but people love). But again, there’s even more weird, banal and just plan awful stuff out there, too often drowning out the good.
Netflix doesn’t have a clear brand identity. Disney + doesn’t do nearly as many original shows as Netflix, but the shows they do have a built-in audience. Apple TV+ started with no content library whatsoever and still offers less original programming than many other streamers, yet its quality ratio is extremely high (Ted Lasso, Schmigadoon, Central Park, Severance and The Morning Show[‘s first season] are all well worth the time and money). HBO doesn’t just offer great HBO and adjacent programming; it has one of the best back catalogs out of any of the streamers. Hell, even Peacock, one of the least-necessary platforms, has classics like The Office and Parks and Recreation, as well as promising new comedies like Girls5Eva and the Saved by the Bell reboot (seriously, it’s good).
And while Netflix pioneered binge-watching, that’s a concept that I think is coming back to bite them. Sure, you can blast through a season of Russian Doll in a weekend. But are you going to stick around and watch anything else on Netflix? I find that my use with the streamer is to blast through a show I like (I’ve returned to I Think You Should Leave about three times) and then move on. But at least two times a week, I’m on Apple TV+ watching Severance, heading over to Disney + for the latest Star Wars or Marvel show, or taking advantage of one of the many shows I like to watch on HBO Max. Chances are much more likely I’m going to also see something there that catches my eye because I’m simply using these platforms more often. Netflix has good programming, but there are also months at a time where I’m not visiting the service (we keep it because my kids use it quite a bit, but they’re also fans of Disney +, Paramount + and Peacock’s kids’ stuff).
So, I think Netflix is going to have to figure out what kind of content it wants to be known for and find a way to keep people around when a show ends (the platform is so synonymous with binge-watching that I don’t know if a weekly release schedule would make sense for them). It will be interesting to see!
And with that, I’ll crawl back to bed, flip on my tablet and watch some TV to get me through this isolation period. Be safe, everyone.
Get well soon!