(Not) watching movies and TV

“Sit down and watch this movie” my Dad used to say. I’m 12 years old and adorn the sofa with my presence waiting for the movie to start.

It’s a western. An old western. I hated and still hate westerns. John Wayne seems to come to mind. I’m sorry if I offend anyone, but he was the most wooden actor of all time. Just awful. I was 12 and could see that. He wasn’t the only one, there were others equally as dreadful. I detested the storylines, the acting, the mere fact that these movies existed.

The sole reason for this contempt is because my Dad made me watch them. He insisted. When I asked to leave and do something else it was denied I was forced to watch.

I was a different time, no internet, no smartphones. I would have been happy reading a magazine or book though.

It sounds like a real first world problem and it kind of is, similar to getting me to eat marmite on toast. I don’t like marmite and after trying it and it not agreeing with me there is no amount of convincing, I will continue to dislike it.

This constant repeated attempt to make me sit through these productions has meant I have a fiercely negative opinion about the genre. As a bratty child my stubborn nature kicked in. I’m not sure that can ever be undone now.

If I had been given the option to leave and not watch the movies then I am pretty sure my opinion would be indifferent or even positive, I may even be a fan of westerns. Unlikely, but it is a consideration.

The shear insistence to sit down and watch movies has spilt over into adulthood. I can’t watch many movies, a comedy is about as far as I can go and even then I can just as easily turn it off halfway through. Just don’t care enough. I squarely blame this on my Dad.

I do wonder if the reason my Dad got me to watch those movies was not to try an enlighten me with the wonder of the Wild West but just to shut to me up. I know exactly what I’m like and I can imagine him trying to sedate me with TV being a good idea, it’s just a shame I refused it and in the process it managed to ruin a pastime I can never seem to enjoy.

Unfortunately I will never know his intentions, he died in May 2022.

As negative as it sounds my reluctance to not watch movies or TV that much is a blessing and an unintentional gift given to me by my Dad.

This disdain for sitting in front of the box can be quite annoying for my wife. We don’t watch TV shows together and if she is watching a series I can’t sit through it and find myself commenting on it, usually in a negative manner.

I do have a very short list of shows I watch, about nine in total, mainly science fiction based and I rewatch these to death. That is it. The last TV show that I watched and still watch was Dan Harmon’s 2009 series “Community”. I have nothing that is fresher than that.

Computers on the other hand offer me a way to watch. I will consume YouTube at a worrying rate. Binge watching nerd videos on a lot of tech stuff. Some long form content like documentaries.

Watching YouTube has been such an issue for me at times I end up blocking it occasionally just to stop myself.

The TV and the computer share a lot of traits but they are different enough for me to watch stuff on my PC. There must be some kind of psychological screw up that prevents me from watching the conventional TV, all thanks to westerns.