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SoftTalkerlast Tuesday at 7:34 PM3 repliesview on HN

No, I do own some (actually it was more in the VHS days so tapes) and I just found that I never really watched them again. So I stopped buying movies. I'm the same with books. Once I read it, I've read it. I would rarely read a novel twice. I know what's going to happen, so what's the point? Reference books are different of course.


Replies

officeplantlast Friday at 6:43 PM

Some of us just consume media differently I suppose. I'm a big fan of going back to re-read/re-watch a lot of my favorite media. Sometimes it's because it got a new volume/season/movie came out years later so I'll take time to re-experience the original media to get ready for it. Never really had an issue experiencing something again and having it feel fresh because its been a few years.

I will admit that re-reading books has become less of a habit the older I get because it is time consuming to get through a longer series again.

elbearlast Friday at 6:54 PM

I'm mostly the same, I don't watch movies twice. But there are exceptions. Some movies are just beautiful or I like how they make me feel, so I want to rewatch them. Groundhog Day is an example.

bigstrat2003last Tuesday at 9:47 PM

You're not really thinking this through enough. The exact same logic you used can be applied to music: once you've listened to the album once, you know how it will go, so what's the point of listening again? Presumably you do get something out of listening to music again (since you said you do listen to it more than once), so whatever that "something" is... you can infer that others get similar value out of rereading books/rewatching movies, even if you personally don't.

For myself, the answer is "because the story is still enjoyable even if I know how it will end". And often enough, on a second reading/viewing I will discover nuances to the work I didn't the first time. Some works are so well made that even having enjoyed it 10+ times, I can discover something new about it! So yes, the pleasure of experiencing the story the first time can only be had once. But that is by no means the only pleasure to be had.

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