Arts
michigandaily.com — The Michigan Daily
12 — Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Why my mom can’t stop
rewatching TV’s ‘Friends’
My
mom
has
watched
“Friends” start to finish so
many times that everyone in
my family has lost count. She’s
on an agonizingly slow journey
to recovery from a stroke a
few years ago that has left her
without energy to do very much
other than watch TV most days.
This year I’m pretty sure I saw
her blast through all 10 seasons
in a matter of weeks, only to
dive into another back-to-back
rewatch.
We all have that friend that
has seen “The Office” 15 times.
You know the one — the friend
that has hundreds of “Want to
read” books on Goodreads, but
never fails to spend each summer
re-reading “Harry Potter” front
to back. Sometimes they’ll even
have the audacity to ask for your
music recommendations, only
for you to catch them listening to
Blonde on Spotify for the eighth
time that week.
I think everyone has that one
special show or book that you
can’t help but return to over
and over. The 21st century is
insane because anyone with a
cell phone in their pocket has
immediate access to millions of
books, movies, shows, albums
and games at their fingertips.
We’re also firehosed with new
content to consume on a daily
basis — more than is humanly
possible for any sane person to
keep up with. All that limitless
potential
for
novel
artistic
consumption and I still dump
hundreds of hours into replays
year after year.
Why do we keep coming back?
For some students, rewatching
their favorite shows and movies
is a way to cope with a busy
college lifestyle.
“A lot of the appeal of
rewatching
the
things
you
know you like is you already
know what’s gonna happen,”
Engineering junior Jacob Renard
explained. “It’s good background
noise, and there’s just enough
going on that you don’t have to
pay full attention to it.”
In college, time is a luxury few
can afford. Watching something
new is a commitment. It demands
full attention — but not if you’ve
already seen it. Rewatching
something
you
know
you
already like is actually extremely
efficient. It’s a guaranteed source
of comfort to pad the stress of
constant
homework
without
actually costing any precious
time. A comfort rewatch, even
in the background, helps you
maintain your sanity despite a
stressful schedule.
It’s pretty straightforward to
choose a rewatch for Renard.
“I’ve had a long day, I’m just
gonna throw something on that I
know I like,” he said.
“New Girl” is his rejuvenating
rewatch of choice. “It’s always
funny to me,” he said. “There are
jokes that I’ve laughed at every
single time.” For any overworked
student, it just makes sense.
For other students, a rewatch
is a little more personal.
LSA senior Shihua Lu has
rewatched the same 80-episode
TV series, dozens upon dozens
of times. “I watch it almost every
day because I watch it when
I’m chatting with my friends, I
watch it when I do homework,
writing … I was even planning
to see a therapist (about it),” she
laughed.
Lu’s addiction is “My Own
Swordsman,” a TV series she
described as “a Chinese version
of ‘Friends.’” I’d never heard
of it before, so I tried to watch
an episode I found on YouTube
to see for myself. I couldn’t
understand a single word, but I
quickly felt a sense of inherent
coziness from the vibrant cast
of tight-knit characters. There’s
definitely an alternate universe
where my mom grew up in
China and fell in love with “My
Own Swordsman” instead of
“Friends.” I could immediately
see why Lu might feel so attached
to the show. But her connection
to it goes a little deeper than just
a comforting rewatch.
“When I was in primary
school I was actually bullied by
a lot of classmates,” Lu said. “I
always wanted to have a very
close friendship or relationship
with other people. So I guess
that’s why I rewatch it over
and over again, because I think
that’s the kind of relationship (I
wanted).”
Lu’s words brought me back to
my own childhood — I too was
bullied in elementary school.
I remember wishing I had a
close friendship, a yearning that
persisted with every passing
friendless year. I had my own
comfort show for the same
reason as Lu: “Toradora,” a
romcom anime following a close-
knit class of high school friends.
I first saw it in middle school,
where the absence of friends had
me mentally spiraling. Watching
the joyous companionship in
“Toradora” tapped into one of
my greatest vulnerabilities. I
so badly wanted to experience
those heartfelt friendships with
my own classmates. To this day,
it’s the only TV show I’ve ever
rewatched more than once.
After
growing
attached
to
“My
Own
Swordsman,”
Lu sought out the kinds of
friendships like those depicted
in the show. I remember doing
the same thing with “Toradora,”
flipping through my yearbook
and wondering who could be the
Kitamura to my Ryuuji.
Where quality time is hard
to find, rewatching the antics
of a tight-knit friend circle can
grow to feel like a comforting,
familiar
presence.
“I’m
the
only child of my family, and my
parents are busy, and I don’t
have my grandparents with me,”
Lu explained. “So I kinda watch
that TV series as company. I treat
them as my family members.” It
reminded me of the way my mom
always compared our family to
“Friends.” Whenever my brother
does anything remotely funny,
she calls him Joey.
When most people think of a
“comfort” watch or a “comfort”
read, I imagine they might
think of shows like “Parks and
Recreation” or books like “Harry
Potter.”
The
stereotypical
easy-watch comedy or easy-
read nostalgia trip with cozy
characters to grow attached to.
Where a rewatch or reread is
kind of like a warm hug.
Engineering
senior
Liam
Russell’s
warm
hug
is
the
menacing Batman classic “The
Dark Knight.” Not a cheery
comedy or classic kid’s book, but
one of the most grim superhero
movies out there. Still, a cold film
can make for a warm sentiment.
“I would watch it with my
brother almost all the time,”
Russell reminisced. “It reminds
me of my childhood, sitting
in front of the big TV with
my brother just watching the
movie.”
“The Dark Knight” is one of
the most critically acclaimed
films of the 2000s, but it’s far
from being warm or comforting
on paper. I watched it when I was
a kid too, and all I remember is
Harvey Dent’s disfigured face
and ruthless killing spree. But
our memories are powerful,
and “The Dark Knight” is
transportive
for
Russell.
Where rewatching “My Own
Swordsman”
and
“Toradora”
brought Lu and me to a place we
wished to be, “The Dark Knight”
brought Russell back to a place
he’d been before — the place he
fondly remembered watching it,
his childhood, sitting in front of
the big TV with his brother.
Russell’s warm hug in the
video game world comes in
the form of “Dark Souls,” a
gloomy and unforgiving action
RPG. Replaying it also brings
Russell back to the time he first
experienced it.
“Dark Souls” is known for
its
oppressively
depressing
atmosphere. It follows a cursed
undead
protagonist
on
a
pilgrimage to discover the fate
of their people. Not the warmest
or fuzziest story, but it hasn’t
stopped Russell from replaying it
five or six times now. In fact, the
darkness of “Dark Souls” is part
of the draw for him.
“Comfort
is
different
for
different
people,”
Russell
said. “And for me, comfort is
escaping into another world,
but not another world where
everything’s easy … it isn’t a
walk in the park, you still have to
work hard, and I sorta like that
attitude.”
The game is notorious for its
extreme difficulty curve. When
Russell first played it, he got
stuck pretty early on and came
close to giving up. True to his
philosophy, he worked hard and
persevered until he beat it. But
what if he never did? What if he
gave up and never finished it,
and “Dark Souls” never entered
his replay rotation?
I wonder how close I’ve been
to experiencing a work of art that
would have become extremely
important to me if I’d just given
it a chance. Like Russell, some
of my favorite movies and video
games are so important to me
because of the time of life they
return me to when I play them.
I also have memories of sitting
in front of the big TV with my
brother, and “Paper Mario” is
the video game that brings me
back to those times.
It’s
a
DYLAN YONO
Daily Arts Writer
TBS
‘Doctor Who’ understands
the comfort change brings
Day by day, the walls are
closing in.
Or at least they seem to be.
Maybe it’s because I spend most
of my online classes looking at
my room displayed over my
shoulder, shrunk down, like
me, to a square on the top-left
corner of my screen.
But that’s not all.
My phone swells with news
notifications, emails and phone
calls about Nov. 3, 2020. The
fall semester Zooms forward
to
its
bitter
end,
hurling
assignments down at me like a
never-ending air raid.
The stresses pile up like
towering trash heaps that grow
taller and more unstable day by
day. The walls are closing in.
But I know a way
out.
In the small strip of
purple,
star-studded
sky visible over the
landfill that is 2020,
a blue police box flies
across
the
horizon.
The trash piles melt
away, along with the
dirt beneath my feet.
The police box, a time
machine
called
the
TARDIS
(Time
and
Relative Dimension in
Space), shoots towards
me. Its doors open.
And for 45 minutes,
I’m free.
***
Through the years,
I’ve thought again and
again that I’d grown
out of “Doctor Who,” only to
be yanked back whenever I
needed it most. The show isn’t
always great, I’ll admit, but
there’s always something great
about it.
Every actor to take on The
Doctor, an eternal being called
a “Time Lord” who changes
their face when their current
body perishes (and the previous
actor quits), does something
fascinating with the role — The
Doctor has lived for thousands
of
years,
and
the
actors
somehow
express
centuries
of joy, trauma and knowledge
in every scene, no matter how
terribly written. The Doctor,
like the show itself, changes
on a dime from episode to
episode:
Sometimes
they’re
lighthearted,
sometimes
haunted,
sometimes
totally
alien and sometimes deeply
human.
Take the first season of
the rebooted “Who,” which
premiered in 2005. The Ninth
Doctor, played by Christopher
Eccelston (“The Leftovers”),
is introduced when he saves a
woman named Rose from living
department store mannequins.
“I’m The Doctor,” he says.
“Run for your life.”
It’s silly, right? The terrible
special effects, even for 2005,
don’t help much either.
Yet, in an episode where
the villain is an alien made of
living plastic, there’s a moment
powerful enough to bring tears
to one’s eye. When Rose asks
who he is, The Doctor says this:
“It’s like when you’re a kid,
the first time they tell you
that the world is turning and
you just can’t quite believe it
’cause everything looks like it’s
standing still. I can feel it … The
turn of the earth. The ground
beneath our feet is spinning at
a thousand miles an hour. The
entire planet is hurtling around
the sun at sixty seven thousand
miles an hour. And I can feel
it. We’re falling through space,
you and me, clinging to the skin
of this tiny little world. And, if
we let go … That’s who I am.”
That’s also the comfort of
“Doctor Who”: The show is
limitless,
untethered
from
our world and its rules. The
Doctor and his companions
hurtle
through
space
and
time in a reliably unreliable
time
machine,
looking
for
adventure.
“Doctor
Who”
can be about anything. There
are historical stories, horror
stories, sci-fi stories, love
stories and whatever this
is.
A
given
episode
of
“Doctor Who” can also be
of any quality. In Season
5, for example, a deeply
sad,
Hugo-nominated
episode
about
Vincent
Van Gogh is sandwiched
between
an
episode
about lizard people living
underground and another
where the bad guy is a
spaceship on autopilot,
disguised as the upstairs
room in an apartment.
When
any
other
popular
franchise
becomes utter trash, say
“Game of Thrones” or
“Star
Wars,”
everyone
loses their minds. When
“Doctor Who” throws out a
dud, there’s always next week.
Week by week, total shlock
exists side by side with the very
best TV has to offer. There’s
nothing else like it.
Season 4 has an episode
where Agatha Christie and
The Doctor fight a giant alien
wasp,
and
another,
called
“Turn Left,” where England
ANDREW WARRICK
Daily Arts Writer
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becomes a fascist regime due
to
worldwide
disaster
and
undocumented
refugees
are
sent to concentration camps.
“England for the English,
etcetera,” one character says.
“They can’t send us home … (so)
they build labor camps.”
“Labor camps,” another says,
weeping, as the character is
shoved into a truck. “That’s
what they called them last time
… It’s happening again.”
Released
in
2008,
yet
somehow
predicting
the
darkest implications of modern
far-right nationalism, episodes
like “Turn Left” sometimes
make it seem like “Doctor
Who” really does time travel.
Yet there’s no magic to it; the
show’s expansiveness allows
for any writer to pilot the
TARDIS, sometimes producing
piercing political commentary,
sometimes delightful escapism,
sometimes total cheese or, at
“Doctor Who”’s most striking,
a mix of all three.
The Daleks, villains who’ve
fought the Doctor since 1963, are
the most iconic example. They
were radicalized in a never-
ending war on their planet,
and
became
fascist
Dalek-
supremacists, who believe that
every other organism needs to
be “exterminated.” As horrific
as this ideology is, though,
Daleks look like candy-colored
pepper shakers, with weapons
oddly similar to whisks and
toilet plungers.
“Doctor Who” is also unique
as, every few seasons, its main
character is killed off and
replaced. Then, time and time
again, after a gut-wrenching
death, The Doctor becomes a
stranger. Viewers are forced
to accept — and embrace —
change, even when it means
losing someone they love. The
Eleventh Doctor, played by
Matt Smith (“The Crown”),
exemplifies this just before his
regeneration:
“It
all
just
disappears,
doesn’t it? All you are, gone
in a moment, like breath on
a mirror. Any moment now,
he’s coming, the Doctor. I am
the Doctor, and I always will
be. But times change and so
must I … We all change. When
you think about it, we’re all
different people, all throughout
our lives and that’s okay, that’s
good, you gotta keep moving
so long as you remember all
the people that you used to be
… I will not forget one line of
this. Not one day. I swear. I will
always remember when the
Doctor was me.”
In “Doctor Who,” even at
its most terrifying, adventure
always triumphs over despair,
the bad guys lose and the
universe is always saved. Above
all, things change.
That’s why I’m back to
watching “Doctor Who,” yet
again, in the fall of 2020.
Even at its worst, the show
always has another surprise,
or regeneration, up its sleeve.
“Doctor Who” is an eternal
reminder that there is a whole
universe out there — without
COVID-19, Donald Trump or
Zoom calls, and things always
get better. In a time when
everything is uncertain and
the walls seem to be closing
in, it’s a relief to know that the
TARDIS still sails through all
of time and space.
Most comforting are the
Christmas
episodes,
where
aliens frequently make the
bizarre choice to invade on
Christmas night, sometimes
even using Christmas-themed
tech such as Santa-Androids.
The specials sometimes get
quite dark (The Doctor has
been killed and regenerated
three
times
in
Christmas
episodes),
but
are
always
filled
with
white
snow,
English Evergreens glittering
with ornaments and colorful
presents. Thankfully, as 2020
draws to a close, the Doctor is
back in the “Revolution of The
Daleks” holiday special.
Even if they have chosen to
ruin Christmas with another
invasion, the genocidal pepper
shakers are still better than
what we’re dealing with.
Daily Arts Writer Andrew
Warrick can be reached at
warricka@umich.edu.
Through the years,
I’ve thought again
and again that
I’d grown out of
“Doctor Who,” only
to be yanked back
whenever I needed it
most.