I think whether we realize it, or not, many of us are drawn to shows with similar themes and characters.  I’m not saying that we only marathon the same shows over and over again, but I believe many viewers will be able to track the patterns in their marathoning behavior.  The most obvious commonality in my marathoned shows is strong female characters.  While the rest of my generation became enamored of Bella “I’m Passive, So You Just Make Decisions for Me” Swan and her sparkling boyfriend, I became really interested in Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation.  She is the uber-enthusiastic, super confident deputy of the parks department.  I like her because she smart, hardworking, idealistic and has never compromised her own goals for a guy.  There are so many texts out there that present weak female characters, that I ‘m glad that I have access to shows that demonstrate how strong women can be.

Along with Parks and Rec, I’ve also marathoned Daria, Girls, Homeland, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Weeds in the past.  They all feature women who are smart, strong, independent, and—even when they fail—are able to pick themselves up and go on without anyone else’s help.  Also, none of the women on these shows allow themselves to be defined by a guy.  That’s pretty rare on television, and it makes me love them even more.

In addition to presenting complex female characters, all of these shows feature women that are a little outside the mainstream.  Hannah of Girls has the unfortunate tendency to dress in clothes that do not fit properly.  Check out this classic look:Also, she manages to embarrass herself in every episode.  This is probably why I like her so much; I also have a pattern of humiliating myself.  In turn, Carrie of Homeland, Buffy, and Nancy of Weeds all have secrets in their lives that hinder them from speaking openly to their friends and family.  Sure, killing vampires is different from being a drug dealer or being a CIA operative hunting terrorists, but you get the idea.  And then there is Daria who would not be a part of mainstream even if someone paid her.  She and her friend Jane are perfectly happy being on the outside mocking those on the inside.  I guess the reason I find myself drawn back to these shows is that I am able to see myself in all of these women.  The personal resonance and the constant need to see strong, flawed, real women on television is what keeps bringing me back.

Other media marathoners have discovered that they gravitate toward science fiction, ensemble casts, or dystopian texts. Do you have a pattern to your commonly marathoned texts? If so, let us know what it is–and what you think that says about you.

I think it is safe to say that media marathoning has a way of creating community and connection amongst different people.  It can unite readers and writers and create consensus on the best shows.  It can give old friends even more things to talk about.  It can make a foreign student feel welcome and understood in another country.

That last sentence might not be as obvious, but that was my experience on a recent trip to Hungary.  I went with a group of Nazareth students and faculty, with the purpose of presenting a paper at America Week.  This occasion is a conference for students and professors, where each participant shares research about American culture.  I presented a paper about marathoning and its influence on a viewer’s life.  The presentation went well, and I received questions from Hungarians and Americans alike, but I don’t think that marathoning is exclusive to the U.S. anymore.  In fact, marathoning helped this shy viewer make friends and plenty of conversation abroad.

I spent half of my spring break with Rami, a local student in Veszprem, Hungary.  I stayed at her home, met her friends, and got to know her family.  I do not think that we would have gotten along half as well if it weren’t for marathoning.  My first night staying with Rami was plagued with small talk and awkward pauses—until we started talking about my paper and our favorite shows.  Turns out, we have a lot in common.  As she says, she loves “series,” and I could not agree more.  In fact, she is the only other person I have met who loves Happy Endings as much as I do.  Seriously, she’s the only one in Hungary or America.  It turns out marathoning can create community on an international level.  It helped me break the ice, come out of my shell and get to know my awesome host family.  Maybe the Secretary of State should research his foreign peers’ favorite shows in the future?

This international connection from marathoning has followed me back home.  I recently sent Rami the Hunger Games trilogy, as a result of our conversation about the movie.  I am interested to see whether she prefers Jennifer Lawrence to the text’s version of Katniss.  In any case, I have never been more thankful for having marathoning in my life.  It made my trip to Hungary academically and socially successful.

We have no bank holidays in mid-March, but March Madness is a media equivalent. The festivities tipped off today (go Georgetown), with 60% of respondents of an online MSN poll reporting that they would fill out a bracket. My first experience filling out a bracket was at Penn State in 2003. I finished near the bottom, but selecting and updating my bracket was so exciting that I always look forward to this March ritual.

This blog is dedicated to media marathoning, and while I don’t consider watching basketball for hours a media marathon, the practices do have one commonality: they are media events.

I use the phrase “media event” as it is defined by Dayan and Katz (2000). The authors explain that “The most obvious difference between media events and other formulas or genres of broadcasting is that they are, by definition, not routine. In fact, they are interruptions of routine; they intervene in the normal flow of broadcasting and our lives” (403).

Marathons can undoubtedly interrupt our lives (if we let them). Many media marathoners have reported ignoring regular responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, working, and parenting. Netflix even strove for this impact as it created a top-down media event with the all-at-once release of House of Cards. Producer Beau Willimon laughed that, “Our goal is to shut down a portion of America for a whole day” (quoted in Stelter, para. 4).

Recognizing that March Madness was a media event that divided my Penn State students’ attention, I allowed one student in each of my public speaking courses to announce updated basketball scores between speeches. Those in the working world who want to pretend to be responsible can put a Boss Button on their browser to quickly switch from game coverage to perpetuate the appearance of productivity. Come to think of it, the Boss Button is also a good tool for at-work marathoners.

One of the benefits of giving yourself and your time over to a media marathon or March Madness is that you’re in the know. You can knowledgeably engage in conversations about the texts that you’re consuming–whether they are fictitious or sports-related. And if you’re an avid media consumer who doesn’t know much about March Madness, here’s a Star Wars tutorial to help you understand the tournament in a familiar language.

The Most Interesting Man from quickmeme.com

Spring break has finally arrived (phew!), and I’m now working on the introduction to the media marathoning project. The current iteration of the introduction incorporates how content-delivery technologies have fueled changes in viewer/reader behaviors and media content. The essential argument is that our ability to stream and download has encouraged more immersive viewing/reading experiences and has concurrently allowed content producers to create more complex stories. Because the text is more consistently available with a click of the mouse or a flick of the remote (compared to a TV episode that would air once or a book we’d have to physically buy/borrow rather than download), viewers/readers will do the work to follow along and can enjoy the more detailed narratives. (See Jason Mittell’s upcoming book or 2006 Velvet Light Trap article for a more in-depth look at complex narratives.)

To be fair, some of the marathons do not involve texts that can be considered complex. Gossip Girl, The Hunger Games, and Star Wars aren’t exactly difficult to comprehend. However, marathoners are taking great pleasure in analyzing the social significance of texts, learning historical information from texts, and searching for plot holes, among other forms of higher-order thinking. (You can tell I’m concurrently working on the media marathoning introduction and the chapter on marathoners’ cognitive involvement with the texts.)

The collective sum of the three variables (innovative content-delivery technologies, changes in viewer/reader behaviors, and quality media content) is the best explanation I can offer for why media marathoning is happening now. My interviews suggest that this trend has really taken off in the last 5-8 years.

I would love to hear from readers about what you think has changed in the last 5-8 years in media or society to pave the way for marathoning.  Are you marathoning because the Most Interesting Man is doing it? Or because you can’t watch just one movie featuring the handsome guy in the vest…you have to watch all three?

Handsome Han Retrieved from http://izismile.com

Avid Media Marathoning blog reader (and behind-the-scenes contributor), Josh Perks, just sent me a CNET article that echoes last week’s “Beware the DVR” post. Writer Chris Matyszczyk provides further support that the time-shifting technologies are really time-eating technologies. He also seems to know the list of commonly marathoned texts quite well, referencing “quality TV” staples Downton Abbey (the subject of a December blog post), Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead. At least one of our interviewees marathoned most of the shows he mentioned feeling guilty about not watching, Perhaps I need to start a new round of media marathoner interviews to capture the House of Cards phenomenon…

Because I have to take notes on these commonly marathoned texts for the media marathoning book project, I feel his pain about feeling overwhelmed, guilty, and out of the loop. It’s easy to read and take notes on the book series, but much more time consuming to cover the TV series. So far I have tackled Arrested Development, Buffy, Downton Abbey, Firefly, Gossip Girl, and Weeds, but I still have Battlestar, Dexter, Glee, Mad Men, The League, True Blood, and Walking Dead on my list. Perhaps Matyszczyk would like to divide up the titles and then share notes when we’re done watching? We’d both be able to pretend we are in the know. His bar chats would be much more pleasant, and I’d be done researching this book. (Yes, in some circles, watching TV is actually “research.”)

Wizard staff from vegetarianhostess.com

After denuding a brussels sprout stalk, I banged it on the counter and barked at Josh, “You shall not pass!” when he tried to enter the kitchen. I was inspired to make this post after I realized how often Josh and I quote from our favorite marathoned texts. Marathoned texts do show up in our everyday lives quite often–whether we’re quote nerds or not. I’ve assembled a small collection of examples of the real and fantasy worlds colliding.

Students have told me Nazareth College is sometimes compared to Hogwarts. This comparison seems more believable when observing the homage to the Potter family in nearby Fairport Village: Fairport, New York boasts Potter Park (named after the wizarding family, of course) and a James Potter cross street that can’t possibly be a coincidence. (The “J” and “M” in James are on the sign, but are not well-captured here.)

Photo by Josh

Elise, one of my media marathoning students, also sent me an image that made me feel less sheepish about wielding my brussels sprout staff.

Image retrieved from dorkly.com

In addition to the fantasy world of LOTR in my kitchen and Harry Potter references in Fairport, the fictitious mob world lives on in Austin, Texas (our home prior to Fairport). Don Corleone’s serves up some terrible pizza. Maybe it tastes better if you eat it with cotton balls stuffed in your cheeks?

Image from doncorleonesonline.com

Finally, my favorite reference is not visual, but auditory.  I was riding my bike (in Fairport again) when I felt like X-Wing fighters were coming after me! See if you can guess what is making the X-Wing fighter sound in the video. Josh assures me it’s very obvious, but I still think the sound is cool. I could find no evidence to confirm if this is the type of sound George Lucas sampled to provide the auditory assault in his intergalactic war; however, I’d place a bet on it. George, what say you?

Both fantasy and lived worlds borrow heavily from one another. These little references to some of my favorite marathoned texts are at once a happy reminder of these stories I love and an embarrassing reminder of how often I think about them.