{"id":2852,"date":"2026-01-22T22:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2026-01-27T09:08:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:08:34","slug":"the-psychology-of-people-who-rewatch-shows-and-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/the-psychology-of-people-who-rewatch-shows-and-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"The psychology of people who rewatch shows and movies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Psychology of People Who Rewatch TV Shows And Movies\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ycpHAGogAA0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This video was recommended to me by my friend Lou. It explains the psychology behind why I would rather watch Big Trouble in Little China over and over again rather than trying to tackle some new show that will likely turn out stupid. Star Wars is totally dead now, but it&#8217;s been on the decline ever since Greedo shot first in 1997. Even though Kathleen Kennedy is finally leaving Lucasfilm, the damage is done. I couldn&#8217;t care less. I still love the original, unaltered trilogy regardless. There is a subconscious reason for wanting to watch the same stuff. It connects to the comfort of nostalgia. It&#8217;s soothing, and a form of emotional regulation. Something stable in a chaotic world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last summer when I visited family, I was lectured about how I&#8217;m &#8220;still living in 1982.&#8221; I never really thought of it before, but yeah, watching Blade Runner on a weekend in the dark with the headphones on in the present day, it lets me connect with that insecure, 15 year old Greg who watched it every Friday night, in the dark, because he didn&#8217;t have friends to hang out with because his friends from school were getting high with each other and I wanted no part of that. It was that 15 year old Greg who had a crush on a girl but didn&#8217;t know how to win her heart, let alone even talk to her. And it was that 15 year old Greg who was contemplating himself, determining what kind of person he wanted to be, and focusing on bettering himself. There&#8217;s a sort of beautiful sadness to that part of my life. Despite the heartache, I wish I could relive the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"570\" height=\"237\" src=\"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Blade-Runner-Spinner-flyby-b.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2116\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This video was recommended to me by my friend Lou. It explains the psychology behind why I would rather watch Big Trouble in Little China over and over again rather than trying to tackle some new show that will likely turn out stupid. Star Wars is totally dead now, but it&#8217;s been on the decline &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/the-psychology-of-people-who-rewatch-shows-and-movies\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The psychology of people who rewatch shows and movies&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,160],"tags":[361],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-nostalgia","tag-psychology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2109,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/ive-fallen-in-love-with-castlebeat\/","url_meta":{"origin":2852,"position":0},"title":"I&#8217;ve fallen in love with Castlebeat","date":"2025-04-01","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fJ5U3Q3PZ4s It's cool how YouTube can, out of the blue, recommend music I've never heard of before and when I click to listen, I become completely enamored with it. I'd never heard of Castlebeat before, but now I'm definitely a fan. The above \"Change Your Mind\" music video showed up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;music&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/fJ5U3Q3PZ4s\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1982,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/memories-of-green-when-life-imitates-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":2852,"position":1},"title":"&#8220;Memories of Green,&#8221; when life imitates art","date":"2025-01-24","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=u2-Pjvrkbac Someone shared this incredible video on Gab. It's not often when such a simple video will grab me like this, causing me to re-watch it numerous times. This young man plays \"Memories of Green\" by Vangelis on some old piano on a sidewalk which appears to be somewhere in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;music&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/u2-Pjvrkbac\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1323,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2024\/02\/06\/strawberry-switchblade\/","url_meta":{"origin":2852,"position":2},"title":"Strawberry Switchblade","date":"2024-02-06","format":false,"excerpt":"You may not have ever heard of these two girls from Scotland, but Strawberry Switchblade made a HUGE impact on Japanese pop music and street fashion culture in the '80s, and their style of music is exactly the aesthetic which modern-day Synthwave musicians emulate. Resembling something like dime store doll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Japan&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/strawberry-switchblade-1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2131,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/the-highest-worldwide-grossing-movies-of-the-80s\/","url_meta":{"origin":2852,"position":3},"title":"The highest worldwide grossing movies of the &#8217;80s","date":"2025-04-16","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a few movies on this I haven't seen. I've never seen a single Rocky movie all the way through. I don't think I saw a full Rambo movie either. The most was seeing First Blood but it was on cable TV and I started it about 15 minutes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nostalgia&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Top-80s-movies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2242,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2025\/06\/02\/coming-of-age-in-the-1990s\/","url_meta":{"origin":2852,"position":4},"title":"Coming of age in the 1990s","date":"2025-06-02","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was born in the '70s and consider myself a child of the '80s, I came of age in the '90s. I began high school in 1990 and graduated college in December 1999. Rayon shirts with neon-colored, geometric designs buttoned up to the top of the collar. Going from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;life&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/x8jHOyG52WU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1969,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/nostalgic-screenshot-of-fedora-linux-circa-2006-i-found-plus-some-linux-memes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2852,"position":5},"title":"Nostalgic screenshot of Fedora Linux circa 2006 I found, plus some Linux memes","date":"2025-01-10","format":false,"excerpt":"While doing a Duck Duck Go image search, I found this image of a Fedora desktop, circa 2006. This looks exactly the way my old laptop did after my friend installed Fedora on it, breathing new life into it. This is just so nostalgic for me. That was my first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nostalgia&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Fedora-Linux.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2870,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions\/2870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}