A fascination for evil puts us at the edge
Post-dinner on a thunderous rainy night, I settle down on the couch in front of the TV and look at the latest offerings on the web platform. Hoping to escape into reel life for a few hours, I narrow down on a psychological thriller because some of my friends insist it’s a must watch. The poster looks intriguing with a compelling tagline and the stars wearing intense looks. I begin watching.
As the drama unfolds and I reach the middle of the second episode, I begin to feel uneasy to continue and wonder how I’d sit through, and expect to be entertained, for 10 more episodes, watching the distraught parents of a six-year-old who has been kidnapped and detained for more than nine months in a shady basement!
This is the third crime thriller in recent times that has been hailed as ‘binge-watch worthy’ by a majority of viewers yet I barely managed to make it through the first few episodes, owing to the unpleasantness.
Despite the long list of shows and movies to choose from on the streaming platform, I don’t quite feel spoilt for choice as a majority seem to be meant for making viewers delve deep into the darker side of humanity.
One would expect the key elements required to create the setting, low key lighting, ominous background music, silent and stoic characters and a plot that keeps you on tenterhooks.
However, I didn’t realise I was signing up to watch gruesome murders by utterly savage villains who could invent new ways to kill (and make those deaths looks like accidents or suicides), the traumatised victims, alcoholism, and police torture scenes. As far as the language is concerned, there’s nothing that can’t be said on TV anymore. This seriously makes me question the ones who are hooked on to them.
What is it about crime thrillers that makes them so popular and makes streaming giants such as Netflix and Prime Videos identify this format as a sure shot recipe for success? Yes, we enjoy trying to tie the loose ends, unravel mind games by characters to guess whodunnit! We humans love puzzles and challenges.
However, for that, is it really so easy to be gripped by the narrative, wondering what happens next, that we are able to put aside the factors that make us uncomfortable and linger on in the mind even after the show has been switched off? Maybe because looking at those psychos makes us feel more normal. Or is it about self-analysis, “How would I respond in a similar situation?” Whatever the reason, as we watch characters pushing each other from balconies or psychotic assassins going on a killing spree, we are losing our ability to be shocked.
And, makers, as if on cue, are dishing out content suited to preferences we are displaying, a fascination for the evil! Let’s display a desire for content that is feel good, something that doesn’t bring us to the edge of the seat but makes us ease into it, in a dreamy state, ponder about facts in a sci-fi or just laugh our wits out.What say?
I NARROW DOWN ON A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER BECAUSE SOME OF MY FRIENDS INSIST IT’S A MUST WATCH