Remembering Netflix
Netflix was a TV and movie streaming service active from 2007 until 2029. It contained a vast library of content ranging from shows featuring school children played by adults (Stranger Things, Sex Education) to low quality action films starring actors called Chris or Ryan. The platform was largely responsible for the fall of physical media, as well as the rise of binging – a marathon sport involving watching several hours of television while eating crisps. To keep viewers viewing, Netflix employed various increasingly aggressive retention tactics over the years, including starting the next episode of a show twenty minutes before the current one had ended, and punishing those who failed to finish a series by reducing their credit rating.
I enjoyed Netflix at first, finding the huge library exciting. But as more original content appeared, enjoyment turned to pressure. New films and shows landed almost daily, each giving rise to thousands of pages of online discourse. The episodes themselves kept getting bigger too; Part 2 of the final episode of Stranger Things was over forty-nine hours long. Just to keep up, I often found myself ‘dual-screening’, simultaneously watching one show on my TV, another on my laptop, another on my tablet, another on my smartphone and another on my smartwatch. Eventually there was so much content available on Netflix that I became completely paralysed by choice, spending hours scrolling through films and shows, unable to choose. There was actually a strange peace to be found in this. Instead of movie nights, my girlfriend and I would schedule menu nights, in which we ate dinner, scrolled the menu for a couple of hours then went to bed.
As rival streaming services such as Prime Video, HBO Max and Teletext+ continued to gain popularity in the late 2020s, Netflix turned to AI to massively increase its content production. Scripts, soundtracks and visuals were now all generated by artificial intelligence, and thousands of new films and shows were released hourly. There was just one problem. As a result of the successful 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Netflix was legally prohibited from using AI versions of all except one actor. Only James Corden had agreed to let his likeness be generated by AI, which meant every character in every new film and TV show was played by the ‘Carpool Karaoke’ presenter. Corden Fatigue soon began to spread among viewers, causing symptoms including irritation and nausea. Netflix’s subscriber count fell rapidly as a result, and the platform was eventually shut down – or as several newspapers put it, ‘Cordenned off’.
This rememberance was taken from Rememberature, the autobiography of Daniel Piper, due for publication in 2091. If you enjoyed it, I would be delighted if you would consider subscribing to receive future rememberances direct to your inbox:
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