The Rise of Fully Immersive Media

Christmas break has been a boon for binge watching. I’ve been able to start, or finally finish, a respectable chunk of shows on my never-ending watchlist. The most recent entries include some of my all-time favorite seasons of TV mixed in with guilty pleasures and respectable-but-not-quite-instant-classics, resulting in a list that looks like this:

• Mr. Robot (S4) – USA Networks
• Watchmen (S1) – HBO
• The Witcher (S1) – Netflix
• Rick & Morty (S4) – Adult Swim
• Peaky Blinders (S5) – BBC/Netflix
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (S1) – Amazon
• His Dark Materials (S1) – BBC/HBO
• The Mandalorian (S1) – Disney+

The golden age of television continues to serve up must-see TV, and I keep lapping it up like that Willy Wonka kid in the chocolate river.

 

But there’s something different about the current TV slate that I’ve never quite experienced (or maybe noticed) in the past: full immersion at my fingertips. If I’m interested in the plot, characters, history or setting of a show, I can now go deeper than ever into the world with little to no effort. Here are just a few examples:

1. I watched the first episode of Watchmen and had no clue what was going on, so I did a quick Amazon search and found that I could read the source material on Kindle for free with my Prime account. I promptly downloaded the mobile-friendly graphic novel and sprinted through the comic in time for episode two, helping me understand nuanced references and become more engaged in the story.
2. There’s no way I would have enjoyed Mr. Robot as much as I did without turning to dedicated reddit forums that connect the various dots and help solve the many micro-mysteries presented throughout the series. I also adored Mac Quayle’s score, which was added to Spotify and Youtube as new episodes aired.
3. The world of the Witcher is vast and detailed. I was a fan going into the series, having read the books and played some of the games. After each episode, I was able to jump back into my Kindle to re-read key chapters, or flip on my Xbox and explore the world and lore at my own pace.
4. Watching the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel gave me some serious Mad Men flashbacks, and rekindled my curiosity for life in 1960’s New York (technically 1958, but it rounds up.) I must have paused the first episode 5 or 6 times to pick up my phone and Google things that I didn’t quite understand (the joke about shrimp in the egg rolls at the Jewish wedding) or questions that randomly popped into my head (what percentage of Americans smoked in the 60’s?)

For me, and I’m sure many others, this kind of immersion makes television more enjoyable in the moment and more memorable over time, creating deeper connections that include audio, visual and imagination driven memories.

Why Now?

Surely these types of immersive experiences aren’t new. Franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Mickey (does Disney own everything now?) and others have built fully-realized immersion for decades now, spanning theme parks, movies, books, TV, toys and everything in between. What makes this topic worthy of conversation is how easy, widespread and effortless it is to become immersed in nearly any multimedia today.

The emergence of the “second screen” phenomena is likely the biggest driver of this. We now have devices that can instantly connect us to new information while burning less than a kilocalorie in effort. Streaming services have amplified this effect, with all-you-can-eat subscription services giving us access to a variety of media to consume. Social media and the popularization of user-generated content (or UGC, as nobody says) create dedicated discussion forums for any topic you can dream of, allowing individuals to pore over every minute detail of their favorite shows with a community of similar fanatics. Throw in the random instagram memes, youtube reviews and blog predictions and you’ve got yourself a near endless stream of content to engage with.

Full immersion. Minimal effort.

Embrace the golden age of TV gluttony, because it’s here to stay.