craigmcn

I only just started hearing the term Snack Culture within the last few days, but I get the impression that it’s been around for at least a couple of weeks. The idea is that there is a trend to shorter, more immediate entertainment, rather than standard, full-length movies, albums, TV, etc. But at the same time, we seem to be getting into longer forms of entertainment that require longer term commitment. Personally, I’m deeply involved in Lost, which is 45 minutes per week. If I wanted to get into it now, I’d have to start from the beginning to get caught up; that’s 46 episodes at 45 minutes each–34.5 hours of television. I got into Deadwood in it’s 3rd season, and had to start from season 1. Mind you, it was only 12 episodes per season.

Even though we’ve gotten away from the vinyl LPs and into MP3s, and away from epsiodic TV into YouTube clips, we’ve also gotten into playlists and television serials. The more things change, the more they stay the same.