The Mongolian Art of a Viking Couch Potato
By Daniel Finn, Keenan Blough, Lizzie Ruprecht, and Paul Norwood
A group of
four young adults, Daniel, Keenan, Lizzie, and Paul, began a daring quest, one
which, proved to alter our bodies’ physical and psychological states of being.
Along such journey, we meet Marco Polo and explored Asia in 1271 where the
expansion of the Mongolian empire collides with the Chinese. Additionally, we
met one of the most prominent Norse heroes, Viking Ragnar Lothbrok, who goes
from being a farmer to discovering England by way of sea. We were summoned to
these illustrious stories as a method of collecting data for an experiment on
media binging. The first part of the experiment is comprised of TV binge
watching the shows Marco Polo and Vikings.
Between the
four group members, binge watching television is not a foreign experience; we
have all willingly taken part in the activity on our own, and Paul said, “I am
a professional binger.” We prepared for our first binge with snacks and blankets,
fairly confident that watching loads of television would be fun- or so it
seemed. As the first two days of binging progressed, cries of, “Ahh! I’m going
crazy!” would be heard every so often. The binge took an obvious toll on our
psychological comfort, and we have discussed some possible conclusions as to
why. Typically, binging for us is not a planned event. We are rather
spontaneously enthralled in a television show, and thus a binge begins. The circumstance
for this binge were different because the binge was planned to go on for a set
time, and we chose the show before knowing what type of interest we might find
in it. Feelings of anxiety were on the rise during the episodes of Marco
Polo in particular, because we knew we must proceed watching until our
assignment was complete. Marco Polo seemed to be a good choice to everyone in our group; that shared interest is actually how we became a group. The series seemed to move slowly in terms of plot, as well as other complicating factors, which threw off any interest we incidentally saw in the show. All participants of the group became disinterested and motivation was low to push through the show. Many characters were introduced at the same time, and deciphering who was Mongolian and who was Chinese was nearly impossible after meeting them in so many new faces in different places. However, when the group switched to the second series, Vikings, a presupposed idea- that the planned binging for the experiment automatically made television less appealing- formed. The first episode began with a bloody battle of Vikings, and pulled us into far away time with the enticing lures of violence, drama, conquest, and discovery.
This
show had our group in a tight grasp, with a fast moving plot that intrigued us,
and also took away anxiety and any lasting assumption that binging had to be
bad if planned. Interestingly enough, none of the group members snacked during
the episodes, and rarely even moved from our sloth-like comfort. When the
credits began to roll by, a few said in surprise, "That's it? It's already over?" as we clicked to start the next episode. Comparing the two series, we have drawn the conclusion that we enjoying Viking much more thoroughly. Vikings seemed to follow a plot that was based on one set of historical events, where Marco Polo became complicated as it attempted to encompass far too much. Vikings was straightforward with a fast-moving pace, and the actors skillfully portrayed characters to add to our liking as viewers.
A
sense of community flourished between both series, first out of utter boredom
and a dramatic “pain” we were simultaneously experiencing as we had to
watch Marco Polo. Moving through the three days of binging, we
not only watched television together, but also ate together afterwards and took
short nature walks to stretch and discuss topics around Norse history. We ended
the binge on a successful note of accomplishment, and binging as a group
definitely made matters bearable at worst, and highly entertaining all around.
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