Film review site Letterboxd has gained traction in the 2020s
Reviewing is an underrated medium of self-expression. I didn’t discover it until this year, but now that I have, I have to share its benefits – and hope you, too, opt to become a reviewer.
As the days of June trudged along at a snail’s pace, I slipped into the TikTok-induced trance many of us are overly familiar with. It is incredibly easy to fall into a daze and reawaken hours later, drowsy and a bit ashamed at the added screentime you’ve had the misfortune of spending scrolling. Some of the content was educational, but you probably didn’t pay enough attention to retain most of what was flashed before your eyes.
Maybe “was flashed” is the wrong expression – you did this to yourself. You “chose” to keep consuming… kind of. Really, you’ve been hijacked by the fun colors and stimulating audios, and now you regret it.
Instead of spending more time in this trance, you remember, “wait, I can still do something on my checklist!” before your phone lights up. Now you’ve just lost another hour looking at who-knows-what, because you couldn’t even tell yourself after that one notification.
I fell into the phone trap innumerable times since first getting one as a preteen. It’s now been years of scrolling and countless hours lost, and most of what I consumed was far from helpful or productive in any way. I decided to try and stretch my attention with hopes of fortifying myself against the power of Reels, Shorts and TikTok slop with books and movies.
It’s funny to think that movies – and even books, once dismissed as idle pastimes – are now the “healthier” alternative to today’s stream of entertainment. However, when a medium of entertainment promotes concentration and thought, it does more than serve as a distraction – it teaches you to endure through boredom and frustration, and to make sense of what you consume. If you don’t pay enough attention, you don’t know what you’re watching. If you’re thoughtlessly reading words, you don’t know the plot of the book. You need to stay engaged, and engagement counts when you’re confronted with lengthy tasks or following through with a personal goal.
To ensure I stayed on task, I decided to create a Letterboxd account. First launched in 2011, Letterboxd has since become popular among cinemaheads and younger demographics than alternatives like IMDb. I opted for the site over other film review sites because I know people who use it. Not much contemplation there.
Feeling the satisfaction of ticking a movie off your watchlist and adding it to your profile was a great motivator in using the site. I didn’t begin with reviewing right away; I found the task a little too daunting, but transitioned partway through my summer binge. However, even marking films as watched and getting acquainted with pop culture (outside of social media) felt more productive than scrolling, so I felt encouraged to continue.
Reviewing, whether through analytical paragraphs or short quips, forced me to form opinions and think critically. It’s easy to distract yourself with content and retain nothing of it. You might not even be able to communicate what it made you feel. By reviewing, you learn to convey your thoughts and emotions, or alternatively, to think of something clever (or stupid!) to say. It’s an exercise in attention (sitting through the chosen content), critical thinking (reflecting on what you did and didn’t enjoy), communication (articulating thoughts into words), and a form of self-expression (voicing thoughts that reflect your mentality).
With all these benefits in mind, I created a Goodreads in August and proceeded in a very similar manner: I read a book, rated it and wrote a short review (or short quip, if I found enough people with similar thoughts and wasn’t in the mood to reflect any further). I felt motivated to finally read a few of the books that I’ve been eyeing for a while. While I have less time to read for enjoyment now that the school year has begun, I still feel a little more inclined to reach for a book then watch another 15 second video.
Reviewing is a wonderful way to digest informative or culturally-significant content. Generating something in response to material, even if it is no more than a star rating, a single word, or a joke, is rewarding in a way that consuming content is not. If you also have a list of media you’ve been wanting to get into, sign up for a review site; it’ll be a step toward a more rewarding content-consuming experience.
Sources: Letterboxd, Goodreads