Teens today obsess over TV shows and movies, especially with the availability of technology in their back pockets. The big talk today on social media is the new popular movies on Netflix; Birdbox and Bandersnatch.
Bandersnatch is a movie where viewers decide the main character’s actions by clicking between two choices given. Birdbox, on the other hand, was a crazy cycle of the characters trying to avoid seeing the “monster”, that the viewers don’t actually see, that will kill them if they do.
“I guess teenagers like more suspenseful movies that no one really thinks about,” senior Eliora Aleman said.
The popularity of the movies on social media has lead people to create trends like ‘the Birdbox challenge’, which people do activities blindfolded to mimic the characters in the movie. Although this seems fun and innocent enough, people have actually started to do dangerous stunts.
“I think it’s really stupid,” Aleman said. “I feel like that people got really into the concept and with all of the memes going around on Twitter.”
Even though Birdbox inspired a dangerous internet sensation, the movie also took people by surprise.
“I thought it was really good, but it was also confusing at some points,” freshmen, Kaylie Derryahill said. “Whenever you think something is going to happen it doesn’t happen the way that you would expect. I think it was because it was different, we don’t really have a lot of movies where you can’t see.”
Birdbox wasn’t the only movie that turned some heads for being different. Bandersnatch got a lot of people interested in its very dynamic interactive watching experience.
“I thought it was a really cool experience, and it ended in many different ways and it caused a lot of controversy and questions,” senior Jewel Borie said. “I think it’s definitely something people will look into.”
With multiple endings, it’s the perfect adventure that depends on the viewer’s choices.
“I actually watched it over and over again with my boyfriend’s family,” Borie said. “We went through every ending, trying to figure out if there was one true ending while trying to solve all of the different questions we had.”
While having an interactive story may seem easy and fun, viewers tend to choose a choice that shows a side of them they never knew about themselves.
“Kind of makes you feel less empathetic than you actually are,” senior Galicia Lopez said.
Not only do viewers feel indifferent but also change their perspective on their own mind because of the decisions they choose.
“When I was going through it with my friends, I would make a decision and they would say ‘that’s the wrong decision’ and I would say “what do you mean that’s the wrong decision?’ Them just saying things like that made me question my own decision-making process,” junior Zoë Barkaurst said. “ like how is that the wrong one, it seems so simple.”
When the viewers can make their own decisions it tends to make them take a step back and realize all of the decisions they made.
“I feel like I depicted the movie down to the core,” Borie said. “I think it reflects our perception of life.”
