Have you read the book People who Watch Movies in Fast Forward (映画を早送りで観る人たち)?

I am sure you haven't yet, for this book was written in Japanese, and has not been translated into English.

Toyoshi Inada, the writer of this book, surveyed how Japanese people watch streaming services these days, and summed up the results in this book.

Moreover, he interviewed several new audience members, and let us know what they think when watching movies and shows.

Reading this book, I was surprised to know that a large number of Japanese are now watching movies at 1.5x speed.

That's mainly because they want to save time. There are too many movies, TV shows, anime, games, books, etc. to look through, which they cannot afford.

So, they have no choice but to watch them fast forward.

But do you think that watching a movie at 1.5x speed will move you as much as watching it normally?

One of the interviewees said this:

“I’m not looking to be moved.”

Inada wrote that he doesn’t want to watch the movie at all but just wants to know the story.

As more and more people watch movies fast-forward, more and more films are being produced that explain everything with dialogue.

They hate reading anything from an actor's facial expressions or the tone of his lines. They get angry and express their displeasure at work which does not explain everything in dialogue, which they consider unkind.

For the same reason, the title of the book, which can be understood only after reading the main text, is not at all popular among recent readers, according to the author.

That’s not all. You can find much more examples in this book about how they watch movies and shows, which must be, I guess, nothing but a surprise for you.

Some of them only watch scenes with their favorite actors and skip the rest. They say that the rest is not important to them.

Some people don't want to watch even a moment of a scene that they find offensive (e.g., violence), so they use fast-forward to make sure there are no such scenes before watching the film.

What surprised me most was that some people would go see a movie after reading a spoiler article. They say they don't want to be on the edge of their seat.

I was stunned to read this. No matter what movie I watch, I am always looking forward to being on the edge of my seat. What's the fun of watching it after you know everything first?

But for them, "dazzling developments," "unexpected twists and turns," and "complicated and intricate stories" are all unpleasant. Therefore, they need to avoid them.

Or some people say that they read the spoilers first before watching the movie because they don't want to regret it after seeing it.

Well, those are the ways they watch movies, becoming more and more common among Japanese, especially the younger generations. Do you agree with them?

However, it might not be a personal or generational issue. The internet has created a world overflowing with works of art to appreciate, and I think it has been changing the whole audience.

What do you think about this? Is this how you watch movies too?