Over spring break, I filled time with day trips to the beach club, golf center and long bike rides under canopies of Spanish moss — I was in and out of the house multiple times a day. But every time I stepped through the door to my grandmother’s home in Hilton Head over spring break, I was greeted by the dulcet tones of various Fox News talk shows dissecting the latest Republican debate. For hours a day, while she puttered around the kitchen or sat painting at her easel, she was kept company by a selection of conservative talking heads.
I managed to hold my tongue for about 36 straight hours of “The O’Reilly Factor,” after which I asked my mother if there was any way we could potentially change the channel, or, better yet, turn the TV off entirely. “She’s not even paying attention,” I argued. “Half of the time she’s doing something else.”
While my pleas were left unanswered — and Bill remained ranting throughout the days on varying levels of volume — this interaction floated to the front of my memory when I was scrolling through Netflix the other day back at the University during a rare moment of downtime. Having taken two exams in the past three hours, I was too exhausted to commit myself to a show that would require my full and undivided attention. As a result, I settled on an episode from season three of “Gilmore Girls” that I have most likely seen upwards of a dozen times.
We all have a few favorite fictional worlds. While I prefer to repeatedly stroll the streets of Star’s Hollow with Lorelai and Rory, my mother would rather follow the students of Hogwarts around the corridors of the castle, and friends of mine like to brunch in Upper East Side restaurants with the characters of “Gossip Girl.” No matter how many times you watch an episode, nothing is going to change. And, if you can argue that neither does the commentary on what feels like must be the 77th GOP debate, suddenly my grandmother’s compulsive viewership of Fox made a lot more sense.
There’s a certain comfort in watching movies or television shows you’ve seen a thousand times over. I know exactly what is going to happen when Rory enters the dance marathon with Dean, and my mother could easily detail the entire plot of each of the eight “Harry Potter” movies. The characters are familiar — even predictable — and yet remain endlessly entertaining.
Moreover, chances are if you divert your eyes from the screen for a few moments to answer a text, grab a snack or, in my case the other day, doze off for a minute or two, you won’t be completely lost when you return your attention to the show. On days when I’m feeling particularly burnt out, it’s nice to spend a little time with people who are going to be doing the same thing they were doing when you drifted off.
If those familiar characters can serve as a comfort for students on the days where we can’t even imagine venturing out into real social situations, I’d imagine they could also function as a source of companionship for my grandmother, who lives by herself in that house in South Carolina. On the days when her oil painting class doesn’t meet, or the neighbor who stops by to walk her Chihuahua can’t make it, she is alone. If Bill O’Reilly is there for her on the days she feels a little lonely, just like Rory and Lorelai are there for me on the days I can’t bring myself to leave my apartment, I suppose the least I can do is give him a chance, and suggest we watch together next time.
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