With the #MeToo movement still in full swing, media consumers have been experiencing a new emotional turmoil about what they should and shouldn’t be watching. Fortunately, Netflix has finally introduced a new sub-genre titled “Separate the Artist from the Art” to help users browse and relish the ousted geniuses of pop culture from the privacy of their own screens.
We all watched powerlessly as many industry favorites were cast out from the zeitgeist following sexual misconduct scandals. But in the darkness there is a lit screen! Netflix users can take solace knowing that the streaming platform has detected the widespread-yet-secretive urge to guiltlessly enjoy classics associated with problematic, abusive monsters.
“There are so many works tarnished by Time’s Up,” explained Netflix programming executive Timothy Rollands. “But there are also so many phenomenal works that us guys are going to still want to watch while switching off the empathy part of our brains.”
“It began with Louis C.K.,” explained Netflix analyst Peter Varney. “He has three phenomenal specials available on our platform, including an in-house Netflix special that we’ve decided we’re just gonna keep up.” Varney and his team noticed a major spike in streaming sessions of C.K.’s works between the hours of 1 A.M. and 4 A.M. when roommates, friends, and significant others with a social conscience are safely asleep. They’ve quipped these clandestine viewing windows as the peek times. “We then got curious and found the same late night streaming sessions trend was true for other men implicated by Time’s Up,” Varney said. “So we figured we might as well just conveniently put them all in one place!”
The sub-genre spans a broad array of figures and staples of film and television that countless are ready to erase. However, that does not erase the fact that plenty remain who still want to enjoy those problematic works while consciously ignoring the fact that they most likely have mothers, sisters, daughters, and female friends and coworkers.
Harvey Weinstein aficionados won’t be deprived now that favorites from Hateful Eight to The King’s Speech to Paddington are added to the sub-genre. Good fellas can enjoy Kevin Spacey in LA Confidential, 21, and all of the seasons of Netflix’s House of Cards that he’s still in. Even Mario Batali lovers can savor a taste of his cameo in Fantastic Mr. Fox that was slyly included. “We think this passionately secretive behavior is because some groups of people need the comfort of knowing sexual misconduct won’t undermine their creative contributions,” said Rollands.
Plus, to better curate the experience, rather than display the usual percent match to their other viewing tastes, browsers of this subgenre are shown the percent likelihood of the alleged sexual predator’s culpability. “This way, users decide for themselves if it’s really that bad to support the work of someone with only 6 claims from women against them as opposed to 23,” said Varney. “We want users to feel empowered through informed decision making.”
The “Separate The Artist from the Art” sub-genre can be found between “Docs & Realities for All Ages” and “Oddballs & Outcasts.” Next month Netflix also plans to launch “The Social Jury Is Still Out” sub-genre, which will actually just be season two of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None.
