To wonder why you'd read or watch anything more than once?

[ArriettyMatilda]

I only ever watch films or read books once. When you know how the story will end I can't see the point in reading or watching again. If a tv programme comes on that I've seen before then I'd rather turn the TV off than watch it again. What is the point in watching twice? I feel like I'd be wasting time because I could be watching something new. I won't even have time in my life to read all the books I'd like to so why would I spend time rereading something that I would know how it ends. I use the library a lot so at least it doesn't cost anything for me to read new books!

I watched the second season of sons of anarchy about three times, it's just the most perfect balance of overt male hard game power and behind the scenes, manoeuvring, relationship power of the women, who technically have zero gang authority, but a whole raft of influence. It's just so deliciously written and each aspect is completely absorbing, so you can be completely involved in the relationships power and influence, woken up and refocused on the hard power, and back. It's positively Shakespeareian..

And I also think series 2 of deadwood has similar qualities..

I rewatch things when I don't want to have to focus on something, but want something on. I don't reread much, but there's an amazing book I read twice in my twenties that I would love to reread, if only I could remember what it was! It was feminist fiction and was initially set on a train, iirc. Anyone?

Because it's funny, because the cinematography is beautiful, because it's has a complicated storyline that you didn't appreciate first time round, because you found it uplifting, because the acting was brilliant or because you're bored and there's nothing else to watch

Can I assume from your username though, that you've watched/read both Arrietty and Matilda more than once?

Because you bring yourself to it and you change over the course of your lifetime because of your experiences. My 17 year old self reading Wuthering Heights, for example, is very different from my 50 year old self reading it.

Ha ha you obviously don't have ASD
My DC would read one book for up to a year then change to a different one
Each favourite film lasted at least a year
I've watched my favourite film at least 20 times
It's comforting

Re-watching I'm not so fussed on.

I do a fair bit of re-reading though. My favourite books aged 10-14 were the Narnia books. I read them all quite a few times. When I re-read them as an adult a few years ago, I was fascinated to realise just how steeped in religion they were and how many references there were to Adam & Eve, God, Jesus, Abraham and all the rest. I must have read them ten times as a child/teenager and missed so much of the 'deeper' meaning.

Because you bring yourself to it and you change over the course of your lifetime because of your experiences. My 17 year old self reading Wuthering Heights, for example, is very different from my 50 year old self reading it.
Yes!

For example: everyone should read Catcher in the Rye when they are 17, but only then (if you've read it since, and still feel the same about it, then you are a better person than me!)

I tend to re-read a lot. It's a mixture of comfort and getting different meanings.

I know that Harry Potter is often criticised for the actual writing quality, but I love the plot and characters, and re-reading them you realise that some trivial subplot in an early book, e.g. using polyjuice potion to impersonate Crabbe and Goyle leads to a more significant plot further down the line e.g. Snape suspecting Harry of stealing boomslang skin when it turns out to be a Deatheater impersonating a trusted character. Reading the books once misses lots of subtle details that are less significant at the time.

Relationships with books can also change. I first read The Handmaid's Tale many years ago following excerpts in A-Level English. Reading it recently prior to watching the TV adaption felt different, because the experience of having had my own babies has changed my understanding of the emotional impact on the protagonist. The TV series may change the way I perceive the book the next time I read it.

And some books like the Chronicles of Narnia are like an old reliable friend who has always been there since childhood. I've no idea how many times I've read them since the age of 7, but I've had to replace my original set at the bindings were suffering with age and use.

I've just reread Stephen King's It,because the film is out soon. I've read this book three or four times before so you'd think it would all be very familiar. And some parts are, but it's all the little forgettable things that make it worth re-reading. I can point to it and say "seven kids get together and they fight an ancient shapeshifting thing that kills people" and yes, that's the plot, but there's so much other stuff in there I'd forgotten. Some of it is dialogue, some descriptions and atmospheres and some of the really good stuff is things that have nothing to do with the plot.

You know how something goes if you watch the film or read the wikipedia summary but you'll miss a whole swathe of the book doing that. And you won't retain it, no matter how good it was. Like memories of your own childhood, you remember some but not all.

I cross-posted with @FlandersRocks with reference to Narnia. I agree that the Christian allegory passed me by in childhood but became increasingly apparent in adulthood.

Because I have a brain like a sieve and forget the finer details. I have often read a book then seen the film or TV series several years later, then decided to read the book again.

I love the plot and characters, and re-reading them you realise that some trivial subplot in an early book, e.g. using polyjuice potion to impersonate Crabbe and Goyle leads to a more significant plot further down the line e.g. Snape suspecting Harry of stealing boomslang skin when it turns out to be a Deatheater impersonating a trusted character.

I don't understand a word of that yet I'm nodding along anyway! I love discovering new things in old favourites.

The Usual Suspects is a classic example of a film which gives you a completely different experience when you watch it the second time.

I'm currently rereading Pride and Prejudice with DD - reading lots of it out loud to her - and it's giving me insights I'd never caught on any of my previous 10 readings.

Sometimes it enhances it. I read Huckleberry Finnish when I was quite young and it was a great tale. I read it 10 years later and it was a sweeping allegory of the movement of the English speaking peoples returning to ignorance at the same time as accelerating forwards and really opened my eyes to the USAs curious existence..

There are plenty of films that I will happily re-watch hence a 600 dvd collection . So many times I've watched something again only to see something I'd completely missed the first time, or even first few times, of watching.

Then there's series that I loved in the 80s that I re-watch, like Tenko, To the Manor Born and Roots.

I think I've read Pride and Prejudice at least 10 times.

I also know Superman 2 pretty much by heart.

That is a really good example scaryclown. I read Huckleberry Finn when I was very young and unaware of US history and the slave trade. I read it again a few years ago and got so much more out of it.

Nabokov hid an "Easter egg" in Lolita that no one would be able to spot on the first reading. I didn't find it until my third (many years had elapsed between the first and second times.)

If you wait long enough you forget the plot, and come back to it fresh.

I like Helene Hanff who said why would I buy a book I hadn't already read?

The exception is Roald Dahl. Let it remain a memory.

I second the view that you can get more/something different from a book on rereading. I think your view on things changes as your own life experiences evolve as well; for example, there are books I read when I was younger where I would identify with the younger characters but now I would identify more with the mother.

I see what you mean but I must confess I like to listen / read things again.

Sometimes for bits I've missed, sometimes for funny dialogue that makes me chuckle the 47th time I hear it.

Your logic I agree with and yet...

Harry Potter is my main culprit.

DP says he agrees with you about films. What about Pulp Fiction I said?

'That's different', apparently.

But can co.pletely accept my thirst for new knowledge and experiences isn't usual!

Just because people sometimes want to revisit a brilliant book they enjoyed, it doesn't mean they don't have a 'thirst for new knowledge and experiences' too. Get over yourself.

I've watched greys anatomy 1000's of times (hence the username) and still enjoy it. YABU.

If you wait long enough you forget the plot, and come back to it fresh

I disagree with this - or only for mediocre books/films IMO where the memories will fade. For the truly brilliant books that I've thoroughly enjoyed, the plot is ingrained forever from the first read.