Everything goes on too long

[Soduku1234]

Is it just me that thinks that given how busy everybody's life is that things should be shortened.

Recent examples. I saw a film recently and there were 25 minutes of ads/trailers and then the film was 2 hours 20. It could have been 10 minutes of ads and 1 hour 45 easily.

I went to a theatre show a few weeks ago and it was 2 hours 20 mins and a 20 minute interval. It could have been less than two hours.

I attended a webinar this week that was ok but could have been much shorter.

There's probably loads of other examples but I don't know if I'm just being a grump. Aibu?

What actual difference would it have made if the thestreshis was shorter? What would you have did with that 20/40 m in mites?

surely the afternoon or evening is 'put aside' to watch it, same with the film?!

You could just choose not to do those leisure activities if you're so pressed for time.

Years ago I saw a play at our (expensive) local professional theatre called “Art” on its national tour. It was probably this one, I seem to remember a cast of three men.

It lasted 45 minutes. That’s all, no interval, nothing else on that evening. Hardly worth getting ready and going out for.

Fortunately I had free tickets as a friend was working there. If I’d had to pay the theatre’s usual prices I would not have been pleased. At least if it’s a long play you’re getting better value per minute.

You're kind of reminding me of my 18-year-old self doing English A-level. Having skived almost the whole course and not particularly liking most of the material, I didn't even read the books. Instead, I crammed for the exam using those revision packs you used to get at WH Smith - can't remember what they were called, but similar to Spark Notes. I scraped a pass.

Many years later, I read the books and realised how much I'd missed! Each text was rich, complex and full of depths my 'revision' had only skimmed. Except that whining prat, Wordsworth. By not putting in the time to study them, I'd done myself out of an enriching experience.

So my point is that, in wanting to get a cultural experience over and done with, you can be cheating yourself. I'm going with the "slow down and smell the flowers" type replies above.

Internal work meetings, not so much! Some really can be great and worth in-depth participation. Those are obviously a rarity.

You realise length =/= quality, right?

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I spend my life screaming internally "just get on with it!" or "oh, shut up!" while time-consuming formalities are observed. I always scroll on my phone through adverts before a film (not during the film itself), and back in the days of renting video cassettes, I used to rewind them to just after the ads at the beginning, as a petty rebellion. But at other times, I embrace slowness.

Slowness is one reason I almost never watch television: I remember how painfully slow the National Lottery draws were when they were new, and I never understood why, as each number was drawn, the cheers got louder and louder; surely, it should have been the groans getting louder and louder? Perhaps the real sound from the studio was silenced, and a crescendo of cheers was broadcast instead: lots of things on TV are not as they seem.

Some films spend the first half hour setting the scene with characters arguing, before any action happens, so you are in no doubt about how mundane the characters are.

My church choir practice is painfully slow. I wouldn't mind the fine tooth comb approach to learning something new, but it's applied to stuff we have done many times before, with lots of slow waffle in between. Every single year we do a piece with the line "I'm weary with my former toil": never was a truer word spoken. After Christmas I'm taking a few weeks off because I can't stand it any more (and I'm sure they'll plead for me to come back).

Snooker is going on too long that's for sure.

I've always thought movies & shows are too long. There's always a part in the middle that's boring and drawn out. I wish they could be 20 mins shorter. Even as a child I felt bored halfway through.

See also quiz shows. 30 years ago you probably had a hundred questions in a 30 mins show. Now it's 4 with lots of dramatic pauses.

But what do you have is choice.

As I’ve got older, I also don’t have the patience for films or theatre - so I don’t go! Instead, I wait for the films to be shown on TV, then I can fast-forward through any parts that are annoying me…

For events that interest me enough to not lose patience halfway through, such as currently, Christmas Light events, I’m able to give these my full attention.

Having walked out of the last couple of stage productions I’ve attended at interval time, I’ve learned not to waste more money on these - let’s face it, they’re not cheap!

I really hope you enjoy it, but I would not go and see this even if it was shorter.
Avatar—one of my favourite films ever.
The Way Of Water—dull and unnecessary, I wish I could get that time back.
Number three—I’m not bothering. I might watch the original again instead.

The trailers and ads don’t increase the quality, but they do reduce the cost, as advertisers pay for the privilege.

don't moan that there was too much of it then 🙄

Australia will be happy to keep making the ashes matches shorter.

Not ads in my experience. The introductory and short films about the production are very good, but there are usually a couple of half hour intervals to allow for the stage set to be changed. It does make for a very long evening, especially on a weeknight and when the seats are uncomfortable!

One news commentator remarked something along the lines of “Hopefully the draw will be finished in time for the first match to kick off in June,” . 😃

New films are always at least half an hour too long for me (exceptions being LOTR). When I was young films were usually 90 mins but there was a short film first. I think 90 mins is perfect and I don’t have ADHD. You can show a perfectly good story in that time. Now directors seem to think you have to pack in lots of unnecessary rubbish so that people don’t mind spending £15 to see it.

I don't agree with the OP on the examples of film and theatre. The point about attention spans others have made I agree with.

Where I do think things are too long is the idea of a month to raise awareness/funds, whereas it used to be a day or week, and secondly, extending day events to a week. You have a birthday, not a birthday week, there is not a Valentine's weekend, for example.

I will reiterate that this has nothing to do with my attention span. I don't have issues in that area. It's to do with 'padding' and events not moving with the times given how busy everyone is.

I agree. I love getting lost in a long, epic film if it's filled with gorgeous cinematography and settings, or a complex plot. But a silly action film padded out with several unnecessary sequences? Not so much.

YouTube videos can be bad for this too, probably because they need to be a certain length to optimise earnings/ ad revenue. Annoying when the interesting or helpful info can be boiled down to about a quarter of the length.

OP, your first example is about capitalism. Adverts are a blight on our time and our experiences of the world, yet we have to put up with them because as a society we've ended up in a place where they pay for everything.

As for the rest... length doesn't determine quality but the trouble is a lot of people think it does. So that leads to the webinar presenters and theatre company erring on the side of bloat to avoid people complaining about not getting value for money.

The flipside is films and shows being edited too ruthlessly and not allowed room to breathe because no one has an attention span any more.

One of the greatest challenges of making art is to produce a film or show or book that's the exact length it needs to be to tell the story properly - whether that's short or long.

Apart from a couple of notable exceptions, films used to be MUCH shorter.

Usually the theatres advertise running times of performances unless you go to previews. If it's too long for you, why go?

I went locally this past weekend. Someone complained the play was 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission. I don't get it. Stay home then.

Do less things but spend time on doing them to maximise what you get out of them and find more depth to the things you do. Everyone has the same number of hours a day. Don't do more than the day can handle.

If you don't have 3 hours or whatever to watch a film then don't watch it. The running length isn't kept secret and its easy enough to gauge how long the trailers and ads will last. I like the trailers so I'd definitely not like to see them stopped to appease people who think every activity and every waking minute has to be productive.

Complaining that films often contain unnecessary scenes = constructive criticism
Complaining films are too long because you're too busy =/= constructive criticism

Entertainment, art and pleasure activities shouldn't be lost to the wayside in the world of "too busy". They are the essential breaks and pauses in "too busy" to allow us to breath. Stop thinking "I could be doing X, Y and Z instead" and start just enjoying the moment

Meetings and trainings being overinflated with course content, lack of useful information and people who like the sound of their own voice is different again