Changes in Young People's Film‑Consumption Habits Brought about by Short‑Video Film Commentaries
Abstract
The popularisation of the Internet has given rise to short‑video film commentary, a form of secondary‑content creation. The format of "watching a film in ten minutes" has greatly transformed how young generations born in the 2000s and 2010s engage with and understand cinema. Some audiences have adopted the consumer perception that "watching a commentary counts as having watched the film". This phenomenon calls into question the traditional immersive aesthetic experience valued by theatrical film viewing. This paper sorts out the logic behind the emergence of short‑video film commentary within fragmented‑viewing environments, and analyses the dual impacts of commentary content on young people's film‑consumption behaviours and aesthetic perceptions from three dimensions: media environment, audience psychology and narrative reconstruction. The study finds that while short‑video film commentaries lower barriers to accessing film culture and expand its boundaries of dissemination, they also create problems such as narrative distortion, diminished aesthetic perception and cognitive bias formed by audiences' preconceived notions. Based on local Chinese‑media phenomena, this paper reflects on the survival of cinematic art in the digital‑image era and offers suggestions for fostering young people's media literacy and optimising the short‑video‑content ecosystem.
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