'God is in the details'

Embracing boredom in art and life

- SOPAN DEB

The Netflix drama Adolescence requires its audience to linger — to sink into the mundane.

Each of its four hourlong episodes was shot in one continuous take, allowing its harrowing story —centred on a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a classmate — to unfold in real time. As the visual point of view shifts, its audience is invited to eavesdrop on interactions that are extraneous to the plot, as characters loiter in hallways and cars, and make small talk with strangers.

Adolescence is unusual because, as a character study without a propulsive plot, it requires its audience be OK with being in the moment. It stands in contrast to most modern television shows, which are increasingly geared towards a smartphone-addicted viewership of people who scroll while watching (think fast-moving shows like Reacher).

It also stands in contrast to how we live our lives, with shortening attention spans, increasing isolation and an inability to sit still. Adolescence challenges us to be OK with small talk and boredom, even if our impulse is to disappear into our screens.

"We're becoming conditioned for these fast filtered interactions that involve constant stimulation,’ said Fallon Goodman, the director of the Emotion and Resilience Laboratory at George Washington University. “So the consequences of that are shorter attention spans, making us more impatient with the natural flow of an in-person interaction.”

Early in the fourth and final episode of Adolescence, Eddie (Stephen Graham, also a creator of the series), drives to a hardware store with his wife, Manda (Christine Tremarco), and daughter, Lisa (Amelie Pease), to buy paint.