The rise of digital streaming platforms has profoundly altered contemporary modes of spectatorship. Traditionally, art cinema and independent films have demanded slow, attentive, and contemplative viewing processes, inviting the audience into affective and interpretive engagement. However, digital affordances such as playback acceleration (1.5x or 2x speed), multitasking interfaces, and algorithmically driven content exposure have given way to a new viewing modality centered on speed, efficiency, and information extraction. This paper introduces the concept of pragmatic viewing to define a mode of engagement where viewers prioritize narrative comprehension and discursive participation over immersive aesthetic experience. The study adopts a conceptual construction approach, grounded in critical media theory, to investigate how digital temporality reconfigures the relationship between viewers and slow cinema. Drawing on the works of Jonathan Crary, Paul Virilio, Thomas Elsaesser, and Laura Mulvey, the research interrogates the cultural logic of acceleration and its implications for contemporary film culture. By situating pragmatic viewing within broader debates on attention economies, platform capitalism, and media temporality, the paper seeks to contribute a new theoretical framework for understanding how the digital spectator redefines what it means to “watch” a film in the age of hyper-efficiency.

Authors:
Ecem Şen, Marmara Üniversitesi, Turkey

About the Presenter(s)
Ecem Şen is a research assistant at Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts, specializing in feminist film theory, psychoanalysis, mythology, and anthropology-based approaches to cinema.

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