You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything

by Walter Hickey

Data expert Walter Hickey explains the power of entertainment to change our biology, our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power through entertainment.

Anyone who has ever watched or read something profound and moving knows that entertainment can affect us in surprising and significant ways. But did you know that our most popular forms of entertainment can have a direct physical effect on us, a measurable impact on society, geopolitics, the economy, and even the future itself? In You Are What You Watch, Walter Hickey, Pulitzer Prize–winner and former chief culture writer at acclaimed data site FiveThirtyEight, proves how what we watch (and read and listen to) has a far greater effect on us and the world at large than we imagine.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Film, Science, Sociology, Pop Culture, Tv

240 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

Walter Hickey is Insider's Deputy Editor for data and analysis. In addition to his work on elections and data journalism, he edits comics at Insider and writes "Numlock News," a daily morning newsletter.

Previously, he worked for FiveThirtyEight as chief culture writer and at Business Insider.

In 2022 Hickey won the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting for his work on Insider's "I Escaped A Chinese Internment Camp," which documents the plight of Uyghurs in China.

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, though a non-ebook might make reading the various charts easier.

For those interested I highly recommend.

Aggregators take on no risk while stoking arguments about movies they didn't make by stripping reviews they didn't write of context they don't respect, and in doing so externalize all the risk to the consumers or the filmmakers.

Btw. works for books reviews too. ;)

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the book is well written and although flawed doesn’t overstay its welcome, but those hoping for a serious deep dive on how culture, both in its creation and consumption affects us personally, and as a society may be left wanting beyond the pretty graphs.

For the good parts:
- The deep dive on the rise of Hollywood is fascinating, providing insight on the economic and sociopolitical context of the time.
- The study on international export of culture from different countries such as Japan, UK and South Korea is insightful despite being focused primarily on a US centric point of view, though that can be said for almost the entirety of the book.
The mix-bag:
- Yes the pictures are beautiful but so many plots carelessly omit axis, and many diagrams are randomly placed interrupting the flow of the reading, sometimes the data presented directly contributes and enriches the narrative under discussion but others is just tangential and feels like it’s mostly there to fill the book.
The bad:
- While is true that the book is not marketing itself as a serious scientific work, nevertheless some of the “studies” done by the author to prove his points are very poorly designed with the data presented having a focus on being pretty more than useful.
- Some times the author would go on a tangent on a chapter instead of actually diving deep into the topic at hand, this is particularly bad on the last chapter about how media influences the creators themselves, where about 40% of the chapter is spend on a deep dive on wrestling that contributes little to the initial thesis of the chapter

[Nidhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative (chart filled) book about how the media we consume affects our hormones, the economy, and our underlying reasoning. I went into this specifically curious about the effects of the surge of on demand visual media on young adults’ growing brains. The main takeaway was that the on demand tv has made us overall “dumber”, buut these downsides can be derived from people spending less time on more stimulating activities, as opposed to excess visual media directly causing some sort of brain numbing due to its content.

Short form content wasn’t really covered here, although I’m guessing the conclusions might be a bit different there..

ps - The book was a lot more than just this takeaway - it was overall more of a data driven dissection of pop culture and it’s effects on us

[Desi Pilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was misled from the beginning with this book. I work in TV advertising, and love watching television shows (movies, not so much), and am a data scientist, so this book seemed like the perfect fit for me. I flipped it open to a random page and saw a graphic of Squid Game, and was excited. However, despite the title of this book reading, “How movies and TV affect everything”, this book is 90% about movies and barely mentions TV shows at all. In fact, the only real mention of TV was an incomplete argument in favor of TV ad breaks (which, for my job security, I appreciate, but as a consumer, I took issue with his incomplete perspective on the topic). The book also lacked an overall flow, feeling repetitive but also slow at the same time. About a third of the way through, I was just waiting to get to the end. The data visualizations are aesthetically pleasing, but often confusing or don’t really add to the chapters in a meaningful way. Overall, I was disappointed with this book.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this probably works better as a physical book as the charts were hard to read using a Kindle (though I popped them out and zoomed), though that's not a fault of the book itself, just an observation for other readers. For me I think it just felt a little too wide-ranging, but the parts that did hook me were fun. I do think it's a nice blend of science and anecdote, and his writing voice is pretty enjoyable.

[Libbie Smith]

This took a little longer because I’m a fiction girlie so much more than a non fiction. Reading more about my interests in pop culture was so fun and enriching! The book also ended on an emotional (for me) two pages on why art is important and good for us. At times I struggled with some of the authors opinions bias but overall this was a great read and I’d recommend to anyone who loves pop culture!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this audiobook without expectations and was VERY pleased with what I got from it.

As usual with a journalist's writing, you should probably double check sources and ideas presented as facts; From the little bit of searching I did, this book seems to hold up (please correct me if I'm wrong though). This surprised me. Some of the data mentioned is extremely relevant to our society's relationship with the countless sources of media accessible, yet I'd never heard it before.

Walter Hickey's writing made me feel like I was getting access to information I wasn't supposed to know, like I overheard a convo I have no business being in and just want to soak up all the info you can.

If you enjoyed this book, you may also enjoy Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. It's similar but not. Super helpful, I know.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Walt Hickey and publisher for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!}

[Kaila · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars

This was such an insightful, fun and passionate read. I absolutely loved listening to the author’s passion shine through, I feel like my mind was blown constantly. It’s a great balance between an individual love for movies and really well-researched insights. I feel like I have a deeper knowledge and respect for what goes into movies and how it interacts with politics, society, biology and capitalism.

While I know that there were lots of graphs in the book version, I didn’t feel like I missed out by listening to the audiobook instead. I felt equally engaged with the novel and understanding of the concepts explored.

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply stating a short summary of limited data without context or comparison to other studies does not an accurate scientific book make. This author seems to think that throwing USA Today-style short pieces with color graphics on the page proves his conclusions. It doesn't. If anything, this "research" is incredibly narrow-minded, abridged, and way too focused on science fiction/fantasy films. There is almost nothing about TV in the book, and you'll have a hard time finding much of at all about reality. Thus, the author draws incorrect conclusions based on limited scope and little supporting data.

Fans of scifi and superhero movies may think it's great. There's a little something for animation lovers. He even spins a bit of information on minorities near the end. But overall this is a huge flop, a misdirection which does not contain proof of the misleading title.

I even question the writer's ignorant opinions that are tossed in. So much for his being a Pulitzer Prize winner, proof that any left-wing propagandist can get an award if his material draws woke conclusions.

He devotes only two pages to TV sitcoms, claiming, "Workplace comedies grew from a niche of the 1960s and 70s--with The Mary Tyler Moore Show leading the way." That will certainly surprise the creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was the template for MTM, and of course all the other pre-1970 comedies that included a balance of private life and workplaces just as MTM did (That Girl, Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, I Dream of Jeannie, etc.).

In a tiny section on children's television he has the audacity to claim "actual scientific evidence that screen time has a big impact on the health and futures of kids is simply not there." That's a 100% lie, a falsehood that shows either the total ignorance of the author or the biased agenda of this publication. There are DECADES of studies, hundreds of them including some longitudinal, that prove the damage of screen time on children, especially the youngest. Isn't mentally ill society today proof enough of what chaos and warped mindsets are created by young people addicted to screens?

Doctors recommend zero screen time before age two and limiting to one hour of all media each day for schoolkids (pediatricians actually wanted to say zero media but knew parents wouldn't go for it.) Just go into the homes of any educated tech executives, where they ban electronics for their own kids because they know what it does to the brain.

Yet this goofball criticizes Daniel Tiger (one of the best educational shows in TV history and created in the Midwest) while spinning praise on Sesame Street (using New York City commercial gimmicks to manipulate material and propagandize children, which dozens of studies have concluded has caused as much harm as good). This writer's liberal approach to "science" is to focus on limited research that supports your preconceived conclusions while ignoring true science that includes conflicting data and common sense.

Hickey also tries to claim that media simply reflect culture when in truth movies and TV revolutionize society by putting forward characters and storylines that viewers copy. There is evidence that some people become what they watch when the presentation is of something different than what they're familiar with--those Jerry Springer episodes with threesomes, crossdressers, and animal lovers have resulted in people 20 years later boasting about public sexual acts and mental illness that used to be considered shameful.

He doesn't deal at all with the decades of research on the imitation and violence effects. Scripted movies and TV don't reflect life, but at least half of modern Americans seem to become what they see in the media and the streets are filled with criminal rebels that think they're dark superheroes.

The biggest flaw is that the book doesn't really deal with much reality--TV news, documentaries, reality shows, autobiographies, talk shows, and biopics are oddly missing--and entire categories of cause and effect media violence research are ignored. It's easier for Hickey to prove his false narrative by skipping the real world stuff altogether and just focusing on Spider-man, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.

It's simply another example of the misuse of the term "science" and how modernists don't look objectively at data. Like the recent revelation that those past studies claiming alcohol was good for you were inaccurate and proven false (concluding that for the healthiest lifestyle you should not have even one drink), the bottom line is that focusing on a few warped studies that try to say watching movies or TV won't have a significant effect are untrue.

Oh, he does draw simplistic conclusions that if you watch something scary it impacts your breathing. Or that movies impact the names people give their kids or the toys that are purchased. Wow, that's insightful, isn't it? Meanwhile nothing on screen profanity, gun violence, or verbal abuse having any copycat effect on society. And his "good vs. evil" discussion again focuses on...superheroes or pretend universes. Why is the real world not included?

The best thing for your mind is not to consume the fantasy/scifi/scripted crap at all. And in the end the best thing a reader can do is skip this horrible summary that misleads. You are what you write, Walt Hickey, and that makes you a bigoted mishandler of what's true, as well as a promoter of falsehoods.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erg leuke benadering van het effect dat film op ons heeft, met een nadruk op dataonderzoek en voorzien van grappige visualisaties in schema's en grafieken. In bredere zin kijkt het naar hoe creativiteit en verhalen werken. Niet alle invalshoeken vond ik even interessant (de economische bijvoorbeeld), maar in zijn geheel een vermakelijk en inspirerend boek. 3,5 ⭐

[Lydia Newman]

FINISHED. Whew. Def textbook type of book. Interesting. DENSE! A LOT OF INFO! I did skip the wrestling chapter oops. Cool graphics

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been following the author's newsletters for years, so I was very excited when this was announced. For those interested in pop culture and the reasons behind things, this is a great book. It's clear that a lot of research was put into this book. The infographics are eye-catching. It's also a superb book to pick up and quickly read a page. It's broken up into easy-to-digest sections.

[Ben Philpott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptional explanation of how the media all around us changes how we think, changes our biology, and you know….makes us what to buy a certain kind of dog.

Lots of fun!

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

You Are What You Watch will be published on October 24, 2023. Workman Publishing provided an early galley for review.

From a very young age, I have always been a consumer of television and movies. It has always been a constant in my life. Back before the days of cable TV when we only had three major networks, I could tell you what was on each channel on every given night. Yes, I even subscribed to TV Guide. So, this title spoke to me the moment I saw it earlier this year.

As a data journalist, Hickey has a fascination for the numbers. In examples of mapping data to runtimes, he presents charts that show at what moments viewers react and in what ways. The reader is then treated to the science behind focus (of both concentration and actual eye movement). The breakdown is fascinating and easy to follow. This kind of analysis could come off dry and boring, but Hickey is able to keep everything lighter and flowing.

Beyond the math and science, Hickey also talks about the psychology in how what we consume effects us and how, in turn, that effects the world around us. The media can inspire careers, spark interest in topics, and even influence travel plans. The chapter on theme parks and specialty stores was also very interesting.

This one is strongly recommended for those who are into pop culture and how people interface with it.

[Sue Trav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely an interesting read! Lots of data (and colourful graphics). Well researched and well laid out. I was able to skip over entire sections that did not interest me (WWE etc).

I "knew" that TV shows and movies (along with music and books) influenced us but this book presented the data to back the theories.. Everything from names, toys, pets, sports we play, university attendance - all linked to the culture we consume.

It was not as deep as I would have liked and I am more of a music and book fan so I would have liked more on those areas and less on Star Wars.

Overall it was an enjoyable and entertaining read. Thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

[Jeremiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, though it went in a different direction than I expected and he made so many broad claims without acknowledging the controversy or nuance that I became wary of really believing anything. In any case, he essentially presents a history of the film industry and some key factors of how the general audience is influenced, mostly in terms of consumer behavior. As mentioned, I had expected him to lean more into the psychological impacts of media based on the title but he stuck with fairly external factors. Also he provided a lot of colorful charts which contained a lot of detail for readers who take the time to decipher them.

[Dan Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought this book looked interesting as it blended pop culture and data and so gave it a read.

Overall, it is a little uneven as it is a series of short pieces interspersed with infographics. Some of the pieces were fascinating including using the levels of various chemicals emitted by movie goers to track the audience response and using eye tracking to gauge the effectiveness of a director. Other pieces were less compelling and ranged from the history of Warner Brothers merchandise stores to professional wrestling.

Most readers will likely find something interesting but may want to skip around a fair bit.

[Lindsay Underwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting, but was hoping for more!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed everything about this book, from the content and flow to the engaging narrator.  The author begins by saying that the book, "won't erode your ability to love what you enjoy...but rather love and appreciate them.  You might love yourself more because of it."  His mission was accomplished by the end.
The book opens with an presentation of empirical evidence of chemical responses in the body as audiences watch different genres of movies and links this to similar physiological responses we have when eating, so right away there's a strong feeling of consumption.  How we watch movies and consume media has many of the same effects as eating food.  Once that's been established, Hickey then goes on to explain the cinematic techniques used to grab the attention of audiences: why we like some things and not others, using the Star Wars prequels as effective examples, and again links this back to physiological responses in the body.  He then moves on to media in pop culture and uses appropriate examples from recent years to demonstrate the impact cinema has on culture, such as baby names (Chandler and Xander), the increase in popularity of archery among women and, of course, The Rachel haircut.  Later, Hickey discusses the relationship between the government, NASA, and the film industry and the impact these organizations have had using examples of both movies where they have been involved or provided opinion and movies where they have not, before talking about the film industry funding and tax evasion in the 1970's, the popularity and impact of marketing, specifically the Disney and WB stores of the 90s, and, my most favourite, nostalgia amongst Boomers and Millennials.  Towards the end of the book, readers gain a better understanding of the use of commercials in streaming services and how these can actually help us retain and engage with the content we're watching.  He does this using the same physiological tie-ins from earlier in the book, which makes for a cohesive argument overall.  Finally, the book ends with a brief discussion of media on the global scale and looks at other countries and their impact on the industry, such as the increase in popularity of anime.  Literally no stone was left unturned as Hickey touched upon the impact of cinema in all areas of culture!
Overall, this was a very well-structured and enjoyable listen/read, and while some components of it felt very similar to a Media and Culture 101 University class (that is to say, the information might not have been new), the way the information was presented and the build of the book made it successful, easy to follow and, in my opinion, accessible for a wide variety of listeners, from folks who know a bit about the subject already, to folks who might not know anything about it other than they just like movies.  It had just enough of everything to keep the listener/reader engaged, from empirical experiments to sometimes quickly writing to relevant cultural references.  The narrator had just enough liveliness without being over the top and I got the sense, based on their delivery, that they may have also enjoyed the content they were delivering.  I would certainly recommend this audiobook!  Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for the chance to listen :) 

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone kind of already knows that we are what we eat, in this case media. The most fascinating parts are about the various media industries covered, especially the global ones. Although the author doesn't use the term, there was discussion about the mukokuseki strategy employed by Japanese industries for global uptake, and a more nuanced take on the steadfast nationalism still embedded in many of these cultural offerings. The author cites research, and, reading the other reviews, some of it was apparently his own, but this was not clear in the audiobook. In fact, this left a bit of a sour taste in my throat, given what others have noted about the quality of this research, and my complete inability to look it up myself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advance copy of the audiobook.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I was interesting. It was a fascinating listen and covers many aspects for movie, TV and pop culture. This a book looks at the data, science, psychological and sociological side of movies and TV (so you know what media literacy is based on) by a data journalist who covers all the ways movies and tv affect society. It’s a pretty dry academic book in parts but if it covers things you enjoy I think you’d like it. It covers how what we watch help us to understand the world and other cultures, how fandoms work, how sometimes watching a movie/tv show makes you travel to the place where it was shot. It even covers fan fiction and how this affects the way we consume pop culture and tv and movies.

[Maeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!!!! Heard of Walter Hickey on a freakonomics podcast — people I mostly admire with Steve Levitt. He’s a data journalist (?) and this book talks about how media shapes culture, how culture shapes us, how media affects our brains and bodies, how countries use “soft power” of exporting their media to gain favor and empathy from other parts of the world, how commerce shapes media and uses so many graphs and charts to make it all digestible and interesting. Great book for people who don’t normally like nonfiction but enjoy learning how people work!

[Jasmin Goldberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great charts and interesting insights into the world of pop culture, how it has shaped us (and visa versa), some surprising scientific analysis on how it can affect us at a biological level, as well as how the lessons learned through mass consumed media can aid communication in scientific (and other) fields. Lost attention a little bit towards the end when it started talking more about the financial side of the pop culture business (of course important but not really my cup of tea) - but that is a me problem.

[Analie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some really interesting facts from this book - like what causes us to enjoy movies and differences in how kids consume media compared to adults. At moments it was fascinating; other times, the content died beneath the weight of soooo many pages of charts. I think this book was a casualty of bad editing. The two-column format made reading slow and the title was misleading because the book said little about the potential harm of media consumption.

[Thomas Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how many charts this book had. Sam Levy, if you’re reading this, I think you’d enjoy this book. It takes a look at lots of different elements of media and its impact.

The final chapter was definitely the weakest for me, looking mostly at pro wrestling and fan fiction for some reason, but overall I found it informative. As with any non-fiction for me, it wasn’t speedy progress, but it’s one of my fave non-fiction books (although I still prefer fiction).

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

One disappointment after another.

[Sascha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A broad data based review of movie going culture whose beautiful graphic design will definitely stick with me but whose insights aren't as deep as I'd hoped.

[Darshil Chauhan]

DNF early on. Focuses too much on factual information, and less on concepts and ideas.

[Myles Gerber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big info-dump. Not bad but a lot of what’s in here is very surface level. Overall, above mid but just okay.

[Jazmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2