{"id":440046,"date":"2026-01-31T02:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T02:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440046\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T02:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T02:41:08","slug":"gen-z-no-longer-can-sit-through-movies-in-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440046\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen Z No Longer Can Sit Through Movies in Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFor years, audiences have groused that films are too long, and now, a number of film professors say their students are having trouble finishing films they are assigned to watch for class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/2026\/01\/college-students-movies-attention-span\/685812\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Atlantic<\/a> writer Rose Horowitch published a piece Friday based on surveying 20 film-studies professors who shared stories of students struggling to sit through films in class without checking their phones or answering basic questions about said films after watching them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn an anecdote that <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DKThomp\/status\/2017259828792484055\" target=\"_blank\">gained attention on X<\/a>, the University of Wisconsin Madison professor Jeff Smith recalled asking his students about the ending of the 1962 Fran\u00e7ois Truffaut film\u00a0Jules and Jim. Horowitch writes: \u201cMore than half of the class picked one of the wrong options, saying that characters hide from the Nazis (the film takes place during World War I) or get drunk with Ernest Hemingway (who does not appear in the movie).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRelated Stories\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/jordin-sparks-halle-berry-menopause-screenplay-1236490314\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2236199883.jpg\" alt=\"Jordin Sparks\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"\" width=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/lifestyle\/lifestyle-news\/grammys-gift-bags-lounge-2026-lash-fary-distinctive-assets-1236488163\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image2.jpeg\" alt=\"Angela Bassett and Lash Fary pose inside Distinctive Assets\u2019 official Grammy Awards backstage gift lounge ahead of the Grammys in 2025.\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"\" width=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tProfessors report they have even resorted to asking students just to watch portions of films. It\u2019s a phenomenon mirroring what is happening in high school English classes around the country, where students <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/12\/us\/high-school-english-teachers-assigning-books.html\" target=\"_blank\">might just be assigned portions of books<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThough these are discouraging stories for cinephiles to hear, there\u2019s evidence that members of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/gen-z\/\" id=\"auto-tag_gen-z_1\" data-tag=\"gen-z\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gen Z<\/a> are embracing movie theaters and film culture. Some in Hollywood have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-features\/focusfest-a24-letterboxd-generation-1236406525\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dubbed them the Letterboxd generation<\/a>, and they were credited with helping fuel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-features\/lilo-and-stitch-and-the-power-of-zillennial-nostalgia-1236231230\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">unexpected hits last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAs Northwestern professor Lynn Spigel told The Atlantic,  \u201cthe ones who are really dedicated to learning film always were into it, and they still are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, audiences have groused that films are too long, and now, a number of film professors say&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,153,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-440046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gen-z","10":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}