Making a “Hate-Watch”: Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking and the Stickiness of “Cringe Binge TV”

Abstract

Netflix’s 2020 release Indian Matchmaking drew a massive backlash particularly from South Asian and diasporic audiences who felt it normalized the experiences associated with arranged marriages. Audiences took to the internet to express how much they loved hating the show but at the same time also continued to obsessively watch despite their reservations. My paper takes up this paradox of simultaneously loving and hating a media product. By drawing from interviews with the showrunner, members of the production team and a close reading of the show’s texts and paratexts, I argue that “hatewatching” or “cringe-binge” as a mode of spectatorship only seems an oppositional form of viewing or an act of resistance to the reification of dominant hegemonic values. Far from being a function of spectatorial agency, I demonstrate how the platforms utilize “hatewatching” as a lucrative form of viewership and consumer habit to cultivate stickiness for their content.