This week’s edition of Slow Digest was written by C21 Graduate Fellow Jamee N. Pritchard.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
I came across slow TV during the fall semester of 2023 while in the midst of studying for my preliminary exams. While the soothing sound of smooth brown noise routinely quiets my mind, I fell in love with videos of scenic plane, train, and automobile rides that lasted about 8-12 hours at a time. Something about the monotony of an uneventful, stress-free journey, beginning to end, was relaxing and helped me concentrate.
Slow TV was popularized by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in the 2000s when it aired a broadcast of a 7-hour train journey from Bergen to Oslo. This genre of television is pure simplicity and a counterpoint to the fast-paced and often dramatic narratives of popular television series. It presents real-time, unedited, or minimally edited footage of everyday or scenic experiences. It’s extremely slow-paced, often hours or days long, focusing on observation rather than storytelling. There is no narrative to this type of media, and it does not require active engagement to enjoy it. Instead, much of Slow TV is designed for relaxation, mindfulness, background ambiance, and, in my case, preparing for one’s preliminary exams.
From CBS Sunday Morning (05/07/2017): “Norway’s Fascinating Slow TV”
These videos are just as you might imagine them and accessible through YouTube.
The plane videos begin after completing security. There’s the walk to the gate, followed by boarding and the eventual takeoff, the white noise of inflight cruising, landing, and the walk to baggage claim and the rideshare line.
On the train, we see the engineer’s point of view as he completes his initial checklist and gets the train moving. We ride along snow-covered tracks through neighborhoods, forests with beautiful mountain views, and dark tunnels, stopping occasionally to let other trains pass or pick up passengers at stations along the way, until we reach our final destination. My favorite train journey is to Norway’s Arctic Circle. It’s about 10 hours and has a winter, summer, and spring version.
Slow TV: Train Journey to the Norwegian Arctic Circle, Winter
There’s a guy called the Rain Driver on YouTube who films his long car rides through the rain. It’s just him driving on the highway and on random roads. He has about 100 thousand subscribers, and from reading the comments of his videos, people just like the sound of rain to put them to sleep or help them relax. Personally, it reminds me of when I was kid, sitting in the passenger seat of my mom’s car during road trips to my grandparent’s house, fighting to stay awake to keep her company but slowly surrendering to sleep, lulled by the rhythmic sound of the windshield wipers.
For many of its viewers, Slow TV gives us the feeling of being present in real time and space. It invites us to slow down and immerse ourselves in the journey – not necessarily the destination. It is a meditative process that allows me to quiet my mind and concentrate on the task at hand. With my preliminary exams behind me, I still find solace in Slow TV. Its unhurried travels—whether by plane, train, or automobile—continue to guide me toward the finish line of my graduate studies.
For more information about Slow TV, listen to the episode “The Great Narrative Escape,” from NPR’s Invisibilia podcast. Hosts Kia Miakka Natisse and Yowei Shaw delve into Norwegian Slow TV, examining the appeal of extended broadcasts of train journeys and knitting sessions as well as how Slow TV challenges conventional storytelling by offering content that lacks plot and tension yet captivates audiences