New Book ‘You Are What You Watch’ Explores How TV and Movies Affect Everything

By Angela Tricarico
Published Oct. 30, 2023, 4:34 p.m. ET
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Have you ever truly wondered if the film and TV you’re consuming on a regular basis has any effect on the world besides entertainment value?

Reporter Walt Hickey, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary as part of a team at Insider, set out to prove that TV and Movies affect everything with his new book You Are What You Watch.

As a culture writer at FiveThirtyEight, Hickey also has a background in data — combining those things, it turns out, led to this book, which answers questions about beloved films and TV shows that you might not have even thought to ask in the first place using illustrated data visualization alongside traditional reporting.

Questions like: did you know shark populations actually decreased after the release of Jaws? Ever wondered if sports in movies, like archery in The Hunger Games, actually led to increased participation? Or, did you know that US and British intelligence have actually gotten ideas from James Bond movies?

That’s just a taste of what you’ll find in the book, per Amazon’s description. It’ll also look at things like manga’s effect on the Japanese economy and crime statistics as they relate to violence in films and violence in the real world.

Featuring over 100 data visualizations, You Are What You Watch is a feast for the mind and eyes of any curious movie and TV lover.

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