It’s elevated itself as a hub of prestige content to rival the likes of HBO, where eye-popping production and marketing budgets are devoted to shows like The Crown and creators like Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes are wooed with massive deals. It’s been comfort-watch central, with audiences making a blockbuster hit out of Schitt’s Creek and, over the years, resurging the relevance of shows like The Office, Friends, and Gilmore Girls. Still, if the mind-blowing revelation that people like sex, are sometimes horny, and sometimes like to watch hot people have it-or at least simulate having it in movies or TV-can be accepted as fact, it’s interesting to figure out where that fits into this idea of what Netflix is as a brand, and what people turn to it for. Remember the “mommy porn” discussion when the Fifty Shades sensation hinted that middle-aged women actually have sexual desires? It was demeaning. The pearl-clutching tenor of surprise and snickering whenever there’s a phenomenon like this can be patronizing and shaming. But the lesson was learned: People like watching sex on Netflix. There were several reasons why the film surged to the top of Netflix’s most-watched list-there was a viral TikTok challenge where people would film themselves watching the opening scene in shock.
