I 💗 Physical Media!!
Monday, July 14, 2025
Going to the video store -- there were so many from which to choose -- was a weekend ritual. The stores were little pill boxes, generally, sole proprietorships tucked away in a repurposed thrift store or gas station. Walking the aisles as a dreamlike experience as you delved into the obscure titles and rare jewels coveted at each location. It was an enjoyable experience, and upon leaving the store you were assured of having a wonderfully cinematic weekend. Often it was that you had developed a relationship with the clerk, who was just as big a fan as you were. It was a wonderful, community enhancing experience.
These little mom-and-pop locations were ultimately killed off by big box locations like Blockbuster Video. Going to those store was far less pleasurable, far more generic and sterile. Still, we had the physical media to hold once we left the place. The big box department stores like Best Buy and the now defunct Circuit City got into the act. By now, of course, the DVD world had gone totally Big Corporation.
Then came streaming. When this little bait-and-switch scheme was first rolled out, I must say that I enjoyed having access to literally dozens of indie-produced films and documentaries. Productions that would have never made it to disc were available, and the costs of these services were reasonable, and most importantly AD FREE.
I consider this the Golden Age of streaming.
Then streaming became the mainstay, and the "switch" part kicked in. Prices went up, and commercials became the default, unless you wanted to pay extra. I personally found this switch patently offensive on a variety of levels. Aside from the fact that prices were rising -- just because they could -- and commercials were beginning to litter the productions, I was dismayed to see those wonderful indie productions now being taken off line. Further, I found that digital films that I'd purchased had vanished. As it turns out, purchasing a digital product DOES NOT MEAN YOU OWN IT. That's in the fine print, but when I went back to watch a film I knew I'd purchased and it wasn't there any longer, I was incensed.
All of this culminated to a proverbial Last Straw. I stopped buying anything digital. I started once again buying physical media. And I'm not alone. This article in the New York Times was both encouraging and reassuring. I'm not alone in my disgust with the perils of streaming media. And I fully support those of us cinephiles who want to keep physical media alive. It's one of the primary reasons I curate Deep Dive Cinema.
Happy Viewing! -Kev
Written in the projection booth by Kevvie
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