ESSAY: It Came From the VCR

I’ll admit: I have never downloaded a movie. And I probably never will. I have no ethical obligation to Hollywood’s bloated wallets. I just doubt I’ll ever upgrade my clunky laptop. So why bother? It doesn’t sound fun to me, downloading a movie. Going to the movies: that’s fun, kinda old-timey. Watching a movie: simple, direct, a close second. I’d feel like a robot to download one. And truth be told, I don’t have the patience to let a little green bar tick by at a snail’s pace so I can watch a shitty digital transfer of a probably lousy movie on a certainly outdated-by-now PC.

Saying this makes me feel old. Especially considering my generation relegated “ADD” to mood and brought “instant gratification” to everything. We were raised with movies in our homes and channel surfing in our hearts. Now we YouTube. Those kids, they grow up so fast.

Even with the HD-Blu-ray format war decided, movie collectors needn’t worry about reorganizing their shelves all over again. It’s become painfully obvious, after the diminishing interims between Betamax, Laserdisc, DVD and now, that we are programmed to forever be catching up with technology. There wouldn’t be an entertainment industry if we weren’t being bated, that golden carrot of progress dangling in front of our gawking faces.