I know video rental stores have been out of business for a while but I just felt I should share my rant with everyone here. Feel free to comment.
Tonight's rant is about Netflix and movie rental stores.
Almost everybody uses Netflix today. Heck, even I use it. And I agree that it is convenient and saves money to watch all those movies and shows. But, I don't think it's all great. You see, back in the day, there was this movie rental place in my home town called Monster Video. I went there basically everyday to rent movies, talk with the owner about movies, and just hang out. It was great. Every day we would return our movies, talk about what we thought about them and be suggested more movies to watch. It was great to talk to another film lover about films. But sadly, that's all gone now. Today, we just turn on our computers and search for movies. Yeah, Netflix "suggests" movies for us but what does it know? It tells us what to watch based on what we watched before and a bunch of numbers and data. It used to be that people at the rental places would tell us what we would probably like based on what we've rented before. They've seen a ton of movies, they know their stuff. Do you really think there's some film geek over at the "Netflix headquarters" saying " oh he just watched this! He would certainly love this." No, there isn't. Netflix just isn't personal or human enough. There's no heart in it. I loved going to Monster Video to rent movies and just talk about movies all day. It was great to learn about new movies I'd never heard of before and learn about what movies I might like. You never know, maybe the next movie they suggest will happen to be your next favorite movie of all time. The rental stores were the best places to find and discover new films, and talk with other film lovers. That's gone now, and we're trusting a computer to tell us what to watch next. Human interaction is slowly leaving us. You may think it's absurd to be going as far as to say this simply about Netflix, but it's true. I would honestly give up Netflix any day just to have Monster Video back. Sure, I may not get to see as many movies and it may not be as convenient, but at least it will be human. At least I would be trusting another movie fanatic to suggest movies for me, instead of a machine.
I will even go so far as to say that if it wasn't for Monster Video, I wouldn't be as interested in film as I am now. It shaped my love for motion pictures, the whole experience of finding new films on the shelves, films that I've been told to watch, bringing them home to watch, then returning them the next day and talking about them just created this sense of wonder and awe at the new movies I could find everyday. In conclusion I will say this...
R.I.P. Monster Video and video rental stores everywhere, you will be remembered well and missed greatly.
Tonight's rant is about Netflix and movie rental stores.
Almost everybody uses Netflix today. Heck, even I use it. And I agree that it is convenient and saves money to watch all those movies and shows. But, I don't think it's all great. You see, back in the day, there was this movie rental place in my home town called Monster Video. I went there basically everyday to rent movies, talk with the owner about movies, and just hang out. It was great. Every day we would return our movies, talk about what we thought about them and be suggested more movies to watch. It was great to talk to another film lover about films. But sadly, that's all gone now. Today, we just turn on our computers and search for movies. Yeah, Netflix "suggests" movies for us but what does it know? It tells us what to watch based on what we watched before and a bunch of numbers and data. It used to be that people at the rental places would tell us what we would probably like based on what we've rented before. They've seen a ton of movies, they know their stuff. Do you really think there's some film geek over at the "Netflix headquarters" saying " oh he just watched this! He would certainly love this." No, there isn't. Netflix just isn't personal or human enough. There's no heart in it. I loved going to Monster Video to rent movies and just talk about movies all day. It was great to learn about new movies I'd never heard of before and learn about what movies I might like. You never know, maybe the next movie they suggest will happen to be your next favorite movie of all time. The rental stores were the best places to find and discover new films, and talk with other film lovers. That's gone now, and we're trusting a computer to tell us what to watch next. Human interaction is slowly leaving us. You may think it's absurd to be going as far as to say this simply about Netflix, but it's true. I would honestly give up Netflix any day just to have Monster Video back. Sure, I may not get to see as many movies and it may not be as convenient, but at least it will be human. At least I would be trusting another movie fanatic to suggest movies for me, instead of a machine.
I will even go so far as to say that if it wasn't for Monster Video, I wouldn't be as interested in film as I am now. It shaped my love for motion pictures, the whole experience of finding new films on the shelves, films that I've been told to watch, bringing them home to watch, then returning them the next day and talking about them just created this sense of wonder and awe at the new movies I could find everyday. In conclusion I will say this...
R.I.P. Monster Video and video rental stores everywhere, you will be remembered well and missed greatly.
__________________
Through the darkness of future past
The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds:
Fire walk with me.
Through the darkness of future past
The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds:
Fire walk with me.