With every new technological innovation comes the loss of something that once was ubiquitous--that is commonplace throughout. In the 1990's, computers began replacing the typewriters. Long before that, the automobile replaced the horse and buggy. These new movie rental systems, redbox and netflix, are wonderful (redbox not so much), because they give more people greater access to movies and greater access to movies is always good in my book.
However, with every good thing there is also bad. These rental kiosks and netflix accounts have replaced the American movie store. Now don't get me wrong--netflix is great. It gives me all the movies I want at a relatively reasonable monthly rate without making pay more for keeping a movie for longer. In fact, I have kept netflix movies for way longer than I could have ever done with movies from blockbuster or my local videostore. A netflix account is great for a true film afficinado who wants to rent movies by great directors such as Godard, Bergman, Welles, and Kurosawa and other movies both popular and art-house. Many of these movies would be difficult to find at blockbuster (lackluster) video store or some other local movie stores. They have a nearly unlimited supply of obscure movies including Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," a Nazi documentary that is said to be very good movie (and yes it's on my netflix). If Netflix were a restaurant, it would be a buffet style movie extravaganza.
Redbox, on the other hand, is like a cheap fast food restaurant--you weren't going to eat there, but you saw it and it's so close and you haven't eaten lunch or anything today. Likewise, much like a fast food meal, it leaves you feeling guilty and unsatisfied. It's cheap (a dollar per day). There's not much selection. And finally most of the movies aren't masterpieces--they're modern Hollywood movies that are good for one viewing. I'm generalizing of course, but these generalizations are mostly true. You don't go there to pick up Bergman's Trilogy of Faith--you would go there to pick up the latest blockbuster. I'm fine with that. If you are going to watch movies, it's important to be well versed in different types of movies.
Anyway, as I was saying, the movie stores are a loss for our country. First of all, they gave young teenagers an occupation over the summer. It's become harder to find opportunities for teenage summer jobs-- aside from theme parks, which are hiring foreigners. Video stores were always great resources for teen jobs, and these are now disappearing rapidly. Secondly, they provided customers with a human connection. The problem with technology is that you lose the personal. The person at the movie counter was not always the most intelligent or most responsive or even most enthusiastic, but at least they were human. Sometimes they would give you suggestions or ask you if you'd seen the movie before. They were little touches, but they were more than redbox or even netflix can do.
Thirdly, it made you go out of your way. In a movie store, you had to go out of your way to rent a movie. Although, this is a weakness of the system--it is also a strength. You had to go out of your way and purposefully make a selection. With netflix and redbox, renting movies is almost too easy. Too easy, he says? That's ridiculous. Well when you have a full selection all the time--you devalue your experience. You don't really look forward to the next movie because you hardly have to exert any effort.
I'm not looking to the past as something glorious, because it wasn't. Most movie rental people were pretty apathetic about their jobs and late fees were a big pain. I'm so glad that netflix has replaced movie store, because it is pretty much the ultimate movie store where you can get so many different types of movies from documentaries to arthouse to Hollywood to foreign movies. Plus I love the star rating system where people can rate the movies. However, I do think that movie stores did provide something important to communities which are now missing. Jobs, a human connection, the ability to look forward to a movie. Still, I am looking forward to the coming era of more netflix (and hopefully less redbox).
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