Does it strike anybody else that all this “there’s no place else to really see a movie other than the big screen” stuff smacks just a teeny bit of desperation?
While Watching the Oscars
Published
Does it strike anybody else that all this “there’s no place else to really see a movie other than the big screen” stuff smacks just a teeny bit of desperation?
Yeah, I really hate that “argument.” Someone said “Try watching that on a portable DVD player…” and I thought, “that’s my favorite way to study a film.” I mean, without the DVD (portable or otherwise) those folks would be half as rich as they currently are. Probably a million or so Americans have TVs in excess of 42″ anyways (like, define “big screen”). I guess I’m sensitive to the bigger = better line of reasoning (ouch!).
I agree. The ceremony’s long enough. However, I was glad that the difficulties that pimps encounter are finally being given proper attention.
I missed the Oscars, since I was still returning from Vancouver, but it’s interesting that they were trying to sell the big screen experience. Certainly as Matt points out, DVD has kept the industry afloat (in fact theatrical screenings are mere promo for the DVD IMO), but Hollywood’s self-definition is clearly reliant on the big screen experience, which is now being threatened.
Of course, what makes this all the more interesting is that what we are witnessing is also the possibility that so many small screens will allow other kinds of (non-Hollywood) projects to emerge.
I was forced to have it on in the background. The desperation was part of the larger facile attempt at self-historicization in this self-contratulatory spectacle (the endless f***in montages!well noted by John Stewart – we’ve run out of footage! send more footage!) Certainly, like newspapers, the RIAA, etc. the MPAA sees its stranglehold on the eyeballs of our nation’s juuth slipping inexorably away. Hey Kids! You like Swing Music, vintage clothes, and stuff? Well, hey, your great-grandparents went to movies too, you know? It’s a retro thing to do! Myslef, I went to 1 movie in the last 18 months (40 yr old virgin). I got a baby, and no time to go to the movies. I got netflix. I can wait.