Today is the final day when Netflix ships DVDs by mail. I’m the last person I know who was still subscribed to the damn thing. Upon telling others this fact (save a handful, one of whom called the decision to cease mailing DVDs “lame”), their immediate reply was “that’s still around?” That reaction is understandable; the DVD service reached an all-time high in the late aughts and early twenty-tens before gradually shrinking to the point where Netflix ceased releasing subscriber numbers since there was no growth, only decline. A service whose subscribers once numbered sixteen million strong had by the end dwindled to a hair under a million, the remaining devotees a small cult of old people, the stubbornly physical media-centric, and serious cinephiles who knew that the Netflix DVD library — while a pale imitation of its size and scope at its peak — was still richer than any streaming service.
Great analysis of the history of streaming and how it affected the status of what we now call "prestige tv"; as well as an homage to physical media. The push for original content on these streaming services has pushed the market for preservation out the window which seems to leave very little window for people who are just getting into film. It seems the only way now is to pay the premium for a service like The Criterion Channel. Long live the public library!
Great analysis of the history of streaming and how it affected the status of what we now call "prestige tv"; as well as an homage to physical media. The push for original content on these streaming services has pushed the market for preservation out the window which seems to leave very little window for people who are just getting into film. It seems the only way now is to pay the premium for a service like The Criterion Channel. Long live the public library!
Amen to that. Make sure they're well-funded, too!