Since in the 1970s, with the advent of the personal computer
and the very, very earliest existence
of the internet, we have lived in an era known as the Information Age. Right alongside the Ice Age and the Middle
Ages, there will be us— inventors of the personal computer and the internet— for
better or for worse. But that was a long
time ago. Gone are the days of VCRs, flatscreens
and dial-up, what was once breakthrough technology was now an antiquated thing
of the past. We still find ourselves entranced
by the pleasure of new technology just like we were 20 years ago. Only nowadays
everything is just a newer version of what it once was— BluRay, HD, and
wireless. The personal computer can now
be taken anywhere and you can have the entire World Wide Web comfortably inside
your pocket.
The connection this has to movies is both vastly helpful and
slightly critical. The cinema, once a glamorous
night on the town offering visitors an escape into worlds unknown, lost some of
its magic. TVs offer the same escape
from the comforts of one’s family room. No
more worries about traffic or a babysitter.
Today it is even easier. Streaming
sites like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube now offer that entertainment almost
anywhere on your laptop or even smart phone.
There is something lost in that transformation from a duplex movie
theater to a three-inch cell phone screen.
It simply doesn’t compare.
But let us not be too critical and consider this the demise
of the movie theater. After all, these handy
pieces of technology offer audiences a slew of new movies, or a rather a
reintroduction to old ones. Classics and
rare titles, B-movies and foreign wonders can all stay alive on the internet
and be introduced to movie lovers anywhere on the globe. Some sites like Netflix and Hulu have made
fortunes meeting the demand of instant streaming, while others the same and
slightly less in the form of free, (il)legal content.
