Most of us spend one night of the week curled up on the couch with a nice meal, and Netflix on the television. Recent research suggests the age of convenience has changed the way we consume films and television. We now expect to have thousands of options at our fingertips at any given moment. But it wasn’t always the case. Back in the day, there existed brick and mortar stores like Blockbuster Video where a person had to get up off the couch to rent a movie.
The 52 million households with Netflix would have previously been stuck with their shitty movie choice. There was no stopping halfway through and throwing something else on (well, there was if you rented multiple movies) but it wasn’t as easy. Not to mention that pesky membership card. You had to keep a laminated piece of paper in your wallet to rent movies and if you took them back after your rental period (iTunes gives a day after you start the film before it disappears – not so here) you’d get dinged with a small fine.
Then there’s going to rent a movie and it being completely rented out. Nothing more crushing than planning to spend your Friday night watching “Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles” and every single copy being gone. What do you do then? You rent “Freddy Got Fingered” and live in regret.
Well, regret no more. We’ve got Jenny Lorenzo here to walk us through our nostalgia for the dearly departed Blockbuster Video. Reminding us that in the era of Netflix and chill it’s important to remember our roots. So settle in and take a walk down memory lane before diving into your Netflix queue.
Apparently the magic of Blockbuster lives on in a limp attempt to go at Netflix and is also still doing quite well in Alaska. Who knew?