Home media nostalgia with the Angry Video Game Nerd

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Yesterday, I found a Youtube video film by James Rolfe, also known as the Angry Video Game Nerd. This time, he talks about home video, scheudled television and music recordings. While bringing back memories for people who experienced the 1970's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's, he also asks an interesting question:

Did we appreciate what we got more in pre-digital days than in today's world of Internet streaming?

[sdp]

No, we are just nostalgic for the way we did things when we were younger just like every generation.
Zoomers will have nostalgia for the good old days of browsing Shows and movies on Netflix/YouTube and yell at the clouds that in the future we just get video sent to our brains and while better it's not as soulful as the streaming days.

[Sumac]

Zoomers are dumb and lazy and rely on everything being done for them. Any notion of doing anything themselves or putting any effort is automatically considered "oppression". Which is why any mention of people who can and like to put any effort into anything is met with toxic dismissal, like calling them "boomers".

[Andrew NDB]

Slacktivists and slacktivism.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Did we appreciate what we got more in pre-digital days than in today's world of Internet streaming?

No and saying we did in this particular instance I think is maybe a use of that sort of cliche "virtue message for a simpler time" but here it misses the mark.

For example, and I don't know if you remember or not, but think back to those "VHS days" for a moment. It was a huge PITA. There was that weird release window where a movie wouldn't come out to VHS for YEARS after it's release.

I tried to order a copy of The Crow from Tower Records and it was like a $400 video tape because Hollywood put a strangehold on their releases until they'd be able to put a single movie out on some special display kiosk to rape the buying public even further.

I wish I could explain the specifics of their leverage for pulling nonsense like that back then, but all I recall was that it had something to do with the general public not being able to buy a release during a rental window. And if you wanted a "for rental copy only" it was going cost you hundreds. It was like all studios treated their movies the way that Disney did with their animation - they'd get this periodic releases as marketed as some big deal for a limited time instead of just being widely available.

So no, I understand the rosy colored lens, but back then pop culture media (music, movies, all of it) was a consumer-rape-fest of controlled availability, re-releases of the same stuff, repacks, timed release windows, etc. It sucked.