Streaming The Past Away

I hate Netflix and, for that matter, every other streaming service. Long before the company decided they had the right to tell Georgia they couldn’t ban abortion and boycotting Netflix became a cause on the Right, I had long ago stopped regularly having their service, only occasionally getting it so I could watch Stranger Things.

I won’t be doing that this year, no matter how good Season 3 is supposed to be- the life of the unborn is more important to me than my need for 1980s nostalgia. And honestly, I never liked the idea of streaming anyway. Back when Netflix was a mail order company I loved it, they had almost everything and I took full advantage of that. I can remember watching The Virgin Spring and Evil Laugh on the same weekend once. I never liked the idea of streaming, it just seems cheaper to me, so I still stick with physical medium. Infanticide was just the straw that broke the camel’s back forever with Netflix . Besides, I also love cover art. I’m a huge fan of horror and exploitation films and, as anyone who grew up with the “mom and pop” video stores of the 80s and early 90s can tell you, the cover art for those films are amazing, many times better than the film itself.

There is another reason I reject streaming in favor of physical media- it serves as a defense against Corporate Clown World. It is no secret that the major film companies are pushing “streaming only” and there are a variety of reasons for this. Part of it is economic, they’ll be able to completely cut out the cost of packaging and shipment. And, they also love the idea of being able to sell someone something and still own it. If there is only streaming, that means there is no used market, meaning they can make a profit on every transaction.

But, another factor is the streaming gives them an almost unlimited ability to censor, destroy the past and push a new ideology. Thus, giving consumers the choice of either 1) forgoing mass entertainment completely or 2) having the latest nonsense shoved down their throats. For example, imagine if MGM was to announce tomorrow that they would, as of that moment, no longer sell Gone with the Wind because it isn’t politically correct. Terrible yes, but it also wouldn’t have much teeth as there are literally millions of already existing copies out there. If someone wants to see Gone with the Wind, they can still find a used copy fairly easily. But, if there was no physical media and everything was streaming, then with a simple push of a button they could make it impossible to see. There is a reason The Dukes of Hazzard DVD set continues to sell well. There is a feeling that one day, perhaps very soon, production will be halted and it will become much more difficult to see. Frankly, knock on wood, I’m surprised neither hasn’t happened yet.

They don’t even have to pull something to censor all reminders of what life was like when the world was sane. Take for example Smokey and the Bandit, remember how Bandit’s car features the actual Georgia state flag on it? The technology already exists for them to go back and digitally alter it to something else. All it takes is one studio executive deciding that the film needs to be more “inclusive” and the Confederate emblem is gone and replaced with something else, like say a federal flag or even a gay pride flag. And, unless you actually own a physical copy of the original film, there is nothing you can do about it.

I expect, at least initially, for there to be a decent amount of pushback from this retconning. Perhaps, even from the “art house” Left, as they will talk about the importance of preserving a director’s vision or something along those lines. But, it will be short lived, this is all testing the waters. I can remember just a few years ago when cities first started moving to ban Chick-fil-A because its owners stated Christian beliefs on the sin of homosexual activity. The proposed bans were widely denounced, even from a few leftists. Today though, those same bans are being met with indifference or even support. In five years, you will be a bigot on the same level as Hitler if you don’t support a city banning Chick-fil-A.  

To see the importance of physical media, one can simply look to the past and see how Michael Eisner took over Disney and disowned Song of the South. The movie is extremely difficult to legally watch in the US today, but at one time Disney was still proud of the film. While digging through some of my grandparents’ belongings, I found several pieces of merchandise from back when my dad was a child. Sadly though, when Disney decided they wanted nothing to do with the film, VHS was still fairly novel, so it was easy for them to block it from production. Had VHS been produced earlier, it is possible that Disney would have put it out when they were run by people with a fundamentally Christian outlook. Those copies would still be available, even if Disney decided later to memory hole it. Now, to see the film you have to be willing to import a copy from Asia.

Films with Confederate and Dixian imagery are an easy target right now and perfect to “test the waters” to see how far they can go. But, more is coming. It will never be enough and soon anything with a traditional outlook will be gone. Ben-Hur? Gunsmoke? Almost anything staring John Wayne? All of it will eventually be targeted and we will need a way to preserve all of this. That’s where physical media comes in and why streaming, for whatever benefits of convenience it offers, puts us one step closer to not being able to find entertainment that reflects our worldview as Dixians and Christians. So, don’t rely on streaming, you never know when something you like will be changed or banned and physical media offers that protection.

-Dixie Anon