That quote instantly makes me think of Star Wars. And I’m talking Star Wars - the warts-an-all sci-fi movie from 1977 - not whatever continuity-tweaked, special digital edition of A New Hope we’re on these days. Does the fact that we can no longer see the original 1977 movie (not legally anyway) mean it can now be considered a lost film, like Tod Browning’s London After Midnight or Hitchcock’s The Mountain Eagle?
I have that same frustrating feeling, oddly more specifically toward Lucas' first feature film 'THX 1138.' I watched the only available version without knowledge that it was tweaked (or "special editioned") and nothing in its streaming packaging or description suggested that it wasn't the exact film that originally appeared in cinemas. Also fascinating how every generation is forced to have a different concept of what Star Wars is. The tweaked versions of the originals are what I grew up thinking they always were and similar changes have happened with the prequels. Puppet Yoda isn't even in the latest version of 'The Phantom Menace.'
It's that weird state of flux in which these things end up, right? The creators - or rather the companies that supersede those creators - can't adhere to that old saying, 'a work of art is never completed, only abandoned.' Perhaps the work that is never abandoned ceases to be art?
I think its a challenge for us all in the internet age. It's hard for me not to tinker ever so slightly with one of the posts in this newsletter, despite my belief that there's a beauty to the permanence of a project once it has crossed the finish line to its release date (especially with physical media)--a final record of a piece of work, flaws and all. But these days art has become a bit like a Google doc. This story about 'Stranger Things' feels a little like that: https://www.glamour.com/story/stranger-things-episode-changes-season-4
Streaming services should be legally required to make their programming available on physical media. They can't keep making strictly financial excuses for removing programming- they need to recognize the cultural significance of what they make. Netflix in particular shutting down its DVD distribution service shows it favors saving money over making work available, and that has to change.
There is absolutely no reason why content should be inaccessible to people because they do not have a streaming subscription or- more significantly- access to the Internet in general, period.
Honestly, I hate people who think physical media is a relic from another era, because those people don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and they need to shut the fuck up.
On that note, I'm glad California's making media literacy a mandatory subject. I hope it spreads to the rest of the world, because that something that all schools really need now.
I totally agree! And yes, I was THIS close to mentioning California's media literacy mandate in the Quantum Quote segment. Visual media is evolving at a rapid pace and the fact that we have no physical copies of the bulk of it is frightening. It could all evaporate like a dream.
That quote instantly makes me think of Star Wars. And I’m talking Star Wars - the warts-an-all sci-fi movie from 1977 - not whatever continuity-tweaked, special digital edition of A New Hope we’re on these days. Does the fact that we can no longer see the original 1977 movie (not legally anyway) mean it can now be considered a lost film, like Tod Browning’s London After Midnight or Hitchcock’s The Mountain Eagle?
I have that same frustrating feeling, oddly more specifically toward Lucas' first feature film 'THX 1138.' I watched the only available version without knowledge that it was tweaked (or "special editioned") and nothing in its streaming packaging or description suggested that it wasn't the exact film that originally appeared in cinemas. Also fascinating how every generation is forced to have a different concept of what Star Wars is. The tweaked versions of the originals are what I grew up thinking they always were and similar changes have happened with the prequels. Puppet Yoda isn't even in the latest version of 'The Phantom Menace.'
It's that weird state of flux in which these things end up, right? The creators - or rather the companies that supersede those creators - can't adhere to that old saying, 'a work of art is never completed, only abandoned.' Perhaps the work that is never abandoned ceases to be art?
I think its a challenge for us all in the internet age. It's hard for me not to tinker ever so slightly with one of the posts in this newsletter, despite my belief that there's a beauty to the permanence of a project once it has crossed the finish line to its release date (especially with physical media)--a final record of a piece of work, flaws and all. But these days art has become a bit like a Google doc. This story about 'Stranger Things' feels a little like that: https://www.glamour.com/story/stranger-things-episode-changes-season-4
The most important thing seems to be keeping an accessible track of the changes, which often isn't the case.
Streaming services should be legally required to make their programming available on physical media. They can't keep making strictly financial excuses for removing programming- they need to recognize the cultural significance of what they make. Netflix in particular shutting down its DVD distribution service shows it favors saving money over making work available, and that has to change.
There is absolutely no reason why content should be inaccessible to people because they do not have a streaming subscription or- more significantly- access to the Internet in general, period.
Honestly, I hate people who think physical media is a relic from another era, because those people don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and they need to shut the fuck up.
On that note, I'm glad California's making media literacy a mandatory subject. I hope it spreads to the rest of the world, because that something that all schools really need now.
I totally agree! And yes, I was THIS close to mentioning California's media literacy mandate in the Quantum Quote segment. Visual media is evolving at a rapid pace and the fact that we have no physical copies of the bulk of it is frightening. It could all evaporate like a dream.