The VCR was invented in 1956, but it wasn't in a form attainable for the average citizen in a popular manner until the 70s. When it first emerged in the market the film and television industries were threatened by the ability it gave consumers. It smashed the limitation of time and it allowed people to watch things when they wanted and had time rather then right when it was showing live. Those in the industry thought that the rerun value of content would be reduced if people could simply record things and play them latter. In the same stream the value of advertisements may have gone done due to the potential reduce in a live audience. There were many fears that came with this development in how people consumed their entertainment.
In reality, what happened was the film industry benefited from the VCR. Because people could only record things for themselves and not for profit as it was illegal (a fear some people had about content being sold off and abused), a new industry opened. The selling of movies was a major industry and many people began purchasing movies to watch at home at their own pace. Without the DVR showing people the effectiveness of this, the idea may not have came about and the selling of copies may not have been as popular if it were ever invented.
I think that they had a legitimate fear about VCRs damaging the film industry. Nowadays, most people just watch movies through Netflix or some other website that allows them to watch movies whenever they want from the comfort of home, which has made movie stores run out of business. However, movie theaters are still really popular, which is surprising based not the current trends of movie-watching.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Natalie's idea about the accessibility of movies and shows. Blockbuster is an example of how modern technology ran them out of business. Blockbuster had the DVD copies which you would rent out, but their popularity died down when Netflix and Hulu came about. While there are certain things that need to be watched live like sporting events and awards ceremonies, there are still reruns of those events or they can simply be recorded. During the 70s VCRs may have been very new and popular, but they are currently just antiques. The value and use of a VCR as dropped tremendously.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that they feared the VCR so much due to the fact that they now had a new way to make money. They could sell the cassettes for way more than they would make off of someone watching one movie. Also most people wouldn't want to record every single show that they would normally watch.
ReplyDelete