Viewing Movies at Home or in a Theater, Essay Example

Introduction

In a matter of years, the public’s options regarding how and where they wish to see a feature film have virtually doubled. In the 1980’s, video tapes and newer technologies were enabling people to see movies on their televisions, but the quality was usually poor, the availability extremely limited, and the timing such that new films could not be so seen. The advent of the DVD, along with enormous changes in the ways new movies are initially marketed and the presence of giant retailers to provide them, all combine to give the movie fan complete freedom in choice. “The question is no longer whether to see a movie, but whether to leave the house to see one” (Squire 8).

Artistic Differences

The accessibility of new movies for home viewing is so pronounced that even die-hard film buffs fail to note a crucial factor, when the movie is seen at home: the movie is, ultimately, not the same. Letterbox technologies have compensated for what producers had hoped would be their saving component, that of the ‘full screen shot’ effect. So too have larger flat screen TVs given home viewers images often three times the size of the traditional TV screen.

Nonetheless, an aesthetic element is drastically altered by the minimizing of the film which still occurs. On a large movie screen, a frenzied scene involving many characters can be taken in by the viewer and made sense of; when the screen is much smaller, the same scene is usually an incomprehensible mess of motion. Conversely, moments of deliberate silence between two characters on a theater screen can be profoundly moving, yet seem annoying when watched at home. “Because the image is so much larger and more central in a theater…it is possible for the filmmaker to rely on image for narrative movement…” (Barlow 7).

Social Elements

Cable television options and DVD retailers make it perfectly possible to see a first-run film in the home. They also make it an extremely easy experience, and the home viewer either orders his film online or punches it on through his remote.

This necessarily eviscerates what was once an ‘event’ mentality associated with movies, albeit often of a modest, spur-of-the-moment kind. All the steps required in leaving the home and readying for a social experience are no longer in play, and this of itself actually changes how the movie is taken in. As the preparations and energies required to see the film are little to nothing, so too is the impact of the film lessened. It has come to us, and this reduces its power as a cultural presence.

This factor serves as well to reinforce the ‘virtuality’ of modern living, suspected as an unhealthy reliance on technologies completely within our control, and weakening our skills at basic social behaviors. As the world’s entertainment may be experienced within a single living room, the viewer has no occasion to employ often pleasurable, and typically essential, social skills.

The Numbers Factor

Lastly, another issue presented by the unprecedented access to movies at home lies in that very multitude. As the public is increasingly accustomed to expanding choices, the supply for fresh material must dramatically rise. In the 1970’s, for example, a typical summer season saw the release of three or four major motion pictures; in recent years, studios are compelled to release new, big budget movies on a weekly basis. “In 2008…there were 599 new movie releases, a thirty percent increase over the 474 new movies released in 2004” (Kurtz, Mckenzie, Snow 607). This factor both arises from and contributes to a change in public perception of film, as created by home access. With movie-going a frequent and ordinary, at-home occurrence, the movie fan becomes more demanding in both his desire for fresh films and his standards of how well they are made. No longer the focus of an event, the movie is under an enormous pressure to deliver it was free from back when the theater was the sole viewing location.

Works Cited

Barlow, A.  The DVD Revolution: Movies, Culture, and Technology.  Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2005. Print.

Kurtz, D.L., Mckenzie, H.F., and Snow, K.  Contemporary Marketing. Toronto, Ontario: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.

Squire, J.E.  The Movie Business Book. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.