Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Buy Physical Media
A generous helping of shutdown-induced free time has allowed me to catch up on my ridiculous backlog of movies on disc.
Note “movies on disc.” I think it’s safe to say that I don’t personally know anyone who owns as many movies as I do in a physical form. I also own a healthy number of television shows on disc, as well as myriad sports-related selections. In all, I would estimate that I have something like 2,000 discs worth of content, all of which I keep in simple albums for the sake of efficient storage, allowing all of this material to occupy only two small shelves on a bookcase in my den.
Why do I own so many discs in an era in which streaming is now the preferred format?
Several reasons. First, audio and video quality are typically better. A Blu-ray disc can hold enough data to produce higher video quality than what you’ll normally get on a streaming service, as well as uncompressed audio.
Secondly, it’s never been a better time to be a physical media fan. With streaming services exploding in popularity, discs are in decline. Demand is lower, especially after the initial wave of fans buy the products the first month the movie is out, so prices drop quickly.
Disney aside, even new-release discs drop below $20 pretty quickly. Even better, popular titles from yesteryear often get bundled together at incredible discounts. To name just one example, The Jack Ryan Collection, which includes five Tom Clancy blockbusters, can be had for $19.99 on Amazon right now.
I’m fairly indifferent to those movies, but, at $4.00 each, I’m considering making a purchase.
Those are the pragmatic reasons I buy physical media. But there’s a third, increasingly important one.
I own the first ten seasons of The Simpsons on DVD. The season three premiere is an episode called “Stark Raving Dad.” It features guest star Michael Jackson playing a mental patient who wasn’t Michael Jackson (but believed he was). It was a sweet, funny, memorable episode, and Jackson’s involvement wasn’t even confirmed/admitted until years later.
In 2019, upon the launch of the Disney+ streaming service, “Stark Raving Dad” was missing, despite a major pre-launch selling point of the service being the inclusion of the entirety of the Simpsons canon.
Why was this episode missing? Simple. The producers no longer felt comfortable with Michael Jackson’s involvement, given the allegations against him detailed in Leaving Neverland.
Most interestingly, producer James L. Brooks said of the controversy: “I’m against book burning of any kind. But this is our book, and we’re allowed to take out a chapter.”
I’m not here to defend Michael Jackson. I use this example to point out that even content that is considered substantively “permissible” may be deleted from existence because of an association. I also get pretty nervous when someone unironically says, “I’m against book burning, but . . . “
I’ve been thinking about that a lot this week, as I’ve watched an op/ed by a sitting U.S. Senator that represents a majority viewpoint cause an explosion at the New York Times, and Drew Brees have to issue multiple apologies after stating the apparently-now-forbidden opinion that he believes kneeling during the National Anthem is disrespectful.
As online conservatives seemingly hyperbolically warned us for years, and which Andrew Sullivan astutely informed us in 2018, the campus culture has engulfed society at large. Another prophet on this front was Peggy Noonan, who warned us last year that Cultural-Revolution-esque struggle sessions would be here soon enough.
Now, they’re here.
Some ideas that are totally at odds with classical liberal principles and basic post-Enlightenment thinking have escaped the halls of our nation’s elite academic institutions to proliferate at our nation’s elite corporate, non-profit, and, especially, media institutions.
Two years after writing that piece, Sullivan finds himself in a position in which he must let junior staffers vet his columns to ensure that they do not offend. If they do, they do not publish. Drew Brees has humbled himself publicly multiple times in just the past few days, and we can expect more of that soon if he is to keep his forthcoming job at NBC. Meanwhile, the New York Times apologized for Tom Cotton’s op/ed at the insistence of staffers who said it made them “unsafe.”
Remember that this is a paper that published an op/ed by a member of the Taliban just four months ago. There was no internal revolt. But it was apparently unacceptable to run an op/ed that espoused a view supported by a plurality of Democrats.
What happened next is exactly what always happens on campus: the freshly issued capitulation emboldened the mob. Within a day, NYT staffers publicly called for conservative Bret Stephens to be purged from the paper as well.
The fundamental problem with this impulse is that the right to which all others are subservient is the right to “feel safe.” Or, at least, the right for the “good” people (young, progressive) to feel safe. This is a blanket rule that is weaponized by design to remove from public view any person or idea that clashes with the orthodox viewpoint. See above.
And, if you object to any of this, then you’re a bigot of some type or other (what they really mean to say is “heretic”), and your views are, therefore, per se invalid—and, moreover, this sentiment goes, you should face severe social and economic sanction for your incorrect views. Hence, the struggle sessions.
All of which also leads to the deletion of any cultural artifact deemed no longer acceptable by those who lead this effort.
This sentiment to ban or censor has no actual limiting principle. Any of these actions might look arguably reasonable (or at least not fascist) in isolation. But they don’t exist in isolation. They are part of what I called the “totalitolerance” movement. And, as a note to the liberal editors of the New York Times in 2020, here’s what I said back in 2015:
The fact that both academia and the media are dominated by people who share views with these students will not spare either group from sanction. Instead, they will continue to be pilloried by these alleged adults who have been conditioned to believe that their grievances and status as victims entitle them to whatever outcome they desire.
Counting yourself among the offended empowers you to ruin lives and careers and trample upon free speech at your pleasure. What’s more, it is the responsibility of your university to make sure that no one presents a contrary idea. If that happens, you can simply declare that you feel “unsafe,” a condition that must be remedied by the administration and faculty.
We saw this coming, but many of us wrongly believed that their entry into the “real world” would force these students to change. A rude awakening, we thought. Instead, it is they who will force the real world to bend to their whims.
And they will call this “progress,” not even having the sense of humor necessary to appreciate the irony.
I should have listened more carefully to Sullivan and Noonan (and, I guess, myself) when they warned us about this problem. It has now metastasized.
At a time when our nation grapples with the inexcusable murder of George Floyd, amid a larger conversation about police brutality and reform and racial equality, it has never been more important to support vigorous public discourse and free speech.
Unfortunately, the forces that have been calling for the suppression of speech for years on campus will now use these tragic events as a means of tamping down any content or viewpoint that runs afoul of their sensibilities. They will slam the Overton Window shut, and we will all be worse for it.
But I began this piece talking about facets of pop culture. You may be thinking I’m conflating the very serious political and social events unfolding now with the more trivial elements of art.
No, instead, what I’m saying is that our culture is highly matrixed, and all of this is, in fact, interrelated.
To wit, the Washington Post’s Alyssa Rosenberg just called for all police movies and TV shows to be shut down. Immediately. All of them. Because they show law enforcement in a light that she believes is inaccurate and unhelpful to achieving her preferred political ends.
As with some of the more outlandish aspects of campus climate, we mostly used to laugh when the Twitter mob would label a piece of art as “problematic.” However, what could be laughed off five years ago may now be taken Very Seriously by the Very Serious (and very scared) people who lead entertainment, media, and publishing companies—up to and including removing content, apologizing for it, and more to atone for the sin of offensiveness.
Yet, the one thing this religion lacks is an element of grace.
There is no humility. There is no forgiveness. There is no actual tolerance.
As such, the drumbeat will continue indefinitely. And that effort will include identifying cultural works that must be purged and forgotten. For the greater good. Unapologetically.
Film, television, literature, music, photography. Whatever destruction is necessary to purify our culture and our discourse.
This may seem like alarmism. But the alarmism of 2015 is the reality of 2020. Where will we be in 2025? Or 2021?
I sincerely hope we’re able to change the course. Most of all, because this sentiment is an obstacle to positive changes and reforms that we should all welcome and support.
But, even if we can alter this trajectory, it will be a very difficult, lengthy process. It may take a generation.
Perhaps two.
Buy physical media.
Published in Culture
I was hoping that someone would bring up the Rosenberg piece. It appears that, even with creeping wokeness invading the cop show genre, it may be either an endangered species or so watered down with social justice as to be unwatchable. This ties into your point about owning physical disc media since I’m not sure that we can be sure some of the older shows and movies (Dirty Harry?) will continue to be available for streaming.
I like Law and Order since it has spanned a good portion of my life. It has a certain degree of liberal platitudes throughout, but generally provides a positive view of the police/legal system. Will it disappear? Unfortunately, your observation about value in discs doesn’t seem to apply here since the box set remains very expensive.
One of the many stupid things in this current world is Amazon Prime’s opportunity to “buy” streaming films, which you only possess as long as Amazon has rights to it.
I’m with you. We are the monks of our Era, preserving knowledge and art for the Renaissance which will hopefully follow the impending dark ages.
I assume that applies to Apple product as well.
I like owning the movies.
YEP.
Well, unless they changed it, Amazon allowed you to download the movie to your computer. It’s what they do for MP3s
That’s like “buy physical metal.”
Oh, Oh. My “copy” of Dirty Harry is a download from Apple. Time to get the disc. Punk.
It’s funny you mention Dirty Harry – I had the original film in a superb retrospective set that WB put out a few years ago (50 films on blu-ray), but I decided to pick up the other four when I saw that they were all available for a total of like $20. They’re outlandish at times, but generally enjoyable. But, as with nearly all movies I watch now–even ones made in the early 2000s–I find myself thinking, “They couldn’t do that today.” That’s obviously not a problem for me, but it’s a self-reminder that the range of what is “acceptable” in mainstream art is becoming increasingly finite.
Until the pendulum swings back…
Warner Archives is still sneaking some old stuff through on DVD/Blu-ray under the radar that, were it put out by Warner Home Video or streamed on HBO Max, would have the cancel culture out in full bloodlust mode. Just another reason to own the physical media, instead of relying on streaming media to provide it on-demand.
I have owned dozens of movies (also books, audiobooks, and games) digitally for many years. I have never lost access to a digital movie. Whenever a digital store goes out of business, it transfers the customer’s digital library to another service, like Amazon or Vudu. No film or TV series has ever been removed from my digital libraries, that I’m aware.
EA (Electronic Arts) did once cancel my access to a digital game (RISK: Factions) on one platform (Xbox 360) while making purchase available on another platform (PC) without explanation. That was the only time a digital purchase has not been honored in my decade of experience.
Disney has made a habit of altering digital copies post-sale. It is an untrustworthy company. Buy nothing from Disney.
There are indeed good reasons to prefer physical copies of all media. If the US (or Western civilization generally) descends into totalitarian censorship, as is likely, physical copies are necessary to preserve those works for future generations. EMPs, via solar storms or warfare, are also a threat to digital copies.
On the other hand, if a majority of media companies join totalitarian censorship, then I hope we have the sense to forcefully revolt rather than sit at home watching movies.
Very “A Canticle for Leibowitz”ish.
I like CDs and LPs for music – primarily CDs. The sound is very good, and I like reading the liner notes and looking at the artwork. I like using Quboz for streaming. Not sure if it is Quboz, my Mac, my DAC, or my internet service, but Quboz often doesn’t sound as good as a CD. Not everything I like is available on Quboz, sometimes stuff disappears from Quboz, and the Quboz search function is quirky and unreliable — it doesn’t search very hard. Big benefit of Quboz is a large catalog of music that I do not have on CD, and probably wouldn’t want to pony up for the CD. Also, I have so many CDs that storing them and organizing them is problematic.
Target #1 will be Blue Bloods, with its Catholicism, family focus, and Tom Selleck. I am surprised they persisted through this season, but imagine they will be ground zero for this fall, entering the election stretch.
I’ve gotten away from physical media, or more fundamentally from storing physical media. For me, it’s primarily books. It’s rare for me to order a paper book. I read a lot of Kindle books. The purchases I have made from Amazon, and before that, Barnes and Noble’s Nook, are not transferrable to someone else, but that’s fine. Books like that aren’t expensive, and you can actually get classics that can be downloaded for free.
People probably barely remember that Netflix started out as a mailer for physical media, and I bought in. Before that, I was renting from Blockbuster Video stores. I didn’t want to buy that media, watch it once, and have it gather dust on a shelf.
By the way, any archivist can tell you that media degrade over time. That includes paper books, and it includes DVD’s including Blu-ray. Unlike books, physical media like DVD’s, or cassette tapes, or eight track tapes also need technology to read them. Try finding an eight track tape player, or even a reel to reel tape player. I’ve touched them all, but does the typical person born in the 1990’s know all the technologies I listed above?
To get to the OP’s central argument, that streaming services, like Disney, are altering or removing from the market politically incorrect art, I’m mostly not that concerned. In the long term, these fads come and go. In the specific case of Disney I’m definitely not worried. Most of what Disney produces has not been original. Even their original stuff, like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck is children’s entertainment that hasn’t significantly contributed to Western culture, like say, Shakespeare has. A lot of their stuff is taken from Shakespeare in some form or other. Or other classics like Grimms’ Fairy Tales. A favorite Disney cartoon is Peter Pan. Yet, Peter Pan is a children’s classic that did not originate with Disney; that was a classic before Disney made that animated film. Pinocchio is another example. Sleeping Beauty?
And I thought that I’d mention that though Grimms’ Fairy Tales originated as German paper media, it hasn’t prevented the politically correct from republishing it as dumbed down pablum.
Part of the problem with streaming altering or holding back their art is they own the intellectual property. Ironically, Grimms’ Fairy Tales has entered the public domain, which has made it easier to “revise” it. And Disney’s offerings of many of those children’s classics have also been revised. Yet the originals are still available to read.
Perhaps the real solution is to dump Disney and read to your kids. Easier said than done, sure. But thought I’d put that out there.
I bought DVDs of Mel Brooks films (including Blazing Saddles), Idiocracy, a set of Clint Eastwood movies, Airplane 1/2, and the complete set of the Monty Python TV shows. I can picture any of those becoming hard or even impossible to get in their original form at some point.
I almost forgot: a 4-disc set of Looney Tunes. Where Elmer Fudd still has his shotgun.
I agree with Tom’s sentiments completely. I have been grabbing up DVDs of my favorite movies at my local used media store. Most of them are under $2 now. I also bought a backup DVD/Blu-ray player. Who knows how long those will be available?
A proper (non-commercial) media server is the answer to that problem. For movies, too. Flac and dvdbackup are indispensible tools for those with large collections.
Excuse the ignorance, is there an issue with copy protection ( at least for movies)?
I believe it’s legal to make a backup of legally purchased media.
I haven’t tried for awhile but some or many films used to be coded to prevent this.
That problem has been solved.
Legally?
I’m not a lawyer, but there are programs that can copy DVDs to video files. It appears to be an argument between the right to create a backup of anything you own versus the DMCA.
Physical media can be good when you go on vacation. We watched a recent Hayao Miyazaki movie on the DVD player on our Hillsdale cruise to Alaska. This increased our entertainment options over the choices available in our cabin. But before our next cruise, this one to and from Hawaii on the Crystal Symphony (a three week cruise), the ship had been completely upgraded, wifi included, the new cabins, same cruise line as what we cruised to Alaska, had newer entertainment centers and there no longer was a DVD player available. We chose to watch a couple of the movies available on demand, but if you have eclectic tastes as we do, you’re less likely to find anything interesting. Streaming options aboard a cruise ship don’t work great as all the bandwidth comes through satellite. So aboard cruise ships, bringing your own media, or perhaps even pre-downloading a few favorite movies to device memory might be advised for extended downtime.
And as long as you keep your Amazon account current, I would assume.
Mostly. I prefer to extract complete discs, with complete menus. I end up with ISO files that can be burned back to a dual-layer DVD if my originals are destroyed. Many discs are published with deliberate flaws that interfere with a complete copy, but are subtle enough to not interfere with direct playback. Up to date tools can distinguish all but the most exotic cases, and those succumb to a short post-copy audit with a cheap DVD structure editor. My preferred media server plays the resulting ISO files with menus and extras just like the original DVD.
I think complete disc backup seems to better fit the spirit of the backup provision of copyright law In my non-lawyer opinion. It is a legal grey area that publishers appear unwilling to pursue.