The end of scarcity | Stuff.co.nz

When I was a kid in 1980s Britain, movies were hard to come by. You would see them at the cinema and then, pow, they were gone for years. All you had were the memories of the movie and, if you were very lucky, an annual or a sticker album as a reminder of the best scenes.

There was no VHS or even Betamax and so you had to wait years, literally years, before you could see the film again when it premiered on television. This made Christmas very exciting. It was the time when all the good films would get their premieres after years in limbo. I would wait with fevered brow for the ad pimping all the exciting movies showing on TV over Christmas and, geekily, draw up a schedule for the festive season. Even then, studios like Disney would rarely allow their movies on TV. They would hold them back for occasional releases. The only way you could see certain Disney titles was to wait for them to return to cinemas.

When my dad bought a Betamax home it was a minor miracle. Here was a machine worth having. Every Christmas I would fill tape after tape with classic movies and new movies alike. Finally, I could keep my favourite movies and watch them again and again. If I could have married that huge silver slab of techno wonder, I would have - in a civil ceremony on a beach in Malibu. I already knew she was a top loader so there would have been no surprises on the wedding night.

But, even with the advent of video and later the Laser Disc, which must always be said in a robot voice, you still couldn't get hold of certain movies. In Britain, Clockwork Orange was out of circulation because Stanley Kubrick wouldn't allow it to be screened or distributed. To get hold of a copy, I had to get a friend who was going to New York to buy me a copy and then find a VHS that would play an American tape. It was quite a challenge.

Later, Reservoir Dogs was banned, so I had to find a friend at college who had a video taken from an American laser disc of the movie. It had a blank section in the middle of the film where you had to wait for them to turn the disc over. Honestly, it was easier getting drugs.

And so what about now? Well, movies are everywhere. You find them in the street. I've seen people using DVDs as bird scarers. You see them in baskets at supermarkets for $10. Precious movies treated like shiny disposable pacifiers. Don't people know these things are sacred?

And now discs are being replaced by unlimited downloads.

This is the end of scarcity.?In many ways it is kind of cool; if I wanted to watch the Raquel Welch and Richard Briers classic Fathom right now, I could probably find it online somewhere.?But, there is a but. You know where I'm going with this, eh?

Scarcity made movies special, the end of scarcity makes everything cheap and, somehow, less meaningful.

I remember gathering in excitement with friends to watch both Clockwork Orange and Reservoir Dogs. The scarcity of movies made them only more sacred.

Now, we have everything, but savour very little.

Tell us about your memories of foraging for rare movies in the days of scarcity. What films did you wait for years to see again? Tell us about your Betamax babies...

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Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/blogs/the-picture-palace/8386009/The-end-of-scarcity

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