The renowned red envelope of the company is finally being retired, marking the loss of a unique connection to art and time. After 14 years and over 500 DVDs, I remain loyal to my Netflix DVD account, despite its decline and impending closure on September 29, as recently announced by the company. While the demise of Netflix’s DVD.com is not surprising, considering DVDs contribute to less than 1% of the company’s revenue, I have stayed with the service for a personal reason.
Although I do share the concerns of streaming critics regarding the disposable nature of nonphysical media, the degradation of image quality, the removal of streaming titles, and the limited availability of classic films, my decision to stick with Netflix’s DVD service is not purely for principled reasons. I do stream movies and use Spotify for my music consumption, but I have developed a strong attachment to Netflix’s DVD queue system, which I will miss dearly. With a queue containing over 200 movies at one point, the DVD service provided me with years’ worth of viewing options. Even as I incorporated more streaming into my movie-watching habits, I adhered to the rule of watching any new DVD from Netflix before diving into other movies. Regardless of my mood, I felt obliged to watch the DVD that had been patiently awaiting my attention.
Netflix’s DVD business will likely be remembered as a transitional technology that paved the way for the shift towards streaming, according to the company’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos. However, I disagree. Renting a movie from a video store was essentially analogous to the current streaming model, allowing for immediate consumption after selection. The unique aspect of Netflix’s DVD service was its queue system, which introduced an unexpected time delay. If a movie I desired was in the mail, I would have to wait for its arrival, sometimes for years, due to my quirky viewing system.
Therefore, classic Netflix with its DVD service served as a time capsule. The movies available to watch on any given night were not indicative of my current mood but rather a reflection of my preferences from days, weeks, or even years ago. When I received a DVD like Samuel Fuller’s “Pickup on South Street,” I would recall that I had watched Fuller’s “Shock Corridor” about a year ago and wanted to explore more of his work. Adding a movie to the queue was like leaving a thoughtful gift for my future self, providing a record of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences at the time of selection. The rate at which I consumed new titles significantly declined when the instructional video “Laugh and Learn About Childbirth” appeared in the queue.
While modern media streaming offers unparalleled convenience and choice, ranging from Netflix and Amazon to high-brow platforms like the Criterion Channel and Mubi, it comes at the cost of losing a unique connection to art and time. The imminent retirement of Netflix’s famous red envelope marks the end of an era. As I contemplate my final DVD selection from a dwindling pool of options, including Marlon Brando’s “One-Eyed Jacks,” Lars von Trier’s postapocalyptic debut “The Element of Crime,” and Gaspar Noe’s mind-bending psychedelic experience “Climax,” I may opt for nostalgia and rewatch the Nicolas Cage action flick “Con Air”.
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