Like it or not, Netflix is a top Hollywood studio, and the company is “actively hostile to the idea of physical media.”
“It’s a big step forward for us,” said filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who has been making movies for the world’s top streamers for nearly a decade.
Flanagan is struggling after leaving Netflix exorcist Although it is a franchise, Netflix has distributed and/or produced three of his films (Hush, Gerald’s Game, and Before you wake up) and several hit shows (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Massand The Fall of the House of Usher), and he could not To convince them to provide you with a physical media release in any format:
I tried really hard to get my work released on Blu-ray and DVD, but Netflix flat out refused – it quickly became clear that their only priority was subscriptions and they were actively hostile to the idea of physical media.
This is a very dangerous perspective. Companies like Netflix pride themselves on being disruptors and have proven that they can bring about major change in the industry, but they sometimes miss the difference between disruption and damage. Whether intentionally or not, they can do a lot of damage to the very concept of film preservation.
We all know why Netflix would refuse to do that: they want subscribers. If you want to watch Mike Flanagan’s movies, there’s only one way to do it: you have to subscribe to Netflix. I get that, but it’s still fascistic.
Let’s start with the arguments in favor of Netflix. Some might say: So what? For over half a century, consumers haven’t been able to buy their own copies of movies. This is simply a return to normal.
No, it’s not. There are two reasons for this…
First, we currently live in an entertainment environment dominated by left-wing McCarthyists. French Connection“They” means the studios and the artists, not any outside parties. The parties that should fight hardest against his censorship have now caved in and gone along with it.
Second, in the days before home video, films were physically distributed to cinemas, then television stations, then revival theaters. Thousands of physical copies of films were shipped throughout the civilized world. This practice saved countless films from extinction, not through censorship, as is the case today, but through neglect. Copies of lost films have been found in vaults and private collectors’ homes in South America.
Let’s talk….
F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film masterpiece Nosferatu It shouldn’t exist: Murnau foolishly tried to make and distribute it without the approval of Dracula’s creator, Bram Stoker’s estate. NosferatuThe estate filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, and the judge Nosferatu It was destroyed. And destroyed. But one story goes that a print was finally discovered decades later, saving one of the most influential films of all time.
If a fascist streaming service (and all the big ones are fascist) decides to remove one of its titles, it’s gone forever — unless it’s a pirated, black market copy. This reality has changed Flanagan’s view of movie piracy.
“Working in the streaming industry over the past few years has made me rethink my stance on piracy,” Flanagan says. Said In response to a question on Tumblr: “I guess you could say my feelings on the matter have ‘evolved’.”
“The danger is that the title only [emphasis original] It may be available on one platform and then be removed for one reason or another.”
“So… today I’m so grateful that my Netflix Original is available to watch through, um… Other meanings [emphasis original],” he added.
Netflix isn’t the only one monopolizing titles. Apple has also signed Ridley Scott’s Napoleon Martin Scorsese’s Murderer of the Flower Moon IIt’s not available in any physical format, meaning you’ll need a subscription to watch it, which also means Sensitivity Nazis can erase two films by two big-name directors forever.
There is one workaround. It is the overseas version. Last month, I Killer of the Flower Moon From Asia. Great packaging and transfer (not that the movie is great), all for $13. Was it pirated? I don’t know. I don’t care. I used to care, but like Mike Flanagan, I don’t anymore.
Leftist mantra: “You can be happy without owning anything.”
John Nolte’s first and last novel Borrowed Timewinning 5-Star Rave Reviews Submissions from our everyday readers. You can read excerpts here here And a detailed review here. Also available in hard cover and Kindle and Audiobooks.
