I can’t be the only one to have this opinion.

Before I get into this rant, first let me take you back to a different time (hopefully it’ll all make sense in the end haha).

For some of you out there it might be hard to believe but there was once a time where you were actually very limited to what you could watch. You didn’t have thousands of channels and unlimited streaming choices to search through to watch in an instant.

If you didn’t own the film that you wanted to watch then you either had to wait for it to be on TV (which could be years), rent it from a shop or try and borrow it from a friend. If not, then you didn’t get to watch it, it was as simple as that. There was no other choice.

Even if you found the film in a video shop, you just had to hope that somebody else hadn’t already rented it before you. It was frustrating for sure, but there was a silver lining to all of this, one that I think has been forgotten over time and younger ones haven’t experienced.

If you’re film wasn’t available then you’d browse at what other films are available, you’d end up getting a film you’d never heard of but decided to give a chance. You’d have that film for 2-3 days too, so you’d end up watching it multiple times, whether it was good or bad.

Because of these limitations people discovered so many films they may never have watched otherwise and not only that, because we watched them multiple times and usually with friends, they became firm favourites and created a ton of fun memories.

I’m begining to ramble on again, I do apologise, but I think you get what I’m trying to say (hopefully). Now, whilst there is plenty of content it seems that the ease of access to thousands and thousands of films it seems to me that some of that joy has been taken away with it.

I’ve seen people watch a film for 10 minutes and decide to watch something else because they’re bored, it completely boggles my mind, but unfortunately it’s something that is becoming more common. It’s true that peoples attention spans aren’t what they used to be.

I mean, don’t get me started on people who watch films with their phones in their hand and aren’t paying attention, especially if it’s something you’ve never seen before, how can you really pay attention and judge a film without giving it your attentiveness.

It’s like media entertainment has lost all it’s value, it’s just so easily consumable and I find that extremely sad. I think there’s also a debate to be had about the quality of the output that we get too, with trying to keep up with demand this is inevitable really.

I’m sure I’ve not the only one who’s noticed this, but a lot of films released recently are, for lack of a better word, disposable. watch once, “meh, it was alright”, never to be watched again. No attachment, no entertainment value, just, alright. It happens too often.

And don’t even get me started on how TV series have changed. As much as I’m guilty of it too (my partner can only watch things like this) I have to admit that I don’t like binge watching an eight episode series and then waiting three years for the next series.

I’ll save all that for a future post, but you know exactly what I mean. We do get some amazing shows, and if they’re not cancelled so quickly we have to wait so long for another that you’ve already moved on to another show and forgot what’s happening with the other.

But back to what I’ve been ranting about, in my opinion the reason we don’t get to enjoy films as much anymore is that there’s just too much content being made and the fact that it’s a constant stream doesn’t help. The saying ‘quality over quantity’ comes to mind.