Movies at Home
How rare and how odd the experience must have been, back in the early days of video cassettes, when such technology was seldom used outside of professional or fanatical circles. Later, the Home Box Office and similar channels brought popular movies into the homes of those who would pay for the connection by cable, and then the situation became quite different when the v.c.r. was improved and thus established, along with the micro-wave oven, as a domestic institution, and video rental stores sprang up everywhere. Even then, the control we now enjoy over what we watch was nowhere near reality and not even a common expectation, but consider life as it must have been for those who lived even earlier, back when even those early steps towards today's broad access had yet to be taken; imagine a world in which one's options for viewing were limited to whatever was chosen for broadcast to ordinary television sets . . .
I'm not asking anyone to feel any guilt over our current privileges; nor is it gratitude I'm trying to inspire. Rather, I'd just like to show you where I'm writing from, here -- and to let you know about a couple of programs on E.B.S. where what might be called the spirit of "The Late Show" and "Week-end Classics" endures.
Of course, there have always been movies on t.v. I wasn't there, and I haven't done the research, so I won't say that I know, but it seems that t.v. allowed many in previous generations to become acquainted with those grand productions that were already classic -- or at least old -- when our parents (and maybe your grand-parents) were young, such as
King Kong and
The Wizard of Oz -- and with a lot that has been forgotten, as well, I suppose.
In any case, yes, people were able to watch movies at home, in those days before viewers had any control over the experience, but it seems that the presentation on the small screen of films made for the theater was often or usually made outside of those hours most popular for viewing. Even without any research, I know there was nothing like the Independent Film Channel or American Movie Classics, whose massive amounts of beautiful content testify to the passion and well organized efforts of scholars, artists, critics and other experts, devoted to an appreciation (of cinematic art) that must have been rare or altogether absent, more than forty or fifty years ago. Movies were rather few, on t.v., and I believe that most of them were seen at odd hours, if they were seen at all -- but these were the only options, so I imagine they were quite important, perhaps to many people.
Well, now that we all have access to whatever we'd like to see, anywhere and at anytime, what seems to have been the primary raison d'etre of the midnight or Sunday afternoon showcase is gone -- and yet the showcase itself endures. I don't know if there are any other regular viewers, out there, or if anyone else has even noticed, but E.B.S., one of the major channels through which those who still watch t.v. continue to get the usual array of popular shows, here in Korea, plays a movie every Saturday night at 11:00 and one at 2:30 every Sunday afternoon. Most of these are in English, they all run without commercial interruption, and many would be worth anyone's time.
Now, anyone reading this post will know that I have access to the internet, and that I am not averse to on-line participation. And in addition to this new project, here, I do spend time at a variety of sites -- such as YouTube, where I went a few weeks ago for the first five episodes of the original
Upstairs, Downstairs, and where I've also taken in many interviews, lectures and other documentary pieces, over the years, quite a lot of music (of course) and even
Rushmore and
Super Size Me (the entire work, in both cases, each of them divided into about ten parts).
Beyond that, however, I've never come any closer to a down-load, legal or otherwise, of any movie. I'm neither opposed to the practice on moral grounds nor afraid of the technology; the opportunity has just never made much of an appeal to me, so I've never given it much thought, and it is by mere innocent accident that I haven't gone in that direction. Sometimes, I do borrow or rent a disc or a cassette, but otherwise, I'm not far from where our ancestors lived, in terms of home cinema. In fact, most of the movies that I've seen at home in the past year or two have been on E.B.S.
So without the down-loads, without I.F.C. or A.M.C. and with a slight prejudice against viewing on this note-book / lap-top, I often find myself in a position that must be rather rare, these days: looking forward to Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, in front of the t.v., in anticipation of the films that were announced after last week-end's presentations.
This is not meant as a recommendation, as the E.B.S. broadcast has not indicatded any plan to provide any movies that couldn't be found on the internet. In case anyone is curious, though, here are some of the features -- at random, in no order at all -- that I've enjoyed there, in the past few years:
The King of Comedy,
The Age of Innocence,
The Manchurian Candidate,
Can Can,
Let's Make Love,
Two For the Road,
A Room With a View,
Atonement,
The Wind That Shakes the Barley,
Kes,
Manhattan Murder Mystery,
Brief Encounter,
The Shining,
Lost in Translation,
Broadcast News,
Sophie's Choice,
Fiddler on the Roof,
Delicatessen . . .
