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I was taking a break after work, the break between my work and my night study, but all of my plans got distracted when I saw “The Last Blockbuster” on Netflix. I almost burst out into tears. I miss that place so much!
I was not born in the era of VHS, but I know what that is. My parents’ wedding ceremony, the whole thing was shot and saved on VHS. Around about 2005 or 2006, they transferred that into DVD. Ever since I was a kid, I know that big black thing, that thing we carry around, and if you put that into a machine, something will play on TV. I love that black machine, I didn’t know what that thing called, I still don’t know what that thing is called. Then there comes a smaller version of box, I loved opening DVD boxes, that click when open and close, it is so satisfying. DVD reader is the one I am familiar the most, and that was also the blockbuster era that I am most familiar with. I came to the US in 2010, that’s also when I first started renting from blockbuster. I was shocked at that time when I know that I can rent a movie for $1 or $2, walking into the blockbuster store is also so exciting. There were so many movies to pick from. I can wander in the store for hours, then still couldn’t decide what movie to pick. I also discovered a lot of movies from blockbuster, some of the movies were banned in China, some of the movies I just never heard of. The thing about DVD is, on the cover, you can tell who is in the movie, and from the back of the DVD cover, you can read the details, critics. Believe it or not, sometimes after reading the critics, you would be willing to give some movies a try. It would be surprise to you some of those how good they are, and some of those how bad they are.
I love movies, movies are everything to me. Movies reflecting the current era, movies are telling stories. Movies comfort me when I am alone; movies help me realize about myself; movies teaches us about different things. Movies also help you learn about the past, the history, it doesn’t help you predict future, but movies can help you envision the future. My realization came to me last night when I was watching DUFF.
Blockbuster also tells a tale of a small town. The last blockbuster is in Bend, OR, a small town. All of the blockbusters are the same, they have someone who is super sufficient about movies, and they can often remember your name if you are a regular, they know the type of movies you like, etc. I miss that kind of environment a lot, that’s also the reason why I love the small towns in the US. If you watch enough TV shows or movies, you can tell, most of the time, the corky things always happens in a small town, things happens to the kind of people you never really would pay attention to, that’s all of us. Stranger Things, set in Indiana, what exciting things happens in Indiana? Almost nothing like always. Ms. Marvels was fall into a blockbuster, the perfect timing, that time, blockbuster was EVERYWHERE in the US.
I really miss the time when I walk into the store, this guy Nick, greeting me, I return my DVDs, we chat a little bit, he would ask me if I like the movies I rented or not, then he will suggest couple movies. Then I will start walking around the store, trying to pick out the movies. Some of the movies I pick out might be a little bit embarrassing even, however, you have to take the movies out at the register no matter how embarrassing the pick was. I have been a sucker for romance movies, I know some people think that’s stupid, I don’t want other people to know, you know.
Thanks to technology nowadays, we can get movies online, I miss the interactions. I miss that community.
I miss the small town vibe. In China, we don’t really have a small town vibe any more, when I was a kid, we kinda had that, but with the rural urbanization that’s happening over the past couple decades, a lot of those connections were lost. I really miss that.
I am kinda old school, I like old things, I like the old kind of things too. The old times, it was so peaceful, so much simpler. Maybe it is not the society that has changed, it is just me have changed over the years, you know when you grow up, you become more and more complicated. The world is not such a nice place for the majority of the part. Movies are the escape, a reminder that life may not be that bad overall, you know. Plus, we also have movies with songs, when songs are involved, it just makes everything so much better.
The last Blockbuster is standing strong for this era, hopefully, it will keep standing strong to the end. At least stand strong long enough that my kids, and my kids’ kids will be able to see what DVD is. They probably will laugh at how lame I am, haha. I really don’t like changes.