The Guardian with the State of the Nation re the many ways the ’10s have forever changed our media consumption habits:
[…] something else has become apparent in the fallout over Netflix’s desecration of the theatrical experience. People are watching The Irishman and Marriage Story – millions of people, in fact, with many of them discussing and dissecting these films in the sorts of numbers that would have been unthinkable under the old system. In a spirit of generosity, it might be said that Netflix has revived something close to that unifying cultural experience that older viewers will remember from the days of three channels, when everyone would feverishly discuss the previous evening’s Play for Today.
That’s about the most positive note in a series of clashing arguments and viewpoints, all valid in their own right, as befits the times a-changin’. If you’re a creator, you get ungodly reach from streaming; but if you’re small fish you risk getting crowded-out. If you’re a movie-goer, you miss out on the screen and the theater; but then again, even us true believers quietly accept that going to the atheist’s church is a punch in the dick.
Also singling out a Todd Haynes quote telling me that the culture at large has caught up with the hang-ups of us piracy-raised millennials:
“I was watching TCM [the film channel Turner Classic Movies] recently – which is one of the reasons to stay alive in the world – but I had it in the streaming version where you can pick from all the movies at once. What’s strange is that I missed actually having it on cable and being presented with a single movie at a time, and enjoying that happenstance of a film just being on: you didn’t select it, you didn’t have to sit there and think: ‘What should I watch?’ You feel a deeper connection to things when they’re not totally being administered by your every whim. And, in a weird way, I think it changes desire. When everything is available at once, we don’t want it any more.”
You can’t go home again, Todd.
the Budafoki amended 