In 2023, Netflix sold its last DVD. That same year, Best Buy announced it would stop selling Blu-rays and DVDs at its stores. DVDs were once the main method for movie watching. However, the massive dip in sales in the streaming era has almost made them obsolete. To most people, they no longer serve a purpose.
As we grow tired of doomscrolling and endless subscriptions, Gen-Z is turning back the clock to a simpler time. Social media users are building and showing off their collections online, breathing life back into a once-dead market.
Many of us can probably recall a time in the 2000s and 2010s when we would peruse the aisles of a DVD or tech store to find the next addition to our long inventory of at-home entertainment.
Nothing compared to buying and opening up a new one to play it for the first time. They may have begun collecting dust over the last few years, but I had a decent collection I could never let go of.
The Lost Art of a 2000s At-Home Viewing Experience
Whether it’s for the aesthetic, the nostalgia of possessing something tangible, or both, physical media is making a comeback.
Streaming services have led us to prioritize speed and convenience. Although having all the content we can think of right at our fingertips once looked promising, appreciation for the work that goes into creating it has gotten lost.
A lot of effort goes into physical media. In the 2000s, DVD menus used entirely new footage or animations, rather than boring still shots or scenes from the movie. You wouldn’t just watch the movie you purchased; you also had to learn the entire process of how it was made. Children’s movies especially featured interactive games, deleted scenes, concept art, director’s commentary, gag reels, and footage of actors in the booth recording their lines for their respective animated characters.
The DVD was an art form that is slowly being lost to the annals of time. As convenient as these services may be, you can’t get the full scope of a 2000s at-home viewing experience with them.
All of the DVDs and Where to Find Them
Along with the resurgence of standard DVDs has come an uptick in sales of boutique labels like The Criterion Collection, which restores “important classic and contemporary films.” Criterion has erupted in popularity following viral videos of celebrities going into the “Criterion Closet” and picking out their favorites from the 1000s in the catalog.
Other labels, like Arrow Video and Kino Lorber, also distribute films and offer pristine picture and sound quality, typically on 4K HD and Blu-ray.
There are plenty of retailers that still sell physical media accessible to everyone on sites like GRUV, in stores like Barnes & Noble, and in record stores. However, you’ll want to prioritize getting the best deals, so sites like eBay and thrift stores come highly recommended.
Physical Ownership
Truly owning something is the most valuable perk of buying physical media. The false promise of ownership conveyed by the “BUY” button on services like Amazon Prime has led us to believe that once we purchase something digitally, it’s ours, which isn’t the case.
We’ve seen it before, with large companies randomly pulling movies and entire shows from their catalogs. Those in charge of these companies now have limited audiences to watch their favorites on a platform that may not even have them available in a month.
My objective isn’t to get you to cancel every subscription you have right now or go out and buy every piece of media you’ll ever want to watch or listen to. However, it’s a very fun and gratifying hobby to pick up and worth every cent.
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