[Weekly Update] December 7th, 2020

Welcome to December, the final month of the year 2020. What a year it was, huh? Hopefully everyone will have a happy and safe Christmas.

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• Originally we have a video planned for December 1st. But due to unexpected circumstances, it has been delayed. It is currently sitting on the channel unlisted, and will go live as soon as the situation has been resolved. Don't worry, it's nothing major. Sorry for the inconvenience!
• Up next, we have a Christmas episode on the Japanese animated OVA film, Saint Young Men. It's a funky and weird little anime, with a rough and angular visual style that.
• I haven't decided which film to cover for this month's bonus video. Might talk about Die Hard, since it's Christmas. But if you have one you'd like me to talk about, let me know.
• I supposed I can also talk about Santa Clause Conquers the Martians.

ABOUT MEDIA

• Do you miss the feeling of walking down the hallway in a movie theatre? I do.
• With 2020, it seems cinema is moving towards online streaming at a rate faster than ever. Will cinema survive? Well, of course it will. But will it end up the same niche experience like stage plays?
• This is one of those topic that we have to discuss in film school, and the consensus was "It's likely to happen, but it doesn't have to"
• First, let's talk about the difference between "seeing" and "watching" a movie.
• When someone say they saw a film, it's almost always implied that they saw it in a cinema. Whereas if they watched a movie, it's likely done on their personal screen. Similarly, when you are in a cinema, you don't say "I'm watching a movie", you say "I'm in the movie".
• Culturally, we understand that going to a movie is not entirely for the movie. It's an experience.
• We all know, watching a movie in theatres feels different than watching it at home. People who watch a movie at home and love it, will want to see it in theatres. People who watch a movie in theatres and love it, will want to see it at home and relive that experience. Cinema is the preferred way for many to experience film.
• The feel of a movie going experience has yet to be matched by even the best of home theatres, and that holds truth even for kids, who have little nostalgia for the cinema going experience. At least from my anecdotal experience, kids do love going to the theatres more so than watching movies at home.
• So that's the upside of it.
• The flip side, however, is also pretty apparent. After 2020, think back to the movie theatre experience, it's not as pristine as I remember. Dirty carpet, tacky aesthetic, annoying kids in the theatre, popcorn on the ground. Movie theatres feel outdated, it feels early 2000s.
• It's not hard to imagine, once our generation grew old, the theatre experience will no longer be valued. There is also something special about going to watch a stage show, it feels special, but most of us don't value it, don't crave it.
• In school, we eventually come to the conclusion that, cinema is like diamonds: It's intrinsic value is actually pretty low. But we collectively gave it a cultural value.
• And that reveals one thing about cinema: Its ultimate fate may be determined by the social economic situations of the working class.
• It's nothing new, cinema became popular in the first place was because early 20th century factory workers have money to spend, which creates the demand for nickelodeon theatres.
• Diamonds are frowned upon by a lot of millennial these days. Most of us can't afford them, and found them to be useless. We don't have the luxury of enjoying its cultural value.
• In the same way, the cinema experience is also a luxury. If in the future, the working class masses have enough disposable incomes, then they'll choose cinema for a better experience.
• But if everyone is poor, streaming is the future to go.
• At least, that was our thought. What's yours?

And that's the update for this week. Sorry there wasn't a video this week, I'll release it as soon as possible. In the mean time, stay safe and have a great winter!