Film skool
Found myself thinking about Australian film in the 90s. As you do. There was a massive surge of funding from somewhere into the Australian film industry at the time, and some fantastic films came out of it. But only a few have survived. Everyone remembers Priscilla, Muriel's Wedding, The Castle. And these are great films. I have them all on DVD. But the success of these films - all technicolour in their own way - has overshadowed some other great films of that era: Spider and Rose, The Last Days of Chez Nous, Proof, The Sum of Us. While perhaps not as much fun these are arguably much better films. They're not candy films, they're full meals.
I've talked with a few people about one of the regrettable side effects of streaming is now that we've got so much choice, we don't realise how little choice we have. None of the films I'm lamenting will ever stream on the major services. Why would they? And people aren't going to stumble across them in the DVD shop, or switch them on on SBS one night. They're dead. They are now consigned to be footnotes in a glossy book on Australian film history.
That's one of the reasons I still buy and watch DVDs. There's stuff on my shelves that a lot of people I know will never see, because they'll never be given the opportunity to learn that it exists. We have so much choice now, that we don't know how little choice we have. Like everything else, our viewing is being curated. It always has, of course, but moreso than ever. There's no Vampira to show us old horror movies, no Des Mangan to introduce us to bizarre world cinema, no 3am dead time that needs filling. Streaming has changed the way we watch, and it has changed what we watch.
I must buy some of those films on DVD.
I've talked with a few people about one of the regrettable side effects of streaming is now that we've got so much choice, we don't realise how little choice we have. None of the films I'm lamenting will ever stream on the major services. Why would they? And people aren't going to stumble across them in the DVD shop, or switch them on on SBS one night. They're dead. They are now consigned to be footnotes in a glossy book on Australian film history.
That's one of the reasons I still buy and watch DVDs. There's stuff on my shelves that a lot of people I know will never see, because they'll never be given the opportunity to learn that it exists. We have so much choice now, that we don't know how little choice we have. Like everything else, our viewing is being curated. It always has, of course, but moreso than ever. There's no Vampira to show us old horror movies, no Des Mangan to introduce us to bizarre world cinema, no 3am dead time that needs filling. Streaming has changed the way we watch, and it has changed what we watch.
I must buy some of those films on DVD.