Remember When Choosing a Film Was an Entire Evening’s Activity?

Watching a film used to require way more effort and energy than scrolling through Netflix or Amazon Prime. These days you most likely scroll for 45 minutes before giving up and watching something you’d already seen loads of times.

In the 90s a Friday night began with a trip to the video rental shop.

For those of us who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, choosing a film was practically an event, something you looked forward to all week. You’d wander along the shelves, scanning the video covers, picking up anything that looked interesting and turning it over to read the synopsis on the back.

Sometimes you would find the scariest looking cover for your sleepover and hoped your parents wouldn’t notice you were trying to rent a 18 rated film underage. If this worked out then you were the ‘cool’ one.

Of course, there was also always the possibility that someone else had beaten you to the new release film you wanted. Nothing was more disappointing than seeing the empty space on the shelf where your chosen movie should have been. Imagine having to wait sometimes an entire weekend for the previous customer to bring the physical video back to the shop before you could watch it.

Then came the negotiations. If you were watching with your family, you might have to have a discussion about whether everyone really needed to watch the latest action or romance film, or whether it was finally your turn to choose something.

A film night wouldn’t be complete without movie snacks. Sometimes you were allowed to buy all the expensive snacks from the video store which were around 3x the price of the same snacks at the supermarket. Microwave popcorn was also such a treat, this was meant to last the entire runtime of the movie, plus the trailers but somehow used to disappear before the movie had even started.

Once you got home, the VHS went into the video player. There might be a few adverts, some trailers for other films and, if you were particularly unlucky, a tape that needed rewinding before you could get started. Also if you really had bad luck then the actual video had a tracking problem with annoying black and white lines at the bottom of the screen throughout the whole movie.

There was something satisfying about finally settling down, knowing that the decision had been made. You weren’t going to spend the next hour browsing other options. You’d paid to rent the film, you were committed to this film, and unless it was truly dreadful, you were going to see it through.

Today, we have thousands of films available at the touch of a button. We can pause whenever we like, switch between services and abandon a film after ten minutes without giving it a second thought. It is truly great having all that choice through streaming services but trying to choose something to watch feels pretty exhausting and overwhelming sometimes.

This huge choice of movies has made us indecisive and impatient. If the first 10 minutes doesn’t grab your attention then you can easily switch to something else. If you are trying to choose a film with other people then it’s hard to find something everyone likes. The worst part is having a particular film in mind and it isn’t available on the 3 or 4 different streaming services you pay for.

There’s something so appealing about remembering those nostalgic trips to the video rental shop. The browsing, the occasional disappointment and the excitement of finally getting home with your chosen film. It wasn’t just choosing something to watch, it was the evening you were creating and the start of the weekend.

If you were lucky enough to find the exact film you’d been hoping to rent, that was practically a perfect night in.

Written by Siân Alison

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