Yesterday’s class discussion brought me to my local Blockbuster. It was interesting to observe the layout of the store, and how the aspect of categories, or genre really does play a big part in the films that people choose to see. The categories for this particular Blockbuster consisted of New Release, Comedy, Drama, Action, Horror, Foreign Films, as well as a Family/Children’s section. I suppose that there are benefits to limiting the amount of categories used, but I couldn’t help but wonder how it might be nice to have a section just for Westerns, or perhaps film noirs. I can understand how that may be difficult considering that so many films contain a plethora of different elements; and it’s probably easier for everyone invoved to say, “well, this one is more likely to make people laugh, so it’s a comedy; or this one has more depressing elements, so we’ll call it a drama.”
Overall, I guess I would call my Blockbuster experience a positive one. I was able to find “Miller’s Crossing,” and the 1933 version of “Little Women” with quite ease. I was however, a little dissapointed to find that one of my favorite films “Annie Hall,” which Dr. Campbell has referred to a few times in class missing from the Blockbuster collection. I’ve noticed recently that classics such as “Annie Hall” seem to slowly be dissapearing from existence. It saddens me that the newer generations, unless they are fortunate to take a couple of film classes in college, will probably never be exposed to some of the great films of all time. Now I realize, that movies are being made at a rapid rate, and video stores have to prioritize (once again, back to the marketing aspect-which films will sell more); but I must say that it’s a little disconcerting when “Annie Hall” is dismissed, yet the store contains all three of “The Terminator” films. 🙁