BEHIND THE CAMERA
I’ve always loved the event of going to a theatre, turning off my phone and just being present. Sadly, this is becoming less and less popular these days because of several different factors. The recent pandemic has only sped up this progression. Here, I’ll discuss my thoughts on the theatre industry, the age of streaming service and what is in store for the future.
Netflix is one of today’s top-dog businesses. After getting its kickstart in the late 2000s, this streaming service has been on the incline ever since. It gives audiences autonomy when choosing their media (i.e. a person decides what they want to see and when they want to see it). Moreover, Netflix promotes the comfort of your own home - and they do have a point. With unlimited snack variety and paused bathroom breaks, why would anyone want to leave their house to see a film? There in-lies the problem for the theatre business. Climbing ticket prices at theatres have hit the public hard, and don’t get me started on the $10 popcorn. It’s difficult for theatres to compete with streaming, and we are seeing the subsequent effects. In fact, theatres have hit an all-time low over the past couple of years. It had tremendous effects on the entire film industry. With this trend already taking place, COVID-19 only worsened the situation. By forcing people to stay at home, streaming services exploded while theatres perished. I know I wasn’t the only one the miss my movies outings over the past year and a half.
I think, pandemic aside, that it’s important to keep our theatres in business. Making an event out of movie-watching, going with your friends, and silencing your phone are all overlooked aspects that contribute to a great film experience. It ties into the active watching I discussed in my post: Active versus passive movie watching. By intending on watching a movie and carving out a time for it, theatre-going forces us to watch films actively. Netflix and the alike, on the other hand, further ingrain the passivity that is so harmful to film-watching. If we have everything media at our beck and call, its much easier to throw on a film as simply background noise. Although the future of the theatre industry is dim, I think that speaking about it will help us to save this dying concept.
As for the Yukon, I really hope we get at least one of our theatres back!