We live in the Golden Age of media and one of the biggest perks of these modern times is the ability to revisiting old films, TV shows, albums and video games or to fill in the gaps from our formative years. The advances in media distribution technology, digital TV technology (be it through online video-sharing platforms, streaming, video-on-demand, and web TV) has made accessibility easier and somewhat more equitable.
Sharing the Nintendo love!
The ease of access to media past and the sheer simplicity with which we can revisit old favourites or check older things out for the first time, has been a boon for sure, especially during Covid when many of us found ourselves with more time on our hands. However, as the saying goes "You can't go back again" and so it sometimes seems.
Over the past and a half, I've bathed in waves of nostalgia and whilst much of the media I consumed has stood the test of time (Mysterious Cities of Gold, Dogtanian, Ulysses 31, Streets of Rage 2, Sonic 2, A Chinese Ghost Story etc) many have not. This is all subjective obviously but have you tried to watch old Care Bears or He-Man episodes, played some old games like Balloon Fight or watched some of the 'classic' movies from the 80s that have casual racism, sexism and homophobia thrown in? Ooof!
It's also been a bit of a mixed bag when experiencing things for the first time I'd heard of but had never got to, whether due to finances, time constraints or simply availability. I've discovered great shows through streaming (The Storyteller: Greek Myths) but also some great old games through the Nintendo e-shop (too many to name to be honest). However, I've also revisited some old games on the older systems, either through the re-release on digital storefronts, Mini Classic Systems or through emulation and boy, some old games were really rough. I love the NES as it was a huge part of my childhood but a lot of the games on the NES mini have not stood the test of time well, nor on the SNES or Megadrive mini but especially on the Playstation Classic where many games look positively ugly now.
The danger is revisiting old games is in discovering that the games are rather bad but, due to a kind of Stockholm Syndrome brought about by only being able to buy games every couple of months, you got used to it and convinced yourself you loved it. I've recently played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game again for the first time in about 30 years and the poor level layout, unfair enemy placement, slow gameplay and lack of save points really grated on me. I'm sure we've all got stories of revisiting something and finding it not like we remember.
The sheer convenience of having most things available at the touch of a button without the old tribal gatekeeping has been amazing. However, with the multiple streaming platforms and walled garden ecosystems that have emerged recently, I'm worried that we are going to have the old fiefdoms emerge like back in the late 80s and 90s when cable, satellite etc each provided specific channels.
I like Ted Lasso and enjoyed watching all of season 1 and part of season 2 whilst housesitting but I want to watch the rest of the season. However, I don't want to subscribe to Apple TV for those 6 episodes, preferring to either buy the individual episodes or preferably the boxset.
I wonder if we are going to go back to the Wild West days of Limewire, Bearshare etc as inconvenience makes pirating an easier option. I hope not as generally people will pay of its convenient but we'll see how it all shakes out. At the moment though, I'm loving the convenience and the fact that there isn't a monoculture but rather a huge miscellaneous mix where people can find the avenue that interests them.
Viva la media revolution!
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