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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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- This is a 2017 video game.
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00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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00:00:10,528 --> 00:00:11,631
- This is bad.
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00:00:11,631 --> 00:00:12,603
You've gotta get here.
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00:00:12,603 --> 00:00:13,902
You've gotta ahh.
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00:00:13,902 --> 00:00:14,761
("Formation" by Beyonce)
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♫ I slay (okay), okay
(okay), I slay (okay),
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00:00:16,798 --> 00:00:17,820
♫ okay, okay, okay, okay
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- This is a video from 2016
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00:00:19,201 --> 00:00:20,960
by one of the world's biggest stars.
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00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,311
♫ Now let's get in formation
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- Ooh, find your
light, there, perfect.
14
00:00:26,193 --> 00:00:27,296
Can you please introduce yourself--
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00:00:27,296 --> 00:00:29,212
- And this is a 2017 commercial
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00:00:29,212 --> 00:00:31,092
for an ultra trendy fashion brand.
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00:00:31,092 --> 00:00:32,068
- How should I call you?
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00:00:32,068 --> 00:00:33,298
- You can call me Anthony.
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00:00:33,298 --> 00:00:34,274
- In a world dominated
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00:00:34,274 --> 00:00:37,141
by super slick aesthetics
the tracking lines,
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00:00:37,141 --> 00:00:39,266
dull colors, and grainy image of the
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00:00:39,266 --> 00:00:42,830
video cassette have made a comeback.
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00:00:42,830 --> 00:00:44,723
The last remaining VCR manufacturer
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00:00:44,723 --> 00:00:47,637
ceased production in 2016,
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00:00:47,637 --> 00:00:52,536
but new apps allow you to
shoot VHS style videos.
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00:00:52,536 --> 00:00:54,591
It seems for an entire generation
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00:00:54,591 --> 00:00:57,621
the poor image quality
makes the memory richer.
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00:00:57,621 --> 00:00:59,415
After all, for '80s kids this
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00:00:59,415 --> 00:01:02,248
little black box was a revolution.
30
00:01:05,734 --> 00:01:08,317
(upbeat music)
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In the 1980s one item had pride of place
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00:01:36,157 --> 00:01:39,709
in households around the world, the VCR.
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00:01:39,709 --> 00:01:41,474
Young and old alike spent their evenings
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00:01:41,474 --> 00:01:42,949
in front of a television set
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00:01:42,949 --> 00:01:46,116
which radiated a magic aura once more.
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00:01:47,624 --> 00:01:50,138
Almost unawares the welded experienced
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00:01:50,138 --> 00:01:54,407
a social, economic, and
artistic revolution.
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00:01:54,407 --> 00:01:55,974
But the most profound social changes
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00:01:55,974 --> 00:01:58,099
are rarely the showiest.
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They occur on the fringes first
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00:02:00,026 --> 00:02:03,300
hidden from the general public's view.
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00:02:03,300 --> 00:02:05,262
As often happens with consumer goods
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00:02:05,262 --> 00:02:06,574
it was in the United States
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00:02:06,574 --> 00:02:08,293
that the pioneers dived head first
45
00:02:08,293 --> 00:02:12,460
into the video pool
instinctively, enthusiastically.
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00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,287
- Three, two, one, I'm Ray
Glasser, Cleveland, Ohio.
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00:02:21,147 --> 00:02:24,314
I've been collecting videos since 1976
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one of the first true Betamax collectors
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00:02:27,982 --> 00:02:29,665
I guess you could say.
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00:02:29,665 --> 00:02:33,067
And as of right now in 2016 I still have
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2,000 Betamax tapes and I have
lots of blank Betamax tapes.
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00:02:37,154 --> 00:02:40,636
So if Sony stopped making earlier
this year, doesn't matter,
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00:02:40,636 --> 00:02:42,401
I'll never run out of blank tapes.
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00:02:42,401 --> 00:02:44,984
(upbeat music)
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- The Sony Betamax.
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00:02:49,715 --> 00:02:52,465
Its only purpose is to serve you.
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- When the Japanese brand Sony
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00:02:57,923 --> 00:03:01,964
launched its new video
format the Betamax in 1976
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00:03:01,964 --> 00:03:05,075
it sent shockwaves around the world.
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00:03:05,075 --> 00:03:07,281
In cinema or in television
the moving image
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00:03:07,281 --> 00:03:10,241
had always been the
stuff of professionals.
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00:03:10,241 --> 00:03:13,051
The first videotape recorders
were the size of a room
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00:03:13,051 --> 00:03:16,070
and cost as much as the average house.
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00:03:16,070 --> 00:03:17,579
But after a fierce technological
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00:03:17,579 --> 00:03:20,110
and commercial race
spanning several decades,
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Sony suddenly abolished this privilege.
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Betamax made video accessible to everyone.
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00:03:25,648 --> 00:03:27,981
Yet only a handful of
enthusiasts understood
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00:03:27,981 --> 00:03:30,141
what a radical change this represented
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and were willing to dig deep.
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- Wow, what is that?
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00:03:33,478 --> 00:03:36,446
- This is the Sony Betamax.
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- The SL 7200 at the time cost somewhere
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around $1,200 and for somebody like me
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I was lucky to make $100 a week.
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00:03:46,963 --> 00:03:49,424
So imagine how much it took for me
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00:03:49,424 --> 00:03:51,793
to save enough money, and get into debt,
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00:03:51,793 --> 00:03:53,793
and buy a VCR like that.
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00:03:54,916 --> 00:03:57,795
- Back in 1976 I was
working in a restaurant.
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00:03:57,795 --> 00:04:00,988
I took a second job to
make some extra money
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00:04:00,988 --> 00:04:02,335
so I could afford one of these.
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00:04:02,335 --> 00:04:05,737
And in June of '76 I got
my first Sony Betamax.
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00:04:05,737 --> 00:04:09,672
- If it boiled down to
am I going to eat today,
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00:04:09,672 --> 00:04:11,507
or am I going to spend some money
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on two or three blank tapes?
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I'd choose the blank tapes.
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00:04:15,361 --> 00:04:18,025
- You're obviously a man
who's having troubles at home.
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00:04:18,025 --> 00:04:19,581
You're constantly
fighting with your family
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00:04:19,581 --> 00:04:22,356
over what TV shows to watch.
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00:04:22,356 --> 00:04:23,540
Well fortunately you're looking at
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00:04:23,540 --> 00:04:27,511
a simple solution to your
problems, Sony Betamax.
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00:04:27,511 --> 00:04:29,392
- At the time Sony marketed
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its machine as a simple recording device.
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For TV viewers in the '70s it was
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nothing short of a miracle.
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00:04:35,742 --> 00:04:37,786
- So you can watch it whenever you want.
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00:04:37,786 --> 00:04:39,826
- I can record the eight o'clock movie
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when I'm at work, or the
TV show, whatever I wanted.
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Come home at 1:30 in the morning,
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00:04:44,516 --> 00:04:46,397
rewind the tape, and watch it back.
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00:04:46,397 --> 00:04:47,918
And that was perfect for me.
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00:04:47,918 --> 00:04:50,918
- The Betamax completely relieved me
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00:04:52,179 --> 00:04:55,692
from the tyranny of the TV schedule.
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00:04:55,692 --> 00:04:59,859
And remember at this time, 1976,
1977 this was a revolution.
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00:05:01,156 --> 00:05:03,216
No one could imagine this kind of thing.
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00:05:03,216 --> 00:05:04,435
- Not surprisingly the
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00:05:04,435 --> 00:05:06,606
early days were exhilarating.
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00:05:06,606 --> 00:05:07,439
- How ya doing?
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00:05:07,439 --> 00:05:11,020
This is the first annual
VCR Plus Michigan Convention
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00:05:11,020 --> 00:05:14,341
in Fremont, Ohio, February, 5th 1979.
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00:05:14,341 --> 00:05:17,534
- Enthusiasts
organized conventions,
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00:05:17,534 --> 00:05:19,493
a group of 50 video fans would bring along
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00:05:19,493 --> 00:05:23,231
their VCRs to record as much
as their tapes would allow.
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00:05:23,231 --> 00:05:25,031
From the outset the little black box
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00:05:25,031 --> 00:05:27,895
had its own distinctive community.
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00:05:27,895 --> 00:05:30,478
(upbeat music)
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The pioneers exchanged tapes too
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00:05:35,984 --> 00:05:37,900
with their peers all over the country.
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00:05:37,900 --> 00:05:40,210
Thanks to ads placed in
a specialist magazine
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00:05:40,210 --> 00:05:44,262
that was just a few
xeroxed pages at the time.
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00:05:44,262 --> 00:05:46,259
- My friend Gary and I began running ads
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00:05:46,259 --> 00:05:48,430
in the Video Files newsletter for things
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00:05:48,430 --> 00:05:51,019
we were looking for as
you can see right here.
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00:05:51,019 --> 00:05:52,656
In return for your favors,
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00:05:52,656 --> 00:05:54,456
this is so funny 'cause it's so dated.
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00:05:54,456 --> 00:05:57,486
I currently have 76 Betamax tapes.
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00:05:57,486 --> 00:06:00,969
In part my library includes 16 Star Treks,
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00:06:00,969 --> 00:06:04,324
15 movies including The
Day the Earth Stood Still,
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00:06:04,324 --> 00:06:06,701
The Silent Earth, The Exorcist--
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00:06:06,701 --> 00:06:08,710
- One of the first collectors that I got
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00:06:08,710 --> 00:06:11,877
in touch with in 1976 was Ray Glasser.
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00:06:13,818 --> 00:06:16,593
- Live and Let Die, Diamonds are Forever,
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00:06:16,593 --> 00:06:18,404
Dracula Prince of Darkness--
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00:06:18,404 --> 00:06:23,315
- Who was this crazy,
passionate, film fan in Ohio.
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00:06:23,315 --> 00:06:24,999
- Man with the Golden Gun,
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00:06:24,999 --> 00:06:28,145
Colossus: The Forbin Project, Westworld--
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00:06:28,145 --> 00:06:29,585
- And because we lived in completely
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00:06:29,585 --> 00:06:30,978
different parts of the country,
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00:06:30,978 --> 00:06:34,368
I was in Central Florida
and he was in Ohio,
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00:06:34,368 --> 00:06:38,222
we had access to completely
different kinds of programming.
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00:06:38,222 --> 00:06:40,855
- Time Tunnel, Voyage at
the Bottom of the Sea,
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00:06:40,855 --> 00:06:42,736
and Mission Impossible.
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00:06:42,736 --> 00:06:44,837
- But we would regularly start sending
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00:06:44,837 --> 00:06:48,065
each other video tapes back and forth.
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00:06:48,065 --> 00:06:49,539
- And we made so many connections,
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00:06:49,539 --> 00:06:51,838
people would call us long
distance on the phone
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00:06:51,838 --> 00:06:53,231
and this went on for years.
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00:06:53,231 --> 00:06:56,087
And this is how we got our
collections to be so big.
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00:06:56,087 --> 00:06:58,827
Remember this is before video stores,
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00:06:58,827 --> 00:07:00,998
before movies were available for rent,
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00:07:00,998 --> 00:07:03,181
this is how you hooked up and contacted
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00:07:03,181 --> 00:07:05,549
other people and began trading tapes
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00:07:05,549 --> 00:07:09,195
and building your video tape library.
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00:07:09,195 --> 00:07:12,922
- Take three, this is Ray
Glasser speaking from Cleveland.
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00:07:12,922 --> 00:07:15,186
I am real as you can see and now
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00:07:15,186 --> 00:07:18,297
here is your Betamax dubbing request.
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00:07:18,297 --> 00:07:19,632
- But Ray Glasser and his gang
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00:07:19,632 --> 00:07:21,281
were too busy having fun to notice
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the darkness on the horizon.
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00:07:23,777 --> 00:07:27,422
- It's a simple
process just turn the power on,
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set the time, put in a tape cassette,
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push a couple of buttons,
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and you are taping a movie off television
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in the privacy of your own home.
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There's only one thing
wrong here, it's illegal.
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00:07:42,736 --> 00:07:44,556
- The video
fan's uncharted interlude
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00:07:44,556 --> 00:07:46,553
had come to an end.
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00:07:46,553 --> 00:07:50,001
Seeing the revolution on its
way the studios took fright.
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00:07:50,001 --> 00:07:53,577
They realized the industry's
future was at stake.
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00:07:53,577 --> 00:07:57,512
TV content giant Universal
took Sony to court.
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00:07:57,512 --> 00:08:01,429
For Hollywood, copying
was akin to shoplifting.
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00:08:04,397 --> 00:08:05,512
- It's always been our position
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00:08:05,512 --> 00:08:09,543
that the copying in home, or
outside the home, is the same.
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00:08:09,543 --> 00:08:13,061
Copying is copying and it's illegal.
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00:08:13,061 --> 00:08:14,941
- Typically the
entertainment establishment
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00:08:14,941 --> 00:08:16,787
was scared of changes to an arrangement
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00:08:16,787 --> 00:08:19,585
it had put in place decades ago.
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00:08:19,585 --> 00:08:21,838
Legend has it Universal's wrath stemmed
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00:08:21,838 --> 00:08:25,425
from a row mainly about fans of TV series.
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00:08:25,425 --> 00:08:27,468
- One of Sony's big ads said you know
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00:08:27,468 --> 00:08:28,873
now you don't have to miss Columbo
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00:08:28,873 --> 00:08:31,288
when you're watching Kojak.
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00:08:31,288 --> 00:08:33,328
The television networks
relied on being able
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to program against each other.
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The idea was people had to choose
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00:08:37,458 --> 00:08:40,987
and it was all about
winning their attention.
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And now all of the sudden there's
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a technology let people watch both.
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And that shifted the balance of power
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between viewers and the studios.
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00:08:48,716 --> 00:08:50,272
And it was not something that the studios
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00:08:50,272 --> 00:08:53,267
and the networks were happy about.
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00:08:53,267 --> 00:08:55,067
- The fact of
the matter is royalties
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00:08:55,067 --> 00:08:57,156
and the possibility of
cutting out commercials
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00:08:57,156 --> 00:08:59,107
were the real problem.
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00:08:59,107 --> 00:09:00,918
The studios and networks
feared one of their
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00:09:00,918 --> 00:09:03,403
main sources of revenue would dry up.
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00:09:03,403 --> 00:09:05,005
- Watch it disappear.
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00:09:05,005 --> 00:09:08,732
- And to be honest
they were not entirely wrong.
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00:09:08,732 --> 00:09:10,740
- Back in the earliest days of home video
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00:09:10,740 --> 00:09:14,142
all of us religiously
cut out the commercials.
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00:09:14,142 --> 00:09:17,427
- The problem with
eliminating the commercials
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00:09:17,427 --> 00:09:19,633
from TV shows and movies is I'd have
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00:09:19,633 --> 00:09:21,967
to set an alarm clock and wake up
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00:09:21,967 --> 00:09:24,510
at two, or three, or four
o'clock in the morning
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00:09:24,510 --> 00:09:27,621
and be very bleary,
and sit by the machine,
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00:09:27,621 --> 00:09:31,545
and start the recording
at the right moment.
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00:09:31,545 --> 00:09:33,263
And then the moment
they went to commercial
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00:09:33,263 --> 00:09:36,410
I'd have to rewind the tape,
and make an edit point,
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00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:38,244
and put the machine in pause,
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00:09:38,244 --> 00:09:41,565
and then be absolutely ready to go
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00:09:41,565 --> 00:09:43,863
the moment they came out of commercial.
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00:09:43,863 --> 00:09:46,441
So it was like having your
finger on the trigger,
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00:09:46,441 --> 00:09:48,403
you had to be absolutely ready.
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00:09:48,403 --> 00:09:50,411
Oh there's the show, boom.
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00:09:50,411 --> 00:09:52,083
And you'd have to hit the button.
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00:09:52,083 --> 00:09:53,070
- And all of my tapes on the wall
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00:09:53,070 --> 00:09:54,623
still have no commercials,
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00:09:54,623 --> 00:09:56,300
and I'm very proud of that.
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00:09:56,300 --> 00:09:57,275
- Video disc system--
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00:09:57,275 --> 00:10:00,108
- The case
lasted almost 10 years.
222
00:10:00,108 --> 00:10:01,710
The stakes were huge.
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00:10:01,710 --> 00:10:03,916
A potential market of
several billion dollars,
224
00:10:03,916 --> 00:10:07,512
and more importantly citizens' freedoms.
225
00:10:07,512 --> 00:10:09,962
In 1984 the case went all the way
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00:10:09,962 --> 00:10:12,284
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
227
00:10:12,284 --> 00:10:16,765
- This is NBC Nightly
News reported by Tom Brokaw.
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00:10:16,765 --> 00:10:18,925
- Good evening, if the video tape recorder
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00:10:18,925 --> 00:10:21,340
is running in your home tonight, relax.
230
00:10:21,340 --> 00:10:24,207
You don't have to draw the
drapes or bolt the doors.
231
00:10:24,207 --> 00:10:25,856
You're not breaking the law.
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00:10:25,856 --> 00:10:27,331
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today
233
00:10:27,331 --> 00:10:28,968
that it is okay to videotape
234
00:10:28,968 --> 00:10:31,835
television programs in your home.
235
00:10:31,835 --> 00:10:33,228
- Russ Ward NBC News.
236
00:10:33,228 --> 00:10:35,121
- The ruling
was very close with just
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00:10:35,121 --> 00:10:37,083
five out of nine judges finally
238
00:10:37,083 --> 00:10:39,626
coming down in favor of Sony.
239
00:10:39,626 --> 00:10:43,126
A narrow but an anachronistic victory too.
240
00:10:44,746 --> 00:10:49,308
In 1984 some 20 million
Americans owned a VCR,
241
00:10:49,308 --> 00:10:51,677
not just a handful of geeks.
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00:10:51,677 --> 00:10:53,767
- Millions of Americans already had VCRs
243
00:10:53,767 --> 00:10:56,518
and suddenly to make them all criminal
244
00:10:56,518 --> 00:10:59,339
how would you do a recall, right?
245
00:10:59,339 --> 00:11:02,544
- I think even a few of
the Supreme Court justices
246
00:11:02,544 --> 00:11:05,127
had to admit, yes, I own a VCR.
247
00:11:07,791 --> 00:11:09,893
- Good afternoon
Lieutenant Lucerne--
248
00:11:09,893 --> 00:11:11,727
- And even Lieutenant Columbo,
249
00:11:11,727 --> 00:11:15,894
the man at the heart of the
scandal got in on the act.
250
00:11:17,175 --> 00:11:19,230
- I'm just silly, sir,
251
00:11:19,230 --> 00:11:23,026
but that machine is weirdly fantastic.
252
00:11:23,026 --> 00:11:26,393
- Stop, pause,
let's not fast forward
253
00:11:26,393 --> 00:11:28,726
the tape of history, rewind.
254
00:11:29,621 --> 00:11:32,244
As early as 1977 Betamax faced
255
00:11:32,244 --> 00:11:35,161
a formidable competitor in the VHS.
256
00:11:36,006 --> 00:11:39,392
This newcomer could
record for twice as long.
257
00:11:39,392 --> 00:11:41,029
Winning the price war VHS
258
00:11:41,029 --> 00:11:44,060
quickly became the market standard.
259
00:11:44,060 --> 00:11:46,440
By the mid '80s many
Westerners had already
260
00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,518
succumbed to the VCR's charms.
261
00:11:48,518 --> 00:11:50,561
And as in all true romances
262
00:11:50,561 --> 00:11:52,894
the first encounter was key.
263
00:11:54,079 --> 00:11:56,996
- My first memories of a VCR was me
264
00:11:58,061 --> 00:12:01,533
coming home from school as a 13 year old
265
00:12:01,533 --> 00:12:04,122
and I come into the house
266
00:12:04,122 --> 00:12:08,039
and there is my dad
counting money paying a man
267
00:12:09,811 --> 00:12:13,665
and there's this huge box, I had no idea.
268
00:12:13,665 --> 00:12:16,312
- Oh man, first of all they weigh a ton.
269
00:12:16,312 --> 00:12:18,982
I mean they have steel chassis.
270
00:12:18,982 --> 00:12:21,766
They're this wide, this deep--
271
00:12:21,766 --> 00:12:23,728
- And there was this huge chunky machine
272
00:12:23,728 --> 00:12:27,034
sitting on our sideboard at home.
273
00:12:27,034 --> 00:12:30,412
And my mum said it's to
record and play films.
274
00:12:30,412 --> 00:12:33,082
- When you hit the eject
button there was a top loader
275
00:12:33,082 --> 00:12:36,798
so it came, the cassette
came up from the top.
276
00:12:36,798 --> 00:12:39,085
- The flap opened,
277
00:12:39,085 --> 00:12:41,616
you had to shove the cassette in,
278
00:12:41,616 --> 00:12:44,616
then push down hard, and press play.
279
00:12:50,462 --> 00:12:52,865
- And you were recording your program.
280
00:12:52,865 --> 00:12:55,814
- And it just opened up a whole world.
281
00:12:55,814 --> 00:12:58,647
- It's an exciting world we live in.
282
00:12:58,647 --> 00:13:01,468
Now capture it and
relive it again and again
283
00:13:01,468 --> 00:13:03,268
with the new Sanyo Betacord.
284
00:13:03,268 --> 00:13:05,195
The video recording system that saves
285
00:13:05,195 --> 00:13:07,645
all of your favorite
shows on video cassette.
286
00:13:07,645 --> 00:13:10,228
(upbeat music)
287
00:13:15,153 --> 00:13:18,404
Turn on to Sanyo and turn on life.
288
00:13:18,404 --> 00:13:22,071
♫ I said that's life, Sanyo
289
00:13:27,657 --> 00:13:29,538
- But this
amazing new world opening up
290
00:13:29,538 --> 00:13:33,137
before viewers was in reality very poor.
291
00:13:33,137 --> 00:13:37,304
The few video cassettes available
for sale cost the Earth.
292
00:13:38,176 --> 00:13:40,150
So in the United States and Europe
293
00:13:40,150 --> 00:13:43,470
some people got the idea of renting them.
294
00:13:43,470 --> 00:13:47,220
(speaks in foreign language)
295
00:13:51,272 --> 00:13:52,781
(speaks in foreign language)
296
00:13:52,781 --> 00:13:53,849
- The first video stores
297
00:13:53,849 --> 00:13:57,344
belonged to perfectly ordinary people.
298
00:13:57,344 --> 00:14:00,427
They were just family run businesses.
299
00:14:01,930 --> 00:14:04,020
You even had co-merchants
in grocery stores
300
00:14:04,020 --> 00:14:05,937
with videos for rental.
301
00:14:07,456 --> 00:14:09,694
- You might be going to a delicatessen,
302
00:14:09,694 --> 00:14:12,329
you'd get a ham and Swiss,
303
00:14:12,329 --> 00:14:15,325
and you'd walk out with a movie as well.
304
00:14:15,325 --> 00:14:18,564
Then the rental stores started to pop up.
305
00:14:18,564 --> 00:14:20,445
- Let me tell you when we first started
306
00:14:20,445 --> 00:14:23,362
we had one cabinet and it was about
307
00:14:24,218 --> 00:14:28,385
from here down and that held
every video tape we had.
308
00:14:29,454 --> 00:14:31,416
Yeah that held every one we had.
309
00:14:31,416 --> 00:14:34,284
And it took us probably almost a year
310
00:14:34,284 --> 00:14:35,758
to get all those because there's
311
00:14:35,758 --> 00:14:37,639
no companies selling videotapes.
312
00:14:37,639 --> 00:14:40,147
I mean this a brand new thing.
313
00:14:40,147 --> 00:14:42,147
There's no distributors.
314
00:14:43,910 --> 00:14:46,500
No, all that had to be built.
315
00:14:46,500 --> 00:14:49,481
(upbeat music)
316
00:14:49,481 --> 00:14:52,012
- The first
video rental stores opened
317
00:14:52,012 --> 00:14:53,567
while the studios continued to look down
318
00:14:53,567 --> 00:14:55,947
on the little black box a niche sector
319
00:14:55,947 --> 00:14:58,130
stepped in to the breach.
320
00:14:58,130 --> 00:15:00,591
A genre that preferred darkness to light,
321
00:15:00,591 --> 00:15:03,169
but which helped the market take off.
322
00:15:03,169 --> 00:15:05,336
(moaning)
323
00:15:07,105 --> 00:15:11,022
- 100% porn played a role in the VHS boom.
324
00:15:11,865 --> 00:15:13,420
There's no doubt.
325
00:15:13,420 --> 00:15:16,068
I was there in retail when people
326
00:15:16,068 --> 00:15:18,691
were getting VCRs and every new customer
327
00:15:18,691 --> 00:15:21,188
would come in and they were interested
328
00:15:21,188 --> 00:15:22,708
in the regular movies but everyone
329
00:15:22,708 --> 00:15:24,589
was interested in those adult movies.
330
00:15:24,589 --> 00:15:26,354
- The recent opening
of the adult video center
331
00:15:26,354 --> 00:15:28,328
on Prospect Avenue is testimony
332
00:15:28,328 --> 00:15:30,336
to the growth of the VCR business
333
00:15:30,336 --> 00:15:33,919
and the heavy business
done by blue movies.
334
00:15:35,143 --> 00:15:36,246
- Porn producers are often
335
00:15:36,246 --> 00:15:38,329
a step ahead of the game.
336
00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:40,587
They understood before everyone else
337
00:15:40,587 --> 00:15:44,535
the true nature of the VHS revolution.
338
00:15:44,535 --> 00:15:46,462
For the first time in
the history of cinema
339
00:15:46,462 --> 00:15:48,586
a movie could be watched
in the privacy of the home
340
00:15:48,586 --> 00:15:51,919
and by an infinite number, a revolution.
341
00:15:53,021 --> 00:15:54,984
(speaks in foreign language)
342
00:15:54,984 --> 00:15:55,924
- This revolution wasn't
343
00:15:55,924 --> 00:15:58,223
a high culture revolution,
344
00:15:58,223 --> 00:16:00,301
but a revolution of ordinary folk
345
00:16:00,301 --> 00:16:01,497
who were thrilled they no longer
346
00:16:01,497 --> 00:16:03,830
had to go to porn theaters but could
347
00:16:03,830 --> 00:16:05,479
rent tapes to watch in the privacy
348
00:16:05,479 --> 00:16:07,729
of their own homes instead.
349
00:16:09,159 --> 00:16:12,480
- I have never been in that
type of theater, never.
350
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,439
But now in the privacy of your own home,
351
00:16:16,439 --> 00:16:17,391
people don't know.
352
00:16:17,391 --> 00:16:21,558
I mean I don't know anybody
here, I don't even know you.
353
00:16:23,115 --> 00:16:24,136
- The bravest may have dared
354
00:16:24,136 --> 00:16:26,098
talk about it openly on camera,
355
00:16:26,098 --> 00:16:30,278
but the majority still
preferred to keep quiet.
356
00:16:30,278 --> 00:16:32,043
The video store became the very symbol
357
00:16:32,043 --> 00:16:36,036
of society's ambiguous
relationship to sex.
358
00:16:36,036 --> 00:16:39,403
- And that was in a back room all the time
359
00:16:39,403 --> 00:16:41,820
with a curtain or like a bar.
360
00:16:43,780 --> 00:16:44,837
What is that called where it's
361
00:16:44,837 --> 00:16:48,088
the short doors and they swivel?
362
00:16:48,088 --> 00:16:49,272
- What do you call them?
363
00:16:49,272 --> 00:16:52,662
Like the, what do you call them?
364
00:16:52,662 --> 00:16:54,554
Like the Western doors right?
365
00:16:54,554 --> 00:16:57,314
- It was like an old Western
like those swinging doors.
366
00:16:57,314 --> 00:16:59,938
There would be a sign on
the door saying 18 and over
367
00:16:59,938 --> 00:17:01,366
and you'd go through the swinging doors
368
00:17:01,366 --> 00:17:03,050
and they'd be like oh my god.
369
00:17:03,050 --> 00:17:07,217
- And then it's just bodies,
naked bodies, on every case.
370
00:17:08,205 --> 00:17:09,038
(speaks in foreign language)
371
00:17:09,038 --> 00:17:10,666
- They looked
just like slaughterhouses
372
00:17:10,666 --> 00:17:14,068
with all this pink flesh on the covers.
373
00:17:14,068 --> 00:17:16,889
To be honest it wasn't very arousing.
374
00:17:16,889 --> 00:17:19,478
- After putting a number of the things
375
00:17:19,478 --> 00:17:22,264
back on the shelf, the cases,
376
00:17:22,264 --> 00:17:25,086
I would have to wash my hands (laughs).
377
00:17:25,086 --> 00:17:26,479
It might have been psychological.
378
00:17:26,479 --> 00:17:28,905
It might have been
because they were dirty.
379
00:17:28,905 --> 00:17:31,309
But after you put a number of adult movies
380
00:17:31,309 --> 00:17:32,446
back on the shelf, I was like,
381
00:17:32,446 --> 00:17:34,863
I'm just gonna wash my hands.
382
00:17:36,835 --> 00:17:39,343
- Sex remained
a forbidden fruit.
383
00:17:39,343 --> 00:17:41,595
The video cassette was
still in its infancy,
384
00:17:41,595 --> 00:17:45,032
but it had already titillated
the West's moral values.
385
00:17:45,032 --> 00:17:47,574
Society suddenly stiffened.
386
00:17:47,574 --> 00:17:50,604
- Mississippi is considered
a pornography free zone.
387
00:17:50,604 --> 00:17:53,785
At local video stores X-rated
movies have been banned.
388
00:17:53,785 --> 00:17:55,388
Even Playboy and Penthouse have been
389
00:17:55,388 --> 00:17:58,325
run out of Tupelo by anti-porn crusaders
390
00:17:58,325 --> 00:18:00,751
who have made smut a four letter word.
391
00:18:00,751 --> 00:18:03,120
- Don't aim your pornography at me,
392
00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:07,137
if you don't want me to aim my .45 at you.
393
00:18:07,137 --> 00:18:10,214
- It did become very political for me,
394
00:18:10,214 --> 00:18:12,060
because I was watching my customers
395
00:18:12,060 --> 00:18:16,286
and my friends get
indicted, and go to trial,
396
00:18:16,286 --> 00:18:20,988
and in some cases go to jail
for selling an adult movie.
397
00:18:20,988 --> 00:18:23,739
And almost through the
entire history of owning
398
00:18:23,739 --> 00:18:27,025
that business it was really
driven more, at that point,
399
00:18:27,025 --> 00:18:30,705
about First Amendment than anything else.
400
00:18:30,705 --> 00:18:34,872
And you know the First
Amendment, freedom of speech.
401
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:43,198
But the sheer force of
people wanting the product,
402
00:18:43,198 --> 00:18:45,903
the sheer force of consumer interest
403
00:18:45,903 --> 00:18:48,561
kept people going,
because even during those
404
00:18:48,561 --> 00:18:50,651
eras where the government
was going after it
405
00:18:50,651 --> 00:18:53,182
sales were big and people
were making a lot of money.
406
00:18:53,182 --> 00:18:55,765
(upbeat music)
407
00:18:57,637 --> 00:18:59,762
- The video
cassette had spoken.
408
00:18:59,762 --> 00:19:02,142
Market forces are irresistible.
409
00:19:02,142 --> 00:19:03,907
In the wake of porn producers saw
410
00:19:03,907 --> 00:19:06,612
the full potential of this new medium.
411
00:19:06,612 --> 00:19:10,779
They began to make programs
specifically for VHS release.
412
00:19:12,266 --> 00:19:14,065
The first huge hit was a tape made
413
00:19:14,065 --> 00:19:15,459
to be watched again--
414
00:19:15,459 --> 00:19:19,232
- Stomach flat, butt tight,
roll up out of your torso--
415
00:19:19,232 --> 00:19:20,950
- And again--
- Roll up out of your torso.
416
00:19:20,950 --> 00:19:22,877
- And again--
- Roll up out of your torso.
417
00:19:22,877 --> 00:19:23,710
- And again--
418
00:19:23,710 --> 00:19:26,043
- Roll up out of your torso.
419
00:19:26,996 --> 00:19:29,579
Head to the right, back, left,
420
00:19:31,501 --> 00:19:33,509
really stretch it out, front--
421
00:19:33,509 --> 00:19:35,796
- You couldn't go to a theater and have
422
00:19:35,796 --> 00:19:39,686
Jane Fonda on the screen
doing an aerobics exercise
423
00:19:39,686 --> 00:19:42,768
where that you could
practice along with you.
424
00:19:42,768 --> 00:19:44,126
You couldn't do that in the theater.
425
00:19:44,126 --> 00:19:45,342
You can do that in your living room.
426
00:19:45,342 --> 00:19:46,480
You can do that at 10 in the morning,
427
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,301
nine in the morning, you
could do it at midnight.
428
00:19:49,301 --> 00:19:50,134
That's the great thing.
429
00:19:50,134 --> 00:19:50,967
And she says you've only got
430
00:19:50,967 --> 00:19:51,971
to do it 20 minutes a day.
431
00:19:51,971 --> 00:19:53,817
Do this 20 minutes a
day, five days a week,
432
00:19:53,817 --> 00:19:55,536
and you'll look like me at 60.
433
00:19:55,536 --> 00:19:57,103
Not like me like Jane Fonda.
434
00:19:57,103 --> 00:19:59,254
And she looked pretty good
at 60 let's be honest.
435
00:19:59,254 --> 00:20:01,666
- But I think Jane Fonda's
workout was the first one
436
00:20:01,666 --> 00:20:03,585
and she sold like 10 million copies.
437
00:20:03,585 --> 00:20:06,789
So then everybody jumped on the bandwagon.
438
00:20:06,789 --> 00:20:10,956
♫ Let's go jazzercising, exercising.
439
00:20:12,878 --> 00:20:17,185
- Okay that's good, looks
good, feel the beat.
440
00:20:17,185 --> 00:20:20,796
- There's one called the
Baby and Mom Aerobics
441
00:20:20,796 --> 00:20:22,607
where the mom holds the baby.
442
00:20:22,607 --> 00:20:25,607
- One and heel, two and heel, three.
443
00:20:28,284 --> 00:20:29,190
- And what else?
444
00:20:29,190 --> 00:20:31,036
- There's also a prayer aerobics
445
00:20:31,036 --> 00:20:33,370
where you can pray to God and Jesus
446
00:20:33,370 --> 00:20:35,700
while working out--
- Blessercise.
447
00:20:35,700 --> 00:20:40,367
- Let's warm up with a
bible verse, 2 Samuel 22:40.
448
00:20:40,367 --> 00:20:44,416
And it goes like this, thou
hast girded me with strength.
449
00:20:44,416 --> 00:20:46,958
- Another favorite category obviously--
450
00:20:46,958 --> 00:20:51,312
- Christian tapes, those
are just something special.
451
00:20:51,312 --> 00:20:53,123
- How to videos is another big one.
452
00:20:53,123 --> 00:20:54,563
Like instructional videos so you
453
00:20:54,563 --> 00:20:56,362
can watch somebody do something.
454
00:20:56,362 --> 00:20:58,324
- Anything that is for kids is incredible
455
00:20:58,324 --> 00:21:00,286
because the universe that adults create
456
00:21:00,286 --> 00:21:04,512
for kids is pure
psychedelia, pure insanity.
457
00:21:04,512 --> 00:21:05,824
- I think the best example is a video
458
00:21:05,824 --> 00:21:07,903
that we found called Rent-A-Friend.
459
00:21:07,903 --> 00:21:12,419
Where it's like this guy is
gonna be your video friend.
460
00:21:12,419 --> 00:21:14,149
And so he records himself just sitting
461
00:21:14,149 --> 00:21:17,382
on a chair, like this,
and he talks to the camera
462
00:21:17,382 --> 00:21:18,842
and then he leaves a pause so
463
00:21:18,842 --> 00:21:21,512
that the person watching can answer.
464
00:21:21,512 --> 00:21:23,262
It's 45 minutes long.
465
00:21:24,159 --> 00:21:25,958
- Hi (chuckles).
466
00:21:25,958 --> 00:21:27,375
What's your name?
467
00:21:30,103 --> 00:21:32,270
Yeah, you know I see that.
468
00:21:34,074 --> 00:21:36,574
I really that is you isn't it?
469
00:21:38,335 --> 00:21:39,345
Yeah.
470
00:21:39,345 --> 00:21:40,993
- VHS shattered the norms
471
00:21:40,993 --> 00:21:44,140
and paved the way for
all kinds of wacky stuff.
472
00:21:44,140 --> 00:21:47,205
Aspiring producers stepped
in to this nascent market.
473
00:21:47,205 --> 00:21:48,969
No more need for sophisticated cameras,
474
00:21:48,969 --> 00:21:51,419
or film, just a camcorder.
475
00:21:51,419 --> 00:21:53,346
This was the heyday of
videos that explored
476
00:21:53,346 --> 00:21:56,005
innovative seduction techniques.
477
00:21:56,005 --> 00:21:58,385
- Welcome to seduction through hypnosis
478
00:21:58,385 --> 00:22:00,312
the revolutionary new way of seducing
479
00:22:00,312 --> 00:22:02,774
the woman of your dreams.
480
00:22:02,774 --> 00:22:05,026
- Videos made
to be watched by dogs
481
00:22:05,026 --> 00:22:07,731
complete with spoof game shows.
482
00:22:07,731 --> 00:22:10,970
(dog barking)
483
00:22:10,970 --> 00:22:14,887
Others even turned the
TV set into a fireplace.
484
00:22:15,754 --> 00:22:18,096
All trod a fine line between commercialism
485
00:22:18,096 --> 00:22:20,263
and poetics of the absurd.
486
00:22:21,625 --> 00:22:22,728
- I think it's that moment that we're
487
00:22:22,728 --> 00:22:25,178
pretty into is like what are we?
488
00:22:25,178 --> 00:22:28,940
We're not animals, I guess
we're better than animals,
489
00:22:28,940 --> 00:22:32,306
but we're still operating
on the same instinctive
490
00:22:32,306 --> 00:22:34,269
junk that we're standing around a fire
491
00:22:34,269 --> 00:22:36,186
but it's on a VHS tape.
492
00:22:37,299 --> 00:22:39,435
It's like crazy what we've become.
493
00:22:39,435 --> 00:22:41,687
- We know it's all
garbage, media is garbage,
494
00:22:41,687 --> 00:22:44,102
everything is garbage, let's enjoy it.
495
00:22:44,102 --> 00:22:47,341
Let's like rub our faces in it.
496
00:22:47,341 --> 00:22:49,756
- Or a movie like Citizen
Kane, great movie,
497
00:22:49,756 --> 00:22:51,553
but like I'd rather watch any one of these
498
00:22:51,553 --> 00:22:53,434
stupid videos before that.
499
00:22:53,434 --> 00:22:54,502
And I think that, yeah, I think that
500
00:22:54,502 --> 00:22:56,673
these videos say more
about American culture
501
00:22:56,673 --> 00:22:58,635
than Citizen Kane does.
502
00:22:58,635 --> 00:23:00,063
- This is who we are.
503
00:23:00,063 --> 00:23:01,700
This is what American culture--
504
00:23:01,700 --> 00:23:03,406
- It made us--
- It made us.
505
00:23:03,406 --> 00:23:06,764
- This moment was made by
all of this stuff behind me.
506
00:23:06,764 --> 00:23:09,347
(upbeat music)
507
00:23:11,819 --> 00:23:13,491
- Boosted by this new content,
508
00:23:13,491 --> 00:23:15,741
VCR sales exploded at last.
509
00:23:17,194 --> 00:23:21,027
In the early 1980s VHS
took the West by storm.
510
00:23:24,172 --> 00:23:26,285
In this age of electronics for the masses
511
00:23:26,285 --> 00:23:30,202
the VCR became the number
one must have gadget.
512
00:23:31,126 --> 00:23:33,297
- And I hear that it's the biggest craze
513
00:23:33,297 --> 00:23:35,306
since the hula hoop.
514
00:23:35,306 --> 00:23:37,721
- I think it's gonna move
into the necessity stage.
515
00:23:37,721 --> 00:23:40,995
- It may be the fastest
growing business in America.
516
00:23:40,995 --> 00:23:43,584
- This was the
golden age of video stores, too.
517
00:23:43,584 --> 00:23:45,917
Which sprung up on every street corner.
518
00:23:45,917 --> 00:23:47,798
For the first time in
the history of cinema
519
00:23:47,798 --> 00:23:49,842
you could mix all types of films.
520
00:23:49,842 --> 00:23:53,290
It was the heyday of unabashed
and joyful cinephilia.
521
00:23:53,290 --> 00:23:55,542
- I'll give you the
nickel tour for nothing.
522
00:23:55,542 --> 00:23:58,990
The outer perimeter of the
wall is the normal films,
523
00:23:58,990 --> 00:24:01,312
and then we have our live entertainment.
524
00:24:01,312 --> 00:24:03,321
These are our foreign films.
525
00:24:03,321 --> 00:24:04,877
We've got silent films.
526
00:24:04,877 --> 00:24:06,270
We've got a religious section.
527
00:24:06,270 --> 00:24:07,907
We've got an astronomy section.
528
00:24:07,907 --> 00:24:09,335
We've got a UFO section.
529
00:24:09,335 --> 00:24:12,478
- My dad took me to the video store
530
00:24:12,478 --> 00:24:14,730
which was a few miles away from our house,
531
00:24:14,730 --> 00:24:17,313
and it was, it was like heaven.
532
00:24:18,829 --> 00:24:20,709
And that was my idea of heaven.
533
00:24:20,709 --> 00:24:24,158
I can still remember how it smelled.
534
00:24:24,158 --> 00:24:26,805
It was some kind of weird
plastic smell in there,
535
00:24:26,805 --> 00:24:29,972
but there was no separation of genres.
536
00:24:31,785 --> 00:24:34,943
It was just a complete mix of films.
537
00:24:34,943 --> 00:24:36,662
- Being able to go to a video store
538
00:24:36,662 --> 00:24:39,564
and to be able to have
this like wide array
539
00:24:39,564 --> 00:24:42,638
of just choice was just so incredible.
540
00:24:42,638 --> 00:24:43,471
- It's amazing.
541
00:24:43,471 --> 00:24:44,658
- No a video store was democracy
542
00:24:44,658 --> 00:24:46,825
that's really what it was.
543
00:24:47,769 --> 00:24:50,765
- The video store
became a community facility.
544
00:24:50,765 --> 00:24:53,272
Everyone frequented these
new temples of entertainment
545
00:24:53,272 --> 00:24:55,560
regardless of age or gender.
546
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,717
People would meet there and
improve their movie culture.
547
00:24:58,717 --> 00:25:01,794
A utopian world for an entire generation.
548
00:25:01,794 --> 00:25:02,851
- There you go, thank you.
549
00:25:02,851 --> 00:25:04,778
- It's getting on
towards closing time now,
550
00:25:04,778 --> 00:25:06,136
but the scene at Eddie's still looks like
551
00:25:06,136 --> 00:25:08,261
rush hour on the Hollywood Freeway.
552
00:25:08,261 --> 00:25:10,026
- What you did have in the early days
553
00:25:10,026 --> 00:25:13,799
of video stores was
this was a social space.
554
00:25:13,799 --> 00:25:17,166
You wouldn't just go in,
grab a movie, and leave.
555
00:25:17,166 --> 00:25:19,000
People would have
conversations in the aisles.
556
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:20,962
They would talk about different movies.
557
00:25:20,962 --> 00:25:22,646
There was always a very social experience
558
00:25:22,646 --> 00:25:24,979
in the same ways you
would talk to a bartender.
559
00:25:24,979 --> 00:25:26,698
- So you've been
looking for this for what
560
00:25:26,698 --> 00:25:28,935
nearly 20 years now?
561
00:25:28,935 --> 00:25:31,756
- Since '77 yes (laughs).
562
00:25:31,756 --> 00:25:35,158
And I found it because of Donovan.
563
00:25:35,158 --> 00:25:36,633
- Just got lucky I guess.
564
00:25:36,633 --> 00:25:38,154
- And man I want an action movie.
565
00:25:38,154 --> 00:25:39,140
I want a science fiction movie.
566
00:25:39,140 --> 00:25:40,069
I want a romance movie.
567
00:25:40,069 --> 00:25:42,609
It was nice to talk to people.
568
00:25:42,609 --> 00:25:46,382
I mean I know Netflix,
if you like this movie
569
00:25:46,382 --> 00:25:48,925
other viewers said you
might like this movie.
570
00:25:48,925 --> 00:25:50,805
Computers only do that
'cause some knucklehead
571
00:25:50,805 --> 00:25:53,255
in a cubicle told the computer to do that.
572
00:25:53,255 --> 00:25:55,066
It's much nicer when you talk to people
573
00:25:55,066 --> 00:25:56,921
and that was a great
thing about video stores.
574
00:25:56,921 --> 00:25:59,754
(upbeat music)
575
00:25:59,754 --> 00:26:01,956
- Generating
curiosity and excitement
576
00:26:01,956 --> 00:26:04,992
video store openings were
often festive occasions.
577
00:26:04,992 --> 00:26:07,575
(upbeat music)
578
00:26:13,073 --> 00:26:15,348
But in all the excitement
people quickly forgot
579
00:26:15,348 --> 00:26:17,473
these stores were first of all markets,
580
00:26:17,473 --> 00:26:20,584
which turned movies into commodities,
581
00:26:20,584 --> 00:26:23,834
and as in any market packaging was key.
582
00:26:26,726 --> 00:26:30,418
- The cover art if that
would pop out at you,
583
00:26:30,418 --> 00:26:33,668
and you'd just be like oh what is this?
584
00:26:35,306 --> 00:26:36,444
- If you're browsing a shelf and you're
585
00:26:36,444 --> 00:26:39,149
sort of moving along first it's got
586
00:26:39,149 --> 00:26:40,507
to get your attention enough
587
00:26:40,507 --> 00:26:42,191
to make you want to take it out.
588
00:26:42,191 --> 00:26:45,186
So first there's that
immediate sort of like, huh?
589
00:26:45,186 --> 00:26:48,588
(upbeat music)
590
00:26:48,588 --> 00:26:51,165
- My grandmother used to
say a great expression,
591
00:26:51,165 --> 00:26:53,208
you buy the picture.
592
00:26:53,208 --> 00:26:55,089
- Well this kind of packaging
593
00:26:55,089 --> 00:26:58,375
where it's like a pizza box kind of.
594
00:26:58,375 --> 00:27:00,884
It's the Gospel Bill Show where it's,
595
00:27:00,884 --> 00:27:02,438
he's like a singing cowboy or something.
596
00:27:02,438 --> 00:27:03,866
He's got like puppets.
597
00:27:03,866 --> 00:27:05,949
I mean that's just weird.
598
00:27:06,861 --> 00:27:08,127
And I just can't leave this stuff behind.
599
00:27:08,127 --> 00:27:10,019
I can't walk away from this.
600
00:27:10,019 --> 00:27:11,563
I mean this is just too cool.
601
00:27:11,563 --> 00:27:13,646
I love the strange stuff.
602
00:27:15,824 --> 00:27:17,763
Another good example--
- It's a good movie?
603
00:27:17,763 --> 00:27:19,063
- I haven't watched this yet,
604
00:27:19,063 --> 00:27:21,063
but do I really need to?
605
00:27:22,848 --> 00:27:24,439
I mean it kind of (laughs)
you know what I mean?
606
00:27:24,439 --> 00:27:26,356
But I will, now I will.
607
00:27:29,408 --> 00:27:31,323
- In video
stores all over the world
608
00:27:31,323 --> 00:27:34,922
one section had the most
eye-catching covers.
609
00:27:34,922 --> 00:27:36,443
A movie genre that had always made
610
00:27:36,443 --> 00:27:40,124
the sensational the very
essence of its existence.
611
00:27:40,124 --> 00:27:44,071
And with VHS it found
a whole new audience.
612
00:27:44,071 --> 00:27:44,965
- Kids get the movies from
613
00:27:44,965 --> 00:27:47,473
the horror section of the video store.
614
00:27:47,473 --> 00:27:50,015
Most of the violent movies are rated R
615
00:27:50,015 --> 00:27:51,652
and aren't supposed to be seen
616
00:27:51,652 --> 00:27:53,812
unless you're 17 years old.
617
00:27:53,812 --> 00:27:57,039
- I had rented Bloody Moon with my dad
618
00:27:57,039 --> 00:28:00,511
and it was a phenomenal
day because Bloody Moon
619
00:28:00,511 --> 00:28:05,129
was just so, had some
great gory killings in it.
620
00:28:05,129 --> 00:28:09,517
- Bloody Moon, summer
nights filled with horror.
621
00:28:09,517 --> 00:28:13,528
A killer whose lust for
blood will stop at nothing.
622
00:28:13,528 --> 00:28:15,804
(woman screams)
623
00:28:15,804 --> 00:28:17,951
- I also remember renting
Cannibal Holocaust.
624
00:28:17,951 --> 00:28:19,147
- Return of the Living Dead
625
00:28:19,147 --> 00:28:21,028
really scared the crap out of me, man.
626
00:28:21,028 --> 00:28:23,513
That thing shook my whole world.
627
00:28:23,513 --> 00:28:25,414
- And then there were the Fulci films
628
00:28:25,414 --> 00:28:27,469
the zombie flesh eaters.
629
00:28:27,469 --> 00:28:31,073
- Basket Case or the puppet master movies.
630
00:28:31,073 --> 00:28:34,323
I mean really low budget horror movies.
631
00:28:35,787 --> 00:28:39,386
- While the movies
may be the rage with kids,
632
00:28:39,386 --> 00:28:41,104
it's a different story
when they're parents
633
00:28:41,104 --> 00:28:44,100
learn about what they believed
were simply horror movies.
634
00:28:44,100 --> 00:28:46,976
- I had no idea that it was at the depth
635
00:28:46,976 --> 00:28:49,309
of this absolute mutilation.
636
00:28:54,554 --> 00:28:57,306
- I won't watch it, I'm sorry.
637
00:28:57,306 --> 00:29:00,394
- It's all these little
experiences that just shape you.
638
00:29:00,394 --> 00:29:03,064
I don't know for the better or the worst,
639
00:29:03,064 --> 00:29:05,177
I think I turned out okay.
640
00:29:05,177 --> 00:29:09,601
But you know I just never
knew that kind of fantasy,
641
00:29:09,601 --> 00:29:11,899
that type of programming existed
642
00:29:11,899 --> 00:29:13,919
before I saw it on tape.
643
00:29:13,919 --> 00:29:15,545
- In fact the
market for these videos
644
00:29:15,545 --> 00:29:16,532
has become so popular--
645
00:29:16,532 --> 00:29:19,736
- Ghoul was
the perfect genre for VHS.
646
00:29:19,736 --> 00:29:22,848
The video rental market knew no bounds.
647
00:29:22,848 --> 00:29:24,647
To attract consumers the producers
648
00:29:24,647 --> 00:29:27,677
tried to outdo each other
in the outrageous stakes.
649
00:29:27,677 --> 00:29:30,916
The most excessive hit the jackpot.
650
00:29:30,916 --> 00:29:35,083
- Do you know a director
called John Alan Schwartz?
651
00:29:36,872 --> 00:29:38,184
- How's his last name?
652
00:29:38,184 --> 00:29:40,468
- Schwartz--
- No.
653
00:29:40,468 --> 00:29:41,328
- Who I'm sorry?
654
00:29:41,328 --> 00:29:43,394
- John Alan Schwartz.
655
00:29:43,394 --> 00:29:44,985
- John, what did he make sorry?
656
00:29:44,985 --> 00:29:47,620
- I don't know if I know him.
657
00:29:47,620 --> 00:29:49,002
- John Alan Schwartz?
658
00:29:49,002 --> 00:29:49,835
Who is it?
659
00:29:51,184 --> 00:29:53,100
- No I don't believe I do, who's that?
660
00:29:53,100 --> 00:29:55,392
- Who is John Alan Schwartz?
661
00:29:55,392 --> 00:29:57,772
- John Alan Schwartz is my brother.
662
00:29:57,772 --> 00:29:59,654
He was responsible for coming up
663
00:29:59,654 --> 00:30:01,662
with the idea for Faces of Death.
664
00:30:01,662 --> 00:30:03,670
- Oh yes, okay, all right.
665
00:30:03,670 --> 00:30:07,153
- Oh, well I absolutely
know Faces of Death.
666
00:30:07,153 --> 00:30:09,903
- Faces of Death changed my life.
667
00:30:10,764 --> 00:30:12,598
- I mean that is the movie.
668
00:30:12,598 --> 00:30:15,304
- Oh Faces of Death you know I still
669
00:30:15,304 --> 00:30:16,574
have not been able to
stomach Faces of Death.
670
00:30:16,574 --> 00:30:17,969
- Yeah I can't do it.
671
00:30:17,969 --> 00:30:21,289
- We would rent it and
we would get together
672
00:30:21,289 --> 00:30:23,456
and we would just be like.
673
00:30:25,174 --> 00:30:26,275
(monkey screeches)
674
00:30:26,275 --> 00:30:28,086
- As the monkey
as brought down the hall
675
00:30:28,086 --> 00:30:30,236
and of course this asperity was made.
676
00:30:30,236 --> 00:30:35,027
The waiter presented the men
with a tool for this monkey.
677
00:30:35,027 --> 00:30:36,711
- Faces of
Death portrayed itself
678
00:30:36,711 --> 00:30:40,635
as a compilation of footage
of death in all its forms.
679
00:30:40,635 --> 00:30:44,135
One scene stands out for its gruesomeness.
680
00:30:45,186 --> 00:30:47,520
- I came up with the idea to intersperse
681
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,937
real film footage with reenacted footage.
682
00:30:51,908 --> 00:30:55,566
And to make the reenacted
footage so realistic
683
00:30:55,566 --> 00:30:56,912
that there was no way for the viewer
684
00:30:56,912 --> 00:30:58,758
to separate reality from what they were
685
00:30:58,758 --> 00:31:02,238
producing as nonfiction from fiction.
686
00:31:02,238 --> 00:31:03,713
- Secured in a special trap
687
00:31:03,713 --> 00:31:06,789
the animal is now ready
to become the main dish.
688
00:31:06,789 --> 00:31:09,789
(monkey screeching)
689
00:31:26,064 --> 00:31:28,107
- With this movie VHS redefined
690
00:31:28,107 --> 00:31:30,394
the limits of what was showable.
691
00:31:30,394 --> 00:31:32,228
Selling hundreds of thousands of copies,
692
00:31:32,228 --> 00:31:37,151
Faces of Death posed the question
of ethics and capitalism.
693
00:31:37,151 --> 00:31:38,962
- When I was doing Faces of Death IV
694
00:31:38,962 --> 00:31:39,856
I wanted to make it as grim,
695
00:31:39,856 --> 00:31:42,318
and disgusting, and as
horrifying as possible.
696
00:31:42,318 --> 00:31:46,126
Now is there an element of
morality involved and so forth?
697
00:31:46,126 --> 00:31:48,912
None, zero, it wouldn't be great if I was
698
00:31:48,912 --> 00:31:51,257
the kind of guy that said I can't go forth
699
00:31:51,257 --> 00:31:53,800
with this project because it's just
700
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,924
defiling me as a human being.
701
00:31:55,924 --> 00:31:57,120
I wasn't that guy.
702
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,728
I was the perfect guy for the job.
703
00:32:00,728 --> 00:32:03,311
(upbeat music)
704
00:32:06,097 --> 00:32:07,037
- While Faces of Death
705
00:32:07,037 --> 00:32:09,115
and other similar horrors
barely caused a stir
706
00:32:09,115 --> 00:32:13,115
in the United States they
shocked all of Europe.
707
00:32:14,607 --> 00:32:17,265
Video was a test for the systems in place
708
00:32:17,265 --> 00:32:20,330
a revealer of established norms.
709
00:32:20,330 --> 00:32:24,497
But only in one country did
videos cause a national outcry.
710
00:32:26,402 --> 00:32:31,058
- The problem was the videos
had no classification,
711
00:32:31,058 --> 00:32:35,272
films did, and there
are all sorts of horrors
712
00:32:35,272 --> 00:32:37,037
sort of getting on to these videos.
713
00:32:37,037 --> 00:32:39,287
It mixed sex with violence,
714
00:32:40,567 --> 00:32:43,400
real violence, beatings, killings.
715
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:47,904
It brought in some awful situations
716
00:32:47,904 --> 00:32:50,888
of using animals, you think of it,
717
00:32:50,888 --> 00:32:52,409
it just went on and on.
718
00:32:52,409 --> 00:32:55,159
(dramatic music)
719
00:32:56,894 --> 00:32:58,404
- For his anti-ghoul crusade,
720
00:32:58,404 --> 00:33:01,469
Graham Bright found a prime supporter.
721
00:33:01,469 --> 00:33:03,222
In the space of months the tabloid press
722
00:33:03,222 --> 00:33:06,507
made horror films the
hottest topic in the land.
723
00:33:06,507 --> 00:33:11,175
In its sights were 40 films
it labeled video nasties.
724
00:33:11,175 --> 00:33:14,449
Bright saw this as a perfect
opportunity to shine.
725
00:33:14,449 --> 00:33:17,531
To convince other MPs incense
of these shameful videos
726
00:33:17,531 --> 00:33:22,299
the wily politician made
the enemy's arms his own.
727
00:33:22,299 --> 00:33:23,534
- So I thought well the only thing to do
728
00:33:23,534 --> 00:33:25,821
is to show them what we're talking about.
729
00:33:25,821 --> 00:33:28,979
So I got Scotland Yard to make up
730
00:33:28,979 --> 00:33:31,893
a 20 minute program with
these horrendous things.
731
00:33:31,893 --> 00:33:34,471
They were taking it fairly lighthearted.
732
00:33:34,471 --> 00:33:37,888
Like say when who's doing the eye screams
733
00:33:38,844 --> 00:33:40,272
and then we brought it on.
734
00:33:40,272 --> 00:33:43,477
- I title like Driller
Killer, Cannibal Holocaust,
735
00:33:43,477 --> 00:33:46,089
and I Spit on your Grave were among
736
00:33:46,089 --> 00:33:48,817
videos watched by MPs this afternoon.
737
00:33:48,817 --> 00:33:50,582
- They contain scenes that were
738
00:33:50,582 --> 00:33:53,160
so offensive and so
appalling that some members
739
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:54,762
had to leave the room.
740
00:33:54,762 --> 00:33:56,311
- To be honest with you
I'm absolutely delighted.
741
00:33:56,311 --> 00:33:58,401
I mean the Prime Minister
made it quite clear yesterday
742
00:33:58,401 --> 00:34:00,038
that she was behind the bill,
743
00:34:00,038 --> 00:34:01,919
and the government was behind the bill,
744
00:34:01,919 --> 00:34:03,684
and that she wanted the bill to pass
745
00:34:03,684 --> 00:34:05,646
through the House as rapidly as possible.
746
00:34:05,646 --> 00:34:07,686
- Of course it's a perfect thing
747
00:34:07,686 --> 00:34:10,068
for politicians to get behind,
748
00:34:10,068 --> 00:34:13,142
because it's kind of easy compared to
749
00:34:13,142 --> 00:34:15,139
all the other things like unemployment
750
00:34:15,139 --> 00:34:17,960
and the Falklands War and stuff like that,
751
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,251
where it's like oh shit, this
is really hard to deal with.
752
00:34:21,251 --> 00:34:25,210
What we can do is direct
everyone's attention
753
00:34:25,210 --> 00:34:26,731
to these dangerous videos,
754
00:34:26,731 --> 00:34:28,658
and how we're gonna save the family,
755
00:34:28,658 --> 00:34:32,060
and save the children, and
the good of English society.
756
00:34:32,060 --> 00:34:33,941
We're banning a few of these films.
757
00:34:33,941 --> 00:34:36,762
And that's exactly what they did.
758
00:34:36,762 --> 00:34:40,179
- We are there to protect decent society.
759
00:34:42,010 --> 00:34:46,027
And anyone who wants
to take the other path
760
00:34:46,027 --> 00:34:50,194
has got to admit, they've got
to account for themselves.
761
00:34:54,152 --> 00:34:57,485
("Nasty" by The Damned)
762
00:34:59,236 --> 00:35:01,895
- What better
way to annoy young people.
763
00:35:01,895 --> 00:35:04,507
VHS made a liar of George Orwell.
764
00:35:04,507 --> 00:35:06,771
In 1984 the British government sought
765
00:35:06,771 --> 00:35:08,652
to control freedom of expression,
766
00:35:08,652 --> 00:35:10,498
but it was to learn and its expense
767
00:35:10,498 --> 00:35:12,576
that banning or cutting
films was no longer
768
00:35:12,576 --> 00:35:16,076
the best way to stop people watching them.
769
00:35:18,506 --> 00:35:21,373
History repeated itself
like the video pioneers
770
00:35:21,373 --> 00:35:23,672
in their day, The British Pirates proved
771
00:35:23,672 --> 00:35:25,519
the video cassette was a punkette.
772
00:35:25,519 --> 00:35:27,260
♫ Catch catch the horror taxi
773
00:35:27,260 --> 00:35:31,102
♫ I fell in love with a video nasty
774
00:35:31,102 --> 00:35:34,655
- If you're a horror fan
you picked up fanzines
775
00:35:34,655 --> 00:35:38,788
like Samhain, or Shock
Express, or the Darkside,
776
00:35:38,788 --> 00:35:42,955
and you found other horror
fans through writing letters.
777
00:35:43,978 --> 00:35:46,346
And people would swap their lists
778
00:35:46,346 --> 00:35:48,541
of the films that they
had, and you'd copy them,
779
00:35:48,541 --> 00:35:50,584
and there'd be an underground of people
780
00:35:50,584 --> 00:35:54,706
either selling bootleg
copies of uncut versions
781
00:35:54,706 --> 00:35:57,953
of Zombie Flesh Eaters of whatever it was,
782
00:35:57,953 --> 00:36:00,055
or selling the actual video nasties
783
00:36:00,055 --> 00:36:02,040
which had been taken off the shelves.
784
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:03,468
And it was driven underground,
785
00:36:03,468 --> 00:36:04,908
and once you drive something underground,
786
00:36:04,908 --> 00:36:06,782
it makes you all the
more passionate about it.
787
00:36:06,782 --> 00:36:10,056
♫ All I want is to make a killing
788
00:36:10,056 --> 00:36:13,306
♫ To drill a killer
might be really thrilling
789
00:36:13,306 --> 00:36:14,781
♫ Why are my victims so unwilling
790
00:36:14,781 --> 00:36:16,128
- A new era dawned.
791
00:36:16,128 --> 00:36:18,217
VHS laid down the law.
792
00:36:18,217 --> 00:36:21,303
Videos could not be censored anymore.
793
00:36:21,303 --> 00:36:24,902
- First off I don't feel comfortable
794
00:36:24,902 --> 00:36:29,069
children, at all, watching
movies intended by adults.
795
00:36:30,010 --> 00:36:33,427
But that is the price we pay for freedom.
796
00:36:35,591 --> 00:36:38,947
The price we pay is that kids can go
797
00:36:38,947 --> 00:36:41,350
into their parent's liquor cabinet
798
00:36:41,350 --> 00:36:44,461
and get drunk on a bottle of vodka.
799
00:36:44,461 --> 00:36:45,878
It's unstoppable.
800
00:36:47,399 --> 00:36:50,149
(dramatic music)
801
00:36:57,650 --> 00:37:01,609
It's the beautiful freedom that we have
802
00:37:01,609 --> 00:37:05,026
that kids could be exposed to stuff that
803
00:37:08,030 --> 00:37:11,455
in an ideal world wouldn't
want them exposed to.
804
00:37:11,455 --> 00:37:13,497
But that's the reality of the world.
805
00:37:13,497 --> 00:37:16,247
(dramatic music)
806
00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:22,216
- Imagine the perfect video store.
807
00:37:22,216 --> 00:37:24,201
It would have a great selection, right?
808
00:37:24,201 --> 00:37:26,284
Right over 10,000 videos.
809
00:37:27,540 --> 00:37:28,759
- The United
Kingdom was tearing
810
00:37:28,759 --> 00:37:30,756
itself apart over horror movies,
811
00:37:30,756 --> 00:37:34,100
but VHS had already changed the stakes.
812
00:37:34,100 --> 00:37:37,037
The rules of cinema itself
would be overhauled.
813
00:37:37,037 --> 00:37:39,603
1987 was the turning point with the launch
814
00:37:39,603 --> 00:37:42,250
of the video store chain Blockbuster.
815
00:37:42,250 --> 00:37:44,000
The name said it all.
816
00:37:45,422 --> 00:37:48,870
♫ Blockbuster Video wow what a difference
817
00:37:48,870 --> 00:37:49,935
- Only had to go into a Blockbuster
818
00:37:49,935 --> 00:37:51,003
once or twice in my life,
819
00:37:51,003 --> 00:37:52,768
but I always found it very bright in there
820
00:37:52,768 --> 00:37:54,242
when I would go in there.
821
00:37:54,242 --> 00:37:55,540
I didn't get it why it is,
822
00:37:55,540 --> 00:37:56,918
it's like are you guys
doing surgery in here?
823
00:37:56,918 --> 00:37:59,298
Why is it so bright in here?
824
00:37:59,298 --> 00:38:00,548
What do I know?
825
00:38:04,012 --> 00:38:07,077
- Blockbuster
imposed new rules on the sector.
826
00:38:07,077 --> 00:38:09,863
It spruced up its aisles and its act.
827
00:38:09,863 --> 00:38:11,384
This new generation video store
828
00:38:11,384 --> 00:38:14,937
sold good, clean, family entertainment.
829
00:38:14,937 --> 00:38:16,365
The chain's launch also marked
830
00:38:16,365 --> 00:38:19,360
the end of the pioneers era.
831
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:21,273
Financial wheelers and dealers moved in
832
00:38:21,273 --> 00:38:23,247
to the home video market.
833
00:38:23,247 --> 00:38:26,196
A sign of the times,
Blockbuster's main investor
834
00:38:26,196 --> 00:38:28,863
had made its fortune in rubbish.
835
00:38:30,189 --> 00:38:33,614
Video was now just another business.
836
00:38:33,614 --> 00:38:35,948
- When that shift happened
and that you would notice it
837
00:38:35,948 --> 00:38:38,026
was the moment when you
walked into your video store
838
00:38:38,026 --> 00:38:41,138
and in the back there was
a wall of the new release,
839
00:38:41,138 --> 00:38:42,809
much like in a grocery store you'd put
840
00:38:42,809 --> 00:38:44,156
the milk in the back and a couple of
841
00:38:44,156 --> 00:38:46,118
the other things you know
people are looking for.
842
00:38:46,118 --> 00:38:48,463
- You know you'd go to your local store
843
00:38:48,463 --> 00:38:50,008
for a new Hollywood release,
844
00:38:50,008 --> 00:38:52,422
and you'd have to get on a list.
845
00:38:52,422 --> 00:38:53,653
It's like, no I'm sorry that's out,
846
00:38:53,653 --> 00:38:55,290
because they only had two copies.
847
00:38:55,290 --> 00:38:57,090
- Now all of the sudden
they were guaranteed that
848
00:38:57,090 --> 00:38:59,098
that first week whatever movie
849
00:38:59,098 --> 00:39:02,189
was the big exciting one was in.
850
00:39:02,189 --> 00:39:05,126
And that's the moment when it shifted
851
00:39:05,126 --> 00:39:07,622
from the video store owners being
852
00:39:07,622 --> 00:39:11,105
these kind of early pioneers who were
853
00:39:11,105 --> 00:39:12,742
just building their own collections,
854
00:39:12,742 --> 00:39:16,909
to them starting to go into
partnership with the studio.
855
00:39:18,211 --> 00:39:19,732
- The alliance between VHS
856
00:39:19,732 --> 00:39:21,868
and the studios were sealed.
857
00:39:21,868 --> 00:39:24,190
Hollywood took over and invested massively
858
00:39:24,190 --> 00:39:26,442
in the home video market.
859
00:39:26,442 --> 00:39:28,172
Symbolic of this historic U-turn
860
00:39:28,172 --> 00:39:32,143
was a movie Universal had
produced back in 1982.
861
00:39:32,143 --> 00:39:34,186
With its ongoing lawsuit against Sony
862
00:39:34,186 --> 00:39:37,797
the studio had always
refused to release it on VHS.
863
00:39:37,797 --> 00:39:40,850
("E.T.: Flying Theme" by Andre
Previn and John Williams)
864
00:39:40,850 --> 00:39:42,986
- When director Steven
Spielberg made the movie
865
00:39:42,986 --> 00:39:46,051
he swore he would never
release it on home video.
866
00:39:46,051 --> 00:39:48,431
He finally caved in to
the all the pressure.
867
00:39:48,431 --> 00:39:50,103
Profit had a lot to do with it.
868
00:39:50,103 --> 00:39:51,697
The E.T. video cassette is expected
869
00:39:51,697 --> 00:39:54,521
to make $150 million dollars.
870
00:39:54,521 --> 00:39:57,272
- After 1987 home video was making
871
00:39:57,272 --> 00:39:59,664
more money than theaters.
872
00:39:59,664 --> 00:40:02,821
And so eventually theaters would become
873
00:40:02,821 --> 00:40:07,477
the kind of advertising
window for home video.
874
00:40:07,477 --> 00:40:10,977
- In fact the theatrical was a lost leader
875
00:40:12,794 --> 00:40:14,756
to promote the video.
876
00:40:14,756 --> 00:40:18,339
It was simply a marketing
tool for the VHS.
877
00:40:20,201 --> 00:40:23,800
- VHS had laid
down the law in the West.
878
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:25,507
In the United States and Japan
879
00:40:25,507 --> 00:40:28,700
some 70% of households owned a VCR,
880
00:40:28,700 --> 00:40:31,347
12 million West Germans, too.
881
00:40:31,347 --> 00:40:35,236
And there were already around
30 million tapes in France.
882
00:40:35,236 --> 00:40:37,210
Home video now dominated entertainment
883
00:40:37,210 --> 00:40:39,210
in the capitalist world.
884
00:40:40,063 --> 00:40:42,385
It had one last battle to fight,
885
00:40:42,385 --> 00:40:46,321
maybe the biggest, the
hardest, this time the upstart
886
00:40:46,321 --> 00:40:49,488
was to take on an ideology, communism.
887
00:40:54,587 --> 00:40:56,340
The more oppressive the regime,
888
00:40:56,340 --> 00:40:58,590
the more violent the shock.
889
00:41:01,547 --> 00:41:06,376
In the Eastern Bloc the first
cracks appeared in Poland.
890
00:41:06,376 --> 00:41:08,289
In this state under General Jaruzelski's
891
00:41:08,289 --> 00:41:12,456
iron-fisted control, one movie
came to symbolize the revolt.
892
00:41:13,780 --> 00:41:15,429
The story of a young woman arrested
893
00:41:15,429 --> 00:41:17,411
and tortured by the regime.
894
00:41:17,411 --> 00:41:20,662
It was set in the '50s
but no one was fooled.
895
00:41:20,662 --> 00:41:24,412
(speaks in foreign language)
896
00:41:38,414 --> 00:41:41,769
(speaks in foreign language)
897
00:41:41,769 --> 00:41:42,602
- When the film was shown
898
00:41:42,602 --> 00:41:46,019
to the authorities it met with hostility.
899
00:41:47,017 --> 00:41:49,100
The officials were livid.
900
00:41:50,590 --> 00:41:53,213
There was a sort of committee
of military personnel
901
00:41:53,213 --> 00:41:55,463
under Jaruzelski's command.
902
00:41:59,065 --> 00:42:01,306
They decided Interrogation definitely
903
00:42:01,306 --> 00:42:05,473
could not be released because
it was anti-communist.
904
00:42:09,479 --> 00:42:13,229
(speaks in foreign language)
905
00:42:22,250 --> 00:42:23,562
(speaks in foreign language)
906
00:42:23,562 --> 00:42:26,023
The film was put aside.
907
00:42:26,023 --> 00:42:28,926
An attempt was even made to destroy it.
908
00:42:28,926 --> 00:42:32,509
That's when we decided
to copy it onto VHS.
909
00:42:35,764 --> 00:42:37,192
- The VCR was the new arm
910
00:42:37,192 --> 00:42:39,317
in this fight for freedom.
911
00:42:39,317 --> 00:42:42,428
Copying tapes became an act of defiance.
912
00:42:42,428 --> 00:42:44,379
Ever so patiently the Polish rebels
913
00:42:44,379 --> 00:42:48,106
transferred films from
one tape to another.
914
00:42:48,106 --> 00:42:50,904
Their means were limited but
these political activists
915
00:42:50,904 --> 00:42:55,153
understood just how high the stakes were.
916
00:42:55,153 --> 00:42:57,437
(speaks in foreign language)
917
00:42:57,437 --> 00:43:01,604
- There was a huge
reaction to video cassettes.
918
00:43:02,650 --> 00:43:06,817
More and more people were buying
or getting a hold of VCRs.
919
00:43:09,558 --> 00:43:13,691
A whole social life developed around this.
920
00:43:13,691 --> 00:43:15,908
If you own this kind of equipment
921
00:43:15,908 --> 00:43:20,250
you'd invite your friends
and acquaintances over.
922
00:43:20,250 --> 00:43:23,750
We had our own unique form of home cinema.
923
00:43:25,603 --> 00:43:29,353
(speaks in foreign language)
924
00:44:01,675 --> 00:44:02,906
(speaks in foreign language)
925
00:44:02,906 --> 00:44:04,043
- I have yet to meet someone
926
00:44:04,043 --> 00:44:07,710
who didn't see the movie
on VHS at the time.
927
00:44:12,124 --> 00:44:13,273
The government's efforts to prevent
928
00:44:13,273 --> 00:44:15,856
it being seen failed miserably.
929
00:44:18,324 --> 00:44:20,907
(upbeat music)
930
00:44:24,533 --> 00:44:28,200
(sings in foreign language)
931
00:44:32,727 --> 00:44:34,596
- Soviets,
Hungarians, and Poles
932
00:44:34,596 --> 00:44:37,545
fell in love with video immediately.
933
00:44:37,545 --> 00:44:41,712
At the time a VCR cost as
much as the average car.
934
00:44:46,067 --> 00:44:48,029
No problem, the stores were empty
935
00:44:48,029 --> 00:44:50,444
and there wasn't much else to consume.
936
00:44:50,444 --> 00:44:51,756
For the young especially it was
937
00:44:51,756 --> 00:44:53,915
a means of escaping the gloomy reality
938
00:44:53,915 --> 00:44:57,700
of life and the ideology
of Eastern European cinema.
939
00:44:57,700 --> 00:44:59,906
There was a huge black market for tapes.
940
00:44:59,906 --> 00:45:02,901
The VCR was a chink in the curtain.
941
00:45:02,901 --> 00:45:06,568
(sings in foreign language)
942
00:45:07,592 --> 00:45:09,647
(speaks in foreign language)
943
00:45:09,647 --> 00:45:10,805
- First I saw all the movies
944
00:45:10,805 --> 00:45:12,472
everyone had to see.
945
00:45:13,968 --> 00:45:17,532
Movies staring Chuck Norris,
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
946
00:45:17,532 --> 00:45:20,211
and Sylvester Stallone.
947
00:45:20,211 --> 00:45:21,619
(speaks in foreign language)
948
00:45:21,619 --> 00:45:25,313
- It was normal,
everyone watched those movies.
949
00:45:25,313 --> 00:45:28,390
Regardless of your social
status or education,
950
00:45:28,390 --> 00:45:30,189
whether you were unemployed or a lecturer.
951
00:45:30,189 --> 00:45:32,976
Everyone watched Rambo and Commando.
952
00:45:32,976 --> 00:45:34,706
It was a generational thing
953
00:45:34,706 --> 00:45:39,033
and we all remember the
films from those days.
954
00:45:39,033 --> 00:45:40,786
- The copies
were barely watchable
955
00:45:40,786 --> 00:45:43,619
and sometimes recorded in movie theaters.
956
00:45:43,619 --> 00:45:45,372
A monotone Polish voice interpreted
957
00:45:45,372 --> 00:45:47,457
the movie simultaneously.
958
00:45:47,457 --> 00:45:51,307
- Chuck Norris is John T. Booker.
959
00:45:51,307 --> 00:45:52,654
- But no one cared,
960
00:45:52,654 --> 00:45:54,953
young Poles devoured
tapes of action movies,
961
00:45:54,953 --> 00:45:59,458
comedies and sci-fi anything
that came from the West.
962
00:45:59,458 --> 00:46:03,208
(speaks in foreign language)
963
00:46:04,578 --> 00:46:05,564
- The authorities realized
964
00:46:05,564 --> 00:46:09,581
just how dangerous the
situation was for them.
965
00:46:09,581 --> 00:46:13,227
This video revolution was perilous.
966
00:46:13,227 --> 00:46:15,444
Not because everyone saw Interrogation,
967
00:46:15,444 --> 00:46:19,125
or other similar movies,
but because it was
968
00:46:19,125 --> 00:46:21,792
a revolution of the imagination.
969
00:46:23,513 --> 00:46:25,596
Soft power from the West.
970
00:46:27,002 --> 00:46:28,894
People were fascinated by the depiction
971
00:46:28,894 --> 00:46:31,227
of the West in these movies.
972
00:46:32,168 --> 00:46:35,918
And it reinforced their
longing for the West.
973
00:46:38,194 --> 00:46:40,191
- The regimes were teetering.
974
00:46:40,191 --> 00:46:42,350
No need to wait for
the Berlin Wall to fall
975
00:46:42,350 --> 00:46:44,603
you just had to look at the top 10.
976
00:46:44,603 --> 00:46:47,343
In 1988 when a Polish
Daily asked its readers
977
00:46:47,343 --> 00:46:49,061
to list their favorite movies,
978
00:46:49,061 --> 00:46:50,663
there wasn't a single Polish film,
979
00:46:50,663 --> 00:46:52,381
or any from the Soviet Bloc.
980
00:46:52,381 --> 00:46:55,381
Just good old American blockbusters.
981
00:46:56,665 --> 00:47:00,230
Stop, let's rewind one last time.
982
00:47:00,230 --> 00:47:01,797
The VHS revolution may not
983
00:47:01,797 --> 00:47:04,119
have been the one that we thought.
984
00:47:04,119 --> 00:47:06,046
As well as the comrades imagination
985
00:47:06,046 --> 00:47:09,193
it attacked the communist
regime's very essence.
986
00:47:09,193 --> 00:47:11,364
All over Eastern Europe as in Warsaw
987
00:47:11,364 --> 00:47:13,488
in the Socialist Bloc's biggest market,
988
00:47:13,488 --> 00:47:16,193
video piracy was a kind
of fast track training
989
00:47:16,193 --> 00:47:18,360
in the laws of capitalism.
990
00:47:19,874 --> 00:47:23,624
(speaks in foreign language)
991
00:47:25,493 --> 00:47:26,573
- The
distributors and producers
992
00:47:26,573 --> 00:47:28,988
of these video cassettes could be seen
993
00:47:28,988 --> 00:47:31,988
as pioneers of capitalism in Poland.
994
00:47:34,375 --> 00:47:36,255
They put into practice all the principles
995
00:47:36,255 --> 00:47:38,338
of the capitalist market,
996
00:47:40,969 --> 00:47:45,136
supply and demand, pricing,
and a free market economy.
997
00:47:51,662 --> 00:47:53,461
It's no coincidence that some went on
998
00:47:53,461 --> 00:47:56,880
to found the first private companies.
999
00:47:56,880 --> 00:48:00,561
(audience applauds)
1000
00:48:00,561 --> 00:48:01,826
- The VHS and its freedom
1001
00:48:01,826 --> 00:48:05,263
had got the better of the
communist regime's rigidity.
1002
00:48:05,263 --> 00:48:07,527
The sky was now the limit.
1003
00:48:07,527 --> 00:48:10,301
Revenge at last for the
political activists.
1004
00:48:10,301 --> 00:48:14,051
(speaks in foreign language)
1005
00:48:20,623 --> 00:48:24,106
In 1990 almost 10 years
after its release on video
1006
00:48:24,106 --> 00:48:26,683
Interrogation triumphed at Cannes.
1007
00:48:26,683 --> 00:48:28,192
Krystyna Janda became the symbol
1008
00:48:28,192 --> 00:48:30,642
of a newly liberated people.
1009
00:48:30,642 --> 00:48:34,903
(speaks in foreign language)
1010
00:48:34,903 --> 00:48:36,377
But after the initial euphoria
1011
00:48:36,377 --> 00:48:38,084
Eastern Europe was to quickly discover
1012
00:48:38,084 --> 00:48:40,209
what lay behind the scenes in the West,
1013
00:48:40,209 --> 00:48:42,461
and it wasn't always a pretty picture.
1014
00:48:42,461 --> 00:48:44,760
(audience applauds)
1015
00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:45,735
(speaks in foreign language)
1016
00:48:45,735 --> 00:48:46,757
- I still recall what a shock
1017
00:48:46,757 --> 00:48:49,007
my first New York trip was.
1018
00:48:52,306 --> 00:48:54,628
I realized I'd already
seen all of these places,
1019
00:48:54,628 --> 00:48:57,461
but they had been framed
in such a way as to conceal
1020
00:48:57,461 --> 00:49:01,128
the trash and the
homeless on the sidewalks.
1021
00:49:03,150 --> 00:49:05,077
(speaks in foreign language)
1022
00:49:05,077 --> 00:49:07,573
There was something that
the system I believe in
1023
00:49:07,573 --> 00:49:09,454
free markets, freedom of choice,
1024
00:49:09,454 --> 00:49:12,371
economic liberalism didn't realize.
1025
00:49:15,886 --> 00:49:19,553
Many people, the majority
in fact, lost out.
1026
00:49:22,597 --> 00:49:24,837
And my generation which was fascinated
1027
00:49:24,837 --> 00:49:28,087
by all these changes was unaware of it.
1028
00:49:32,570 --> 00:49:34,323
- A symbol of
the euphoric capitalism
1029
00:49:34,323 --> 00:49:36,865
of the '80s, the VHS was not surprisingly
1030
00:49:36,865 --> 00:49:39,977
adversely affected by market forces too.
1031
00:49:39,977 --> 00:49:42,694
It was replaced in the
mid '90s by the DVD,
1032
00:49:42,694 --> 00:49:45,306
then downloading in the early noughties.
1033
00:49:45,306 --> 00:49:47,105
These days you're more likely
1034
00:49:47,105 --> 00:49:47,938
to find tapes in the rubbish bin
1035
00:49:47,938 --> 00:49:49,273
than your living room.
1036
00:49:49,273 --> 00:49:52,304
The video stores have closed down.
1037
00:49:52,304 --> 00:49:53,790
But it will remain the embodiment
1038
00:49:53,790 --> 00:49:57,540
of an economic, social,
and artistic revolution.
1039
00:49:57,540 --> 00:50:00,767
A major shift that liberated
the image and the eye,
1040
00:50:00,767 --> 00:50:03,437
made censorship obsolete,
and allowed everyone,
1041
00:50:03,437 --> 00:50:07,020
everywhere to produce
and watch everything.
1042
00:50:08,557 --> 00:50:10,403
The VHS tape will live on in the memories
1043
00:50:10,403 --> 00:50:13,109
the world of the '80s shares.
1044
00:50:13,109 --> 00:50:14,537
Some will never forget the role this
1045
00:50:14,537 --> 00:50:17,120
old agitator played in history.
1046
00:50:19,993 --> 00:50:22,826
- This is a reminder, just never forget.
1047
00:50:22,826 --> 00:50:25,113
Never forget, a lot of people who see it,
1048
00:50:25,113 --> 00:50:27,772
young people do go, is that a VHS tape?
1049
00:50:27,772 --> 00:50:31,789
And then truly a lot of older people go,
1050
00:50:31,789 --> 00:50:34,157
I love it, still the best, I
still have all my old tapes.
1051
00:50:34,157 --> 00:50:36,236
I'm like hell yeah, and we'd
give each other a high five
1052
00:50:36,236 --> 00:50:37,675
and we'd go on our merry way.
1053
00:50:37,675 --> 00:50:40,833
- There would be no YouTube
if this wasn't here first.
1054
00:50:40,833 --> 00:50:43,771
This is what gave people the idea of
1055
00:50:43,771 --> 00:50:45,442
I need to see it, I need to see it now,
1056
00:50:45,442 --> 00:50:46,801
and I want to see it.
1057
00:50:46,801 --> 00:50:49,622
- Those who experienced it look back
1058
00:50:49,622 --> 00:50:51,863
on it with great affection.
1059
00:50:51,863 --> 00:50:53,384
Because it was a community.
1060
00:50:53,384 --> 00:50:55,926
- Personally I can't
think about movie culture
1061
00:50:55,926 --> 00:50:58,132
without thinking about it being,
1062
00:50:58,132 --> 00:51:00,535
including home video and video stores.
1063
00:51:00,535 --> 00:51:04,118
That is me I'm as old
as home video, right?
1064
00:51:07,803 --> 00:51:08,941
- This little bit of plastic
1065
00:51:08,941 --> 00:51:11,611
has been granted the ultimate accolade.
1066
00:51:11,611 --> 00:51:14,270
Alongside Plato, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy
1067
00:51:14,270 --> 00:51:16,116
the video cassette and its nasties
1068
00:51:16,116 --> 00:51:17,267
now line the shelves of the
1069
00:51:17,267 --> 00:51:20,978
prestigious Yale University Library.
1070
00:51:20,978 --> 00:51:23,717
- This is in the middle of all the
1071
00:51:23,717 --> 00:51:28,443
oh my god Zombie Child right
next to a 19th century book.
1072
00:51:28,443 --> 00:51:30,276
- Skinned Alive.
1073
00:51:33,284 --> 00:51:36,450
- It's so incongruent
to have all these tapes
1074
00:51:36,450 --> 00:51:40,283
next to 19th century
manuscripts and all that.
1075
00:51:41,492 --> 00:51:44,411
But I guess that's the
way of the future, right?
1076
00:51:44,411 --> 00:51:46,078
Mixing high and low.
1077
00:51:47,546 --> 00:51:49,392
- The ultimate
consumer product,
1078
00:51:49,392 --> 00:51:52,392
the VHS, has won it's spurs at last.
1079
00:51:55,162 --> 00:51:57,912
(dramatic music)
1080
00:52:06,459 --> 00:52:09,613
- So I just made this up now.
1081
00:52:09,613 --> 00:52:11,030
Give me a second.
1082
00:52:19,029 --> 00:52:22,965
♫ I got them VHS blues
1083
00:52:22,965 --> 00:52:26,548
♫ I watch 'em all the time
1084
00:52:31,315 --> 00:52:34,763
♫ The VHS blues
1085
00:52:34,763 --> 00:52:38,846
♫ I wasn't kind, I didn't rewind
1086
00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:44,738
♫ Don't give me no DVDs
1087
00:52:44,738 --> 00:52:48,905
♫ Or HDTV, I just want my VHS blues
1088
00:52:55,626 --> 00:52:58,585
If you can use that use it (laughs).
78892
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