On Captain Video, a Eulogy
It was a somewhat unimpressive 900 sq ft with dull fluorescent lighting and a grey speckled carpet. It had those run of the mill white fixtures, and a leviathan television set (one of those giant boxes from the 90s with the curvilinear screen), often featuring one of the latest rentals. They charged $5 a movie, a price that has remained relatively stable for most video rental establishments for the past 20 years or so. And about a month or two ago, Captain Video closed its doors for the last time.
I didn’t use Captain Video often. Netflix charmed me with its low price tag and the fact that I didn’t have to get out of my pyjamas to rent something. Certainly, the offerings at Captain Video were nothing more than a perfunctory offering of only the most well-known blockbusters with a few random documentaries and foreign films to round out their selection. And as winter swept in and school fees caught up with me, I just didn’t bother to visit the local rental joint.
Yet, when I first saw notice of their imminent closure and now that they have completely moved out, I find myself mourning the loss of what ought to be a neighbourhood must. Now, the closest video rental place is a Blockbuster, 10 blocks or so out of my way, whose lifespan I’m sure is equally fragile and coming to an end.
Also, I think I’ve exhausted Netflix. It happened quicker than I thought. Maybe 6 or 7 months? But now I have gone from a few interesting independent movies to every single documentary worth watching to films like The Fan, Stir of Echoes, and The Scorpion King. Netflix never offers anything new, it’s really a supplement to the every day movie goer and movie renter. It’s the occasional dash to McDonald’s once every six months or so because you either can’t be bothered to cook up something better or crave some utterly disgusting deep fried crap. (Thanks, Dan Kois, for the analogy.) And now that Captain Video is gone, my options are even more limited.
Perhaps most frustrating about Netflix is the fact that searches are increasingly tailored to the user’s taste. But what is my film taste? I would say that my favourite films of all time include Chungking Express, Taste of Tea, and Last Life in the Universe. But I also enjoy films like The Usual Suspects, Star Trek movies, Rachel Getting Married, Alice in Wonderland, or such embarrassing fare as He’s Just Not that Into You, or, yeah, even The Fan. But as much as I can easily be assessed by an obvious stereotype (20-something female, Canadian, university educated, unemployable) and the films that ought to follow suit (Fellini, Wes Anderson, Kurosawa, Kevin Smith, etc.) I like a lot of stuff. I don’t want to be guided by some invisible filtering system to watching more of what I like because, well, I kind of like everything. And the things I’ve been liking on Netflix are crap, which leads to more crap, and, really, I’m tired of crap. I want some cultural vegetables.
More importantly, I thought I wanted to look up movies from the comfort of my pyjamas, but I don’t. I like going outside. I like having a purpose to do so. I like perusing the musty aisles of latest releases and action films from A to Z. I like the short conversations I have with my video store guy like, “sorry I’m late, what do I owe you?” and “Do you have The Neverending Story on dvd?”
Captain Video, you didn’t offer much but Netflix is offering even less. And I miss going outside. I mean, I suppose I could just go outside anyway but I miss the social aspect of actually going out and renting a movie. Besides, it’s cheaper than the theatre and at least this way you can skip the ads.
Farewell, Captain. You are missed.
