A Geeky Guy's Really Bad Prediction
In case you can't tell, movies are a huge part of my life. Luckily for me, my wife loves them as well. For the first several years of marriage, I think we spent more time at Blockbuster Video than we did anywhere else. When we moved out of the city and into the suburbs, we were giddy at the fact that we had a Blockbuster a block away and a family video a little further. We were in movie heaven!
Like everyone else, we jumped on the amazing deals Netflix was offering for their DVD service in the early 2000s. Eventually, the Blockbusters were all shuttered and we exclusively relied on Netflix. We loved it. We had a never ending stream (no pun intended) of movies coming to our mailbox. And then there was an announcement that they would be phasing out DVDs and relying more on digital streaming. I lost my shit! I was furious! I was convinced the quality of the streaming service would be horrible and I would not be able to get through a movie without it dropping. I also figured I would have to go back to the old days of watching a scramble version of National Lampoons Vacation on a wavy Spectrum TV broadcast in hopes of catching something R rated. I predicted that Netflix would be out of business in a year and Blockbuster would come roaring back.
Ummmm luckily I didn't put my money where my mouth was. Thank god I did not buy any Blockbuster stock.
My current world history unit that I am teaching is about world religions. Because I love to use pop culture as a way to hook kids into my lessons, I figured I'd check out what I could find on Netflix. Spoiler alert, I didn't settle on anything yet. And it is not because I couldn't find anything. It was the exact opposite. I found way too much. In fact I got sidetracked by doing a little research on how much content they actually have. Netflix has over 5600 Movies and TV shows on the platform in the U.S. That isn't counting individual episodes. When you do that, you are talking about more than 30,000 episodes and movies. THIRTY THOUSAND! That is amazing.
Sure enough, they have tons of choices for the 5 major religions we teach about: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. I was actually surprised by how much religious content it has. But that's the amazing thing about Netflix, because they cast such a huge net, there is a ton of content I didn't even know they had. Instead of being a TV station that must capture millions of viewers all at once with one specific show, Netflix can rely on catching the interest of a few hundred thousand here and a few hundred thousand there and it all adds up. Its actually quite ingenious. Instead of focusing on one genre or demographic, they can appeal to all genres and demographics.
This actually got me thinking about my students. They come from all demographics including race, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, disability status, socioeconomic status, and age. No matter who they are, they can turn on Netflix and see a show that speaks to them. As a special education teacher, I am especially attuned to finding content that shows people with disabilities in a realistic and positive light. Netflix has so many shows that provide positive representation of people with Autism, physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and cognitive disabilities. Kids light up when they see "someone just like me". They feel validated. They feel valued. They feel seen. With only three networks when I was kid, that simply did not happen. Many people never saw "someone just like me" on TV.
The numbers of this are still quite mind boggling. I haven't counted, but I'm guessing I have seen about 1000 pieces of content on Netflix. This means I have only seen 1/30 of their library. And actually, that is not a static number. Movies and shows come and go, so I have seen less than 1/30 of their catalogue since the streaming option began.
Good thing for you, my friend, that you didn't invest in the return of Blockbuster Video if you're a long-time movie fan. Plus, there are still a ton of shows and movies to watch on Netflix, so your fun is guaranteed for a while longer.
Ah, the Blockbuster days! I miss that feeling of walking through the aisles looking for the perfect movie.
You have beautifully illustrated your past misjudgments in a funny way and later used them as a learning experience. It is inspiring for me. One thing that is very meaningful here is Netflix's multidimensional content and the idea of finding representative stories for every audience. You have explained that beautifully. Best wishes to you.
It’s amazing to see how far Netflix has come! I remember when many people doubted its streaming idea, and now it’s become such an inclusive and diverse platform. Representation really does make a big difference.
I have a Netflix subscription and I have watched many seasons now. They are quite interesting. The video quality is quite good. The last time I watched Skirt Game, I will watch Venus Day in the near future. I have also heard a lot of praise about it and what you have suggested to us also seems quite interesting. So I will definitely watch it and have added it to my schedule.
I thought it was going to be a big mistake for them when they moved away from DVD's too. I don't think I was probably as adamant about it as you though. It's definitely crazy how much stuff is out there to watch. More content than we can probably ever consume.
This is the advantage of funny series and movies: you can sit and watch them with your children, it becomes family entertainment and the time passes much more beautifully. There is also more understanding with each other
That was in the previous era, my friend, so we have to live with the pace of technology that prevails today and in the future. Netflix has a variety of movies, so you just need to have the time and availability to watch everything they have to offer us as viewers.
I remember thinking the same way about Netflix back then! It’s amazing how they proved everyone wrong and turned into such a big platform with content for all kinds of people. Really shows how times change.