The Creative Life Adventure

There’s a space by our television where, for years, we’ve kept the latest DVD’s from Netflix until we watch them and send them back. It’s looking a little lonely today.

I’ve written before about my love-hate relationship with Netflix in recent years. The “hate” part mostly relates to the vast trashpile their streaming service has excreted into the world. For every Shirkers (2018) or I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017) there must be a hundred flops that never deserved to exist. Even The Irishman (2019), despite its amazing cast, was a disappointment. (Sorry, Mr. Scorsese.)

No, I’ve stuck with Netflix for the DVD’s. Even though their selection and disc quality has been in a state of gradual decline, for a movie buff on a limited budget, the Netflix DVD service was the best game in town. According to my rental history, the good old days began in February 2003, about two months after a winter storm knocked out power for two days in my North Carolina neighborhood. The standard plan at the time (maybe the only one?) was 3 DVD’s at a time, and A Beautiful Mind (2001) was one of my first rentals. Red is not exactly my favorite color, but I loved seeing those red envelopes every week. Netflix not only had a growing DVD inventory, but customers could suggest titles and Netflix actually took them seriously. Imagine, a large company listening to its customers. It was glorious.

My most active month – again according to the rental history that Netflix kindly made available for easy download – was December 2008. I lived in Florida by then. The company had a lot more distribution centers in those days, so it was easier to watch movies more frequently. But that was also a few months after I was laid off during the economic collapse from which the country has never fully recovered. Movies like Sounder (1972) and The Dark Knight (2008) helped keep me going.

The company’s decline has been gradual but perhaps inevitable in the relentless onslaught of corporate greed combined with increasing apathy toward physical media. It was certainly evident by the time I met the woman I later married; the 5-star St. Vincent (2014) and the God-awful Gone Girl (2014) were among the Netflix DVD’s we shared during our first winter together. Yes, streaming is more environmentally sustainable, but the streaming services either clutter our bandwidth with garbage or often charge additional per-movie fees for even a temporary rental. There are too many streaming services managed by algorithm instead of quality content. Thank heavens the Criterion Channel is still around. More importantly, thank heavens Netflix was still sending DVD’s during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when films like The Battle of Algiers (1967) and Stopover Tokyo (1957) kept our hopes up.

We were still living in the madhouse of Florida and still relying on the red envelopes – including The Trouble with Harry (1955) and I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003) – in April of this year when Netflix announced the termination of their DVD business. And now the end is here. The actual last day to ship DVD’s is September 29, but we’re not taking the risk of damaged discs or delayed postal delivery. Netflix said we can keep our final rentals, so I selected the last discs carefully, and we now have Sneakers (1992) and A Room with a View (1985) as consolation prizes. Despite my frustration with the company these past few years, I’ll miss managing the rental queue and the anticipation of the next week’s DVD’s. I’ll miss the presence of one more category of physical media that is being engineered out of existence. For more than 20 years, DVD’s from Netflix have offered me comfort and entertainment through all manner of life circumstances. Whatever streaming service we choose to replace Netflix, that place by by the television will remain forever empty.

So peace be with you, Netflix. I’ll miss the red envelopes.