Editor – There was recently an online story about the Ladysmith Drive-In and who remembers this town’s open-air movie house.
It was quite a nostalgic piece and I’m sure those of you old enough to have watched films there had a sense of loss, thinking about the good old days.
Now we live in a town without a drive-in or cinemas.
What we have in their place are DVD stores that hire out all the latest releases to be viewed in the comfort of one’s living room on one’s big-screen TV.
Well, what I find worrying these days is the state of said DVD stores in town.
Mr Video recently closed its doors altogether, which I find a bit strange.
Yes, it might have been slightly more pricey than the others, but it had a great selection and sometimes boasted titles you couldn’t find anywhere else. Another of our DVD stores (which shall remain nameless) hasn’t ordered any new releases for months now. I believe it is in the process of being sold.
What if it closes too? The state of its shelves in terms of what movies it offers has a lot to be desired. That leaves us with one DVD outlet in the CBD area.
So what is happening? Is no one hiring anymore? Is everyone illegally downloading movies from the internet.
Yes, how convenient and sly, but will we still be smiling when all our stores are closed.
Are we, in fact, killing the movie industry as a whole with our clever little cyber activities? These are questions we should perhaps ask before it’s too late and Hollywood decides not to make movies at all, which will affect us too!
Has the cyber pirate really killed the video star?
Or have they become victims of a changing world where people are simply not prepared to wait for their Hollywood fix? More important than the reason why they closed is the jobs that went with them.
We, as a town, are fast running out of excuses as to why things are closing down so fast.
I pray the ‘powers that be’ have a plan, because things are bad.
