Last year we saw Mickey Mouse going public domain and now every year more and more talkie movies are going public domain too. The talkies began in 1928, and I would say they got very close to what we have today in about 1934 or 35.
That means that every year people will have hundreds of “new” releases on public domain, making paying for watching new movies unnecessary. One thing is preferring the new movies when you have to pay both for new and old movies. Another thing is paying for new films when you have hundreds of old movies as good as the new ones (or better) for free.
I don’t know about you, but I could spend the rest of my life watching public domain classics, no problem. For instance, I read a dozen books last year, only two of them were less than a 100 years old.
I would say Hollywood is in a pinch right now, something that will make them miss the days when their biggest enemy was piracy.
Well, I read around 20 books last year and neither was older than 50 years old. I’ve also seen a few movies and neither was older than 34 years old.
If I was watching a movie made in 1934, I’d be bored as hell. My point kinda is: don’t assume people have the same preferences you do.
30’s movies feel weirdly modern until the Hayes code. Check out Gold Diggers of 1933 for some premium shit talking.
exactly this. I have no desire to watch a “talkie” in 2025. movies from my childhood don’t even really hold up anymore. society and culture changes so fast. I think it would be a real niche group of ppl that go back and watch these old movies
There’s nothing truly vital in 2020s filmmaking that its counterparts weren’t similarly adept at 50/70/100 years ago. The stuff that really counts like acting. editing and scene composition doesn’t corrode over the decades because it’s gold
Probably true, but nonsensical. Free your mind and learn from the past. You’ll notice it wasn’t that different and people had incredible skills.
I don’t understand that at all. What about being old makes something boring by default?
Well, you don’t really have to understand, that was my whole point - different people like different things.
For me it’s mostly the pacing and the horrible acting in old movies.
There’s no need for most people to agree with me. Even if 10% of Netflix subscribers decided to cancel it and move to classic movies, that would already be a crisis for them.
And don’t forget that humans have flock mentality. If this gets a little popular, it will be easy for it to explode. Just look at Nintendo now trying to contain the retro gaming boom and emulation.
Next ten years we will see classics led by John Wayne, James Stewart and Kirk Douglas going public, and that would be enough for millions to drop the new so-so movie stars.
Where will people watch the movies? Someone still has to provide a service where you can get them. Most people don’t want to download and store them somewhere, Netflix is just easier. And Netflix can easily add them to their collection as well.
There’s this thing called YouTube, maybe you’ve heard about it.
Better yet, Peertube
Good for you but I’m of the opinion that public domain nowadays is a bad joke of the cursed capitalist world we live in, if I wait to see something modern “for free” I’ll be 150 years old and I won’t even be able to see that Oppenheimer movie because of that stupid 95 year period of time… seriously, if the waiting period were 15/20 years I would make a genuine effort not to pirate but as I said above the public domain law is a joke and will continue to be…
Public domain has nothing to do with consumption. You can go to your library right now and watch new movies for free.
Sorry! Library is closed at the request of Hollywood
My town doesn’t have a library. But it does have internet connection and access to thousands of free movies on YouTube.
OP that’s a killer list of books you’ve read. IMO you have a point. To all the people who say that you’d be alienated from watching old movies, that method acting is important and that special effects of the last 20 years are what makes it different, idk. It really depends on what you’re looking for.
Hitchcock movies or the stuff with Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, even the super racist Italo Western movies, the very old Kubrick stuff, that’s all great cinema.
I’m as left wing as it gets but I also get very alienated by the “diversity” and “feminism“ modern Hollywood & Netflix cinema. It’s the same type of diversity and feminism that exists in corporate, where there is diversity in terms of ethnicity and sexuality, but only within class. It’s a fictional world to me the same way the old movies are, just done by a different bunch of people living in their own world.
There’s still some good cinema and good shows out there every now and then, but to think old movies can’t compete with modern TV & cinema just because they’re old is a very simplistic take.
I also get very alienated by the “diversity” and “feminism“ modern Hollywood & Netflix cinema. It’s the same type of diversity and feminism that exists in corporate, where there is diversity in terms of ethnicity and sexuality, but only within class.
Are you talking about Rainbow Capitalism?
What’d you read
White Nights - Dostoevsky
The Demons - Dostoevsky
The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Tolstoy
Polikushka - Tolstoy
Short Stories Collection - Tolstoy
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
The Trial - Kafka
In Search of Lost Time - Vol. 1 - Proust
The Count of Monte Cristo is excellent. No movie has done it justice. No movie has come close to doing it justice.
The Three Musketeers Saga is very, very long, and very, very inconsistent in quality.
Moby Dick is really good. Also makes for a good movie, because there’s a lot of stuff about whaling that nobody cares about anymore.
Start with those, I expect a report when you return, along with an essay about what you did during the summer.
Thanks for the recommendations! Haven’t read any of these books and after reading some reviews, I’m intrigued.
If you liked the details in Moby Dick about whaling, you may also be interested in this great BBC series I’ve discovered a few weeks ago: Inside nature’s giants where they dissect large animals and explain their anatomy and evolution. There are also two episodes of stranded whales being dissected ;)
Moby Dick is good in a way where I don’t care about any of the characters or the story, but I could read Melville describe water or argue that dolphins are fish for the rest of my life, just because of how beautifully he does it.
I expect a report when you return, along with an essay about what you did during the summer.
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