Christmas magic: fade to black
I’ve finally realised why Christmas is no longer Christmas for me. It is instant gratification.
I was thinking about it a few days ago. I was skimming through the TV times showing what films and movies was available to watch over the festive period. It was hugely uninspiring. I seemed to remember that when I was younger there was far more anticipation about Christmas. And as I looked at my children watching ‘Frozen’, it came to me.
It is all related to instant gratification. This phenomenon has changed society more than anything else I would argue. Perhaps only the invention of the internet surpasses it. However, the difference between me at 7 and my children, now at 7 is the following;
They have access to far more choices than I ever had. It is not their fault, obviously. It was the result of the drive towards instant gratification and the proliferation of choice. With an expanded choice you can watch what you want, when you want.
There were only 3 television channels available, when I was younger. Channel 4 came along at some point but was so not for children it was rarely applicable. Of these three channels’ none of them ran for 24 hours. It was around midnight, when the national anthem came on, and the television went off, marked the end of the day.
And to make matters even worse for children. There was only ever a window of opportunity during the day to see anything that as a child you would want to watch. After you finished school to when the news came on there was ‘children’ television’. This was the 3.30pm to 6pm slot. When you were off from school, ill. There was nothing to watch.
Christmas was different. That was the time of year when television became more child friendly. It generated anticipation because it was so different to the rest of the year. You had Christmas cartoons for children from the early morning and throughout the remainder of the day. There were films throughout the day. It was glorious because it was so different. It made Christmas different. It became special.
Children don’t now get this. Should they wish, children can now watch an entire day of children shows from 6am to 7pm. They can do this 365 days a year. But, more importantly, what they can do that we couldn’t, is watch more than 1 of these channels. From 3 to over 300 now. There must be at least a dozen channels dedicated to children from birth to about 7 (The BBC give you CBEEBIES). From 8 to early teenagers (Again, the BBC provide for this with CBBC). This is just the BBC and it only includes television channels. I have ignored the 24-hour BBC internet and of course, You Tube (One channel my children enjoy).
Christmas TV is not as special to them as they can access so much on any given day. They have access to instant gratification. That is what the proliferation of media companies has given us now. 24-hour news; 24-hour TV. It no longer stops. Christmas is now, merely, a continuation of the year. It is no longer set apart as unique.
Another massive aspect to this is the increase in disposable wealth for working families, that has enabled them to enjoy the luxuries that enable this gratification. One perfect example is films.
When younger, we rarely went to the cinema. It was very expensive and in the era before CGI special effects. They were not as many incredible children’s films as there are now. And I give this to my children that they are watching far better quality children’s film that I got to watch. Of that I am jealous.
But, again, when I was young you had films and they were seen in the cinema. When I was younger we didn’t have a VHS video recorder by this point. It came later. If you therefore, couldn’t see a film at the cinema, then all you could do was wait for the film to be shown on the TV at Christmas. This, from memory, tended to be about 18 months from the cinema. There was no DVD release. It took a while for the VHS to take off. Until this point you had to wait until it was on television.
Now, of course, the world is entirely different, again. When VHS tape recorders became mass products and easily affordable to the masses. Then it began. When a film came out in the cinema you could either go and see the film or a wait a few months and it would be in your nearest (innovation alert: Video rental shop), within a few months. Not quite as immediate as now but compared to Cinema to TV times; Cinema to Video time seemed like a modern miracle (How slow and ponderous it would seem now!).
For a couple of pound’s, you could rent the video from the shop watch it overnight and return it by 3pm the following day (Video needed rewinding to be acceptable). And then the overnight fee, became a weekly fee. And then of course Video was murdered by the DVD. Soon video shops started stocking DVD’s and spending two pound to rent a DVD became much more cost effective than paying about thirty pounds to buy the DVD yourself. Then something incredible happened. The economy picked up and the cost of technology dropped through the floor.
Suddenly, everyone could afford to buy DVD players and then the cost of DVD’s came down and for about fifteen to twenty pounds you could now own the film. The movie companies wanting to increase their profits released the DVD’s much sooner than VHS tapes, etc. Video rental stores started disappearing from the high street. Why would people rent, when few a few pounds more, own the film outright? Farewell, blockbuster. Hello, Love film an online rental company, and then goodbye Love film. Hello, digital downloads and streaming. This is where we are now. Some take subscriptions to online Media like; Sky, Netflix and Apple to watch television and films.
DVD’s become disposable, as cheap as chips, so to speak. And where we were before, where I had to wait to see the mega-Christmas film release became pointless. The big one was always the Christmas Day film.
Now, when a film is released in the cinema, within 6 months or less it’s available to buy in the local supermarket for less than a tenner. There is no need to wait anymore. There is no anticipation as you have access to the film. It will sit on your shelf for whenever you want to watch it. So, for example. Frozen. A very popular film. My children have seen it multiple times over the last few years. When I was there age, had I not seen it in the cinema then I would have had to wait for a couple of years to see it. It would have been on at Christmas. It was in fact on this Christmas Day.
One presumes that the next stage is being able to pay a premium to digitally download the film onto your phone, Tablet the moment you leave the film premiere.
Instant Gratification.
It takes the shine off most things, especially Christmas
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I was thinking about it a few days ago. I was skimming through the TV times showing what films and movies was available to watch over the festive period. It was hugely uninspiring. I seemed to remember that when I was younger there was far more anticipation about Christmas. And as I looked at my children watching ‘Frozen’, it came to me.
It is all related to instant gratification. This phenomenon has changed society more than anything else I would argue. Perhaps only the invention of the internet surpasses it. However, the difference between me at 7 and my children, now at 7 is the following;
They have access to far more choices than I ever had. It is not their fault, obviously. It was the result of the drive towards instant gratification and the proliferation of choice. With an expanded choice you can watch what you want, when you want.
There were only 3 television channels available, when I was younger. Channel 4 came along at some point but was so not for children it was rarely applicable. Of these three channels’ none of them ran for 24 hours. It was around midnight, when the national anthem came on, and the television went off, marked the end of the day.
And to make matters even worse for children. There was only ever a window of opportunity during the day to see anything that as a child you would want to watch. After you finished school to when the news came on there was ‘children’ television’. This was the 3.30pm to 6pm slot. When you were off from school, ill. There was nothing to watch.
Christmas was different. That was the time of year when television became more child friendly. It generated anticipation because it was so different to the rest of the year. You had Christmas cartoons for children from the early morning and throughout the remainder of the day. There were films throughout the day. It was glorious because it was so different. It made Christmas different. It became special.
Children don’t now get this. Should they wish, children can now watch an entire day of children shows from 6am to 7pm. They can do this 365 days a year. But, more importantly, what they can do that we couldn’t, is watch more than 1 of these channels. From 3 to over 300 now. There must be at least a dozen channels dedicated to children from birth to about 7 (The BBC give you CBEEBIES). From 8 to early teenagers (Again, the BBC provide for this with CBBC). This is just the BBC and it only includes television channels. I have ignored the 24-hour BBC internet and of course, You Tube (One channel my children enjoy).
Christmas TV is not as special to them as they can access so much on any given day. They have access to instant gratification. That is what the proliferation of media companies has given us now. 24-hour news; 24-hour TV. It no longer stops. Christmas is now, merely, a continuation of the year. It is no longer set apart as unique.
Another massive aspect to this is the increase in disposable wealth for working families, that has enabled them to enjoy the luxuries that enable this gratification. One perfect example is films.
When younger, we rarely went to the cinema. It was very expensive and in the era before CGI special effects. They were not as many incredible children’s films as there are now. And I give this to my children that they are watching far better quality children’s film that I got to watch. Of that I am jealous.
But, again, when I was young you had films and they were seen in the cinema. When I was younger we didn’t have a VHS video recorder by this point. It came later. If you therefore, couldn’t see a film at the cinema, then all you could do was wait for the film to be shown on the TV at Christmas. This, from memory, tended to be about 18 months from the cinema. There was no DVD release. It took a while for the VHS to take off. Until this point you had to wait until it was on television.
Now, of course, the world is entirely different, again. When VHS tape recorders became mass products and easily affordable to the masses. Then it began. When a film came out in the cinema you could either go and see the film or a wait a few months and it would be in your nearest (innovation alert: Video rental shop), within a few months. Not quite as immediate as now but compared to Cinema to TV times; Cinema to Video time seemed like a modern miracle (How slow and ponderous it would seem now!).
For a couple of pound’s, you could rent the video from the shop watch it overnight and return it by 3pm the following day (Video needed rewinding to be acceptable). And then the overnight fee, became a weekly fee. And then of course Video was murdered by the DVD. Soon video shops started stocking DVD’s and spending two pound to rent a DVD became much more cost effective than paying about thirty pounds to buy the DVD yourself. Then something incredible happened. The economy picked up and the cost of technology dropped through the floor.
Suddenly, everyone could afford to buy DVD players and then the cost of DVD’s came down and for about fifteen to twenty pounds you could now own the film. The movie companies wanting to increase their profits released the DVD’s much sooner than VHS tapes, etc. Video rental stores started disappearing from the high street. Why would people rent, when few a few pounds more, own the film outright? Farewell, blockbuster. Hello, Love film an online rental company, and then goodbye Love film. Hello, digital downloads and streaming. This is where we are now. Some take subscriptions to online Media like; Sky, Netflix and Apple to watch television and films.
DVD’s become disposable, as cheap as chips, so to speak. And where we were before, where I had to wait to see the mega-Christmas film release became pointless. The big one was always the Christmas Day film.
Now, when a film is released in the cinema, within 6 months or less it’s available to buy in the local supermarket for less than a tenner. There is no need to wait anymore. There is no anticipation as you have access to the film. It will sit on your shelf for whenever you want to watch it. So, for example. Frozen. A very popular film. My children have seen it multiple times over the last few years. When I was there age, had I not seen it in the cinema then I would have had to wait for a couple of years to see it. It would have been on at Christmas. It was in fact on this Christmas Day.
One presumes that the next stage is being able to pay a premium to digitally download the film onto your phone, Tablet the moment you leave the film premiere.
Instant Gratification.
It takes the shine off most things, especially Christmas
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Comments