inevitably such a subjective and creative medium that people inevitably develop emotional attachments to the physical objects that serve as conduits for the medium they love. Just as there will always be cinephiles who love the aesthetic of celluloid over digital cinematography, there will always be those who long for discs over streaming.
Accepting these criticisms as perfectly valid, and something with which every film fanatic must wrestle on their own terms, there is a lot to be said for streaming and digital libraries as the future of the medium. In theory, being able to purchase any movie on any platform and stream it to any device is a pretty strong incentive. Cinema has thrived in large part due to its accessibility, and it is hard to imagine anything more accessible than being able to pick a film at random, push a button, and have it play on the screen.
Well, that's the theory, anyway.
Inevitably, the reality is much more complicated than the idea in its purest form. Trying to find a particular film or piece of media online is a challenge, particularly through legal means. However, watching a given movie online is often much tougher than it should be, especially if the movie is something that exists on the fringe of popular taste - whether as a foreign film, an older film, or a film developed outside of the studio system.
Obviously, most films can be sourced online through retailers who will mail physical copies. This can take several weeks, and often runs the risk of disappointment or dissatisfaction. For a recent creative project, I sought to procure a copy of Christopher Nolan's first film, Following. This should not have been difficult. Nolan is one of very few brand-name directors working today. Unfortunately, the most recent western edition of the film, the Criterion Edition, was out of print. The film was not available on blu ray. The film was not available via streaming sites, or to purchase as a digital copy. When I did manage to procure a copy through the complicated network of the private buyer/sellers network on Amazon, I received a Czech version of the film that may or may not have been a pirate copy; I have no way of knowing whether discs and jackets are designed that way in Eastern Europe.
Assuming that the viewer does not want the hassle of ordering a physical copy, whether for issues related to time or to space or to mere convenience, it is rarely any easier. Streaming services like Netflix have made films like The Young Offenders or Veronique accessible to global audiences, but their libraries of established and classic films are shrinking. Netflix's library shrank by a third between January 2014 and March 2016. This fact is driven by an attempt on the part of major studios to monetise their back catalogues by creating their own streaming services; CBS All Access is one example, but Disney's recently announced service will likely be the big test case.
As a result, the user is unlikely to find exactly what they are looking for on Netflix, even if they can usually find something worth watching; a variation on the "five hundred channels and nothing to watch" dilemma for the digital age. In terms of populist content, Netflix on average only contains around thirty of the films listed in the IMDb's top 250 movies of all time. In terms of classic movies, Netflix's library contains precious few older films; in April, there were only fourteen films on the service that from before 1950.
To be fair, there are streaming services that cater to more sophisticated cinephile audiences. Filmstruck is a streaming platform launched by Turner Classic Movies, and which served as the digital home of the Criterion Collection, with various sets of films cycling into and out of the library on a monthly basis. However, the library is restricted to the United States and Canada, making it inaccessible to Irish or British film fans, save those willing to employ creative means in pursuit of high-quality cinematic experiences.
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