VHS tapes are a horror trope now.
How many of yall remember having to “adjust tracking” when the picture had too much “snow”?
Adults today only know about what horses are because of western films.
Although, some people still ride horses for work or fun, but the vast majority has not even touched a horse. Oh, and it really depends on location too. Rich countries switched to machines about a hundred years ago, whereas poor countries still use various animals in normal everyday life.
Work horses are a lot closer than I expected. I saw them about 15 minutes from the downtown of a top 20 Mexican city. Hitched up like a western, pulling carts, or carrying a person and sack of produce.
Oh, I’ve touched a horse.
You work for Boeing by chance?
Oh, I’ve touched a horse.
Can confirm, I’m the horse.
Kids today know what a floppy disk looks like, but not what one is. They only know it as a “save” icon in games and apps.
It’s called a skeuomorph, and many times the camera symbol is one too, as most modern cameras don’t look like that.
The only examples I can think of look like a DSLR or similar. It would be funny if they looked like an 1800s camera with the bellows focus.
And the phone call icon being a landline
And the email icon being an envelope
businesses still have landlines
Very often they are SIP voip solutions that barely have anything to do with landlines, other than the number pattern and area prefix.
Land lines are nice
A dumpster for spam
Not rewinding was a horror trope then.
How unkind to not rewind.
Especially when we had space age tech.
Wait. They made ones that looked like cars? Dammit.
I had one! My dad got it at a flea market, and all my friends thought we were rich. Lmao
Mine looked exactly like that one and I’m in Europe, so it was for sure not a small thing.
I’ve got DTIMO. Disappoimtment That I Missed Out. I had a boring grey one when it could have looked like a sports car. it would even go vroom too. faaaaahck.
Especially for sueded films
None of these horror games show players the true terror of VHS: the soul-rending sound of the VCR eating another tape. That cost $15-30 in 90s money!
That, and with rented tapes having to get up and adjust the tracking again.
Have you ever asked any kids if they know what a VHS tape is?
I linked to the relevant bit. The whole sketch is topical.
I think you underestimate how many frugal families still own large VHS movie collections, and use their VHS players to watch them
In 2024, that’s actually a giga chad move that hurts the corpos feels.
These people is like the seed reason why they are working OT to kill physical media. Now they are coming for consoles…
If you support the slop, buy a physical copy otherwise arrr
If they don’t sell it, that’s a service issue and rather disrespectful to media enjoyers IMHO
Frugal families sold their tapes, sold their VCRs, and sought their fortunes on the high seas.
ehh while high seas are viable, some people just prefer that physical in similar way a smoker does not just like the smoking but also holding and play around the cigarette
Then burn your media onto DVD or Blu-Ray or M-Disc
The Netflix-by-mail thing came in real handy for this
This would work for me but not for the collector types IMHO
They want the physical release!
i have the tapes, lots of tapes. all recorded off of tv. vcr quit working years ago, though. but i do have another at the office. used like three times in the last 15 years to digitize old home movies for someone.
I remember when “analog horror” was when the VCR ate your rental tape
When you pull it out but the tape is still stuck in the machine
I tend to be nostalgic for the tech of my childhood. VHS is an exception. It always was horrid.
(Yes, I know you’re referring to it’s use in horror films.)
[off topic]
I read a collection of comics from the 1950s. There were stories about Hannibal, Julius Ceasar, Emperor Claudius, and other historical figures. The issue with Civil War stories covered topics like the Emancipation Proclamation. Today we don’t put anything in kids’ media that can’t be sold.
EC titles like ‘Valor,’ and ‘Frontline Combat.’
It’s unfortunate too, because history has a lot of stories that would make for great media. But it seems there is a war on history these days. At least recent history.
You can’t copywrite a “Hannibal” action figure.
Reminds me of an off topic story.
“Fables” was a comic book whose main idea was that the characters from all the fairy tales were living in one neighborhood in Manhattan.
The TV networks like the idea, so they stole it. Twice.
Once Upon a Time and…?
I think a lot of our social problems could be solved if we were repeatedly told to be kind - rewind
