Can we rent a DVD for the weekend? 

On Friday afternoons, we used to have a little family tradition. My mom would walk with me to the video store, and I was allowed to pick one film on DVD so that we could watch it on the weekend. Sometimes, if I had been extra responsible with house chores and schoolwork, I would even be allowed to rent two films. It was my favourite moment of the week. I would spend hours just trying to decide which film was the perfect watch for the family.

After a few years, renting turned into buying. When my parents decided I was aware enough to start building my own film collection, we did exactly that. Every time we had some extra money, we would visit the nearest DVD store to pick out a film. Little by little, our collection became huge, and it had some of the most beloved cinematographic classics of all time. From iconic productions such as Gone With the Wind, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Singing in the Rain, and Rebel Without a Cause, to hidden jewels like Subway to Paradise, we built a collection that truly felt our own. We could go back to it whenever we felt like having a fun afternoon watch, and it was always quite fun to go through the DVDs one by one, making our choice. 

Then came streaming services. Completely changed the game. We stopped collecting DVDs and invested in one account, so we could have access to hundreds of movies at the same time. Little did we know that we were also giving up the idea of actually owning valuable things. There was no more inheriting your collection to your future kids. Despite that, these platforms did open a world of possibility. It felt like there was no TV show or movie you couldn’t find, and as long as you had good internet access, there was no place you couldn’t get to watching. I went from watching a couple of films a week to watching a couple a day. Being a film lover, I enjoyed that change very much.