Monday, January 23, 2017

Response to Tara McPherson's "Looking Back at the Launch of Netflix Streaming"


The website wouldn't let me post a photo in my comment, so I just started a new post. I'm curious to know what's everyone else's first Netflix memory? What's the most interesting thing you've watched and what's the most embarrassing? I'll give you a hint, I probably watched my most embarrassing within the first few days of having Netflix!


In honour of the 10 year anniversary of Netflix streaming, I thought I would also share my very first streaming experiences. Unfortunately I have never been and probably never will be an early adapter, so I didn't actually get Netflix until college.  When I finally convinced my mother I needed Netflix to do my homework and it would save me from driving all over LA to get films from different libraries. (I mean, what's scarier for a mother than having her daughter drive in LA?!?!) So, Fall Semester 2011 Netflix came into my life, and I have never been truly productive again. Looking back at my history is like re-reading old journal entries. I remember fondly the first time I watched Walter White cross that unspoken line into true villain territory (we actually tried to make methylamin in chem lab once), or the month I was completely obsessed with The Buried Life (and I have the signed copy of their book from when they came to my campus to prove it!), or even the hundreds of episodes of How I Met Your Mother I watched in Australia with my ex (I hate that he was right about that show, btw)! So, thanks Netflix, for both ruining my life and making it what it is today. I know you'll always be there for me with another viewing of Love Actually (even when it's not Christmas time) to cheer me up when I need you.
So, without further ado...here is my very first streaming history. (You'll notice I was actually a good girl and watched Hud for my PROD 200 class like I told my mother. And then pretty quickly spent an entire weekend binge watching the terrible US version of Skins when I should have been doing my finals. But, I suppose that pretty much sums up my life now thanks to Netflix.)

6 comments:

  1. I decided to join Netflix during my second semester of Freshman year. I had only just moved to the states at the beginning of my undergrad coming from the UK where Netflix hadn’t crossed over. I thought it was so cool that one could basically watch movies/TV shows and stream them online. Before the apple store was pretty much where I would get TV shows or I’d just buy the DVD. Of course at the time when I started using Netflix I made the mistake of ‘renting’ a DVD (it was Hercules) and of course always forgot to return it, just like Patches, (2017) did. It was pretty much the first and last time I ever did that.

    Looking back at the first movies and TV shows I streamed, When Harry Met Sally (good choice), Return to the Blue Lagoon (huh? And why? Oh yeah Leo from Charmed) and of course Skins Vol. 2, it’s interesting to see that none of these are available on the US Netflix anymore.


    It is however crazy to see how much Netflix has grown as an entertainment medium and created it’s own brand by simply just having not just TV shows and movies from various networks and studios but creating it’s own content as well as the concept of binge watching. Not only that, it’s a hub that is available in almost every single country.

    I’m excited to see what the next 10 years will look like for Netflix. Maybe it’ll just die out like blockbuster did (doubtful though)!

    *had issues with putting in a screenshot as well!

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  2. My viewing history tells me that I initially watched really random nonfiction / documentary specials on Beethoven, dinosaurs, and King Tut. (Sometimes I like watching those hour-long specials, although I haven't done that...probably since I watched these, which was back in 2010.) Also, I used my my mom's account. Looks like I didn't have my own profile until 2014.

    I'd say my first true memory of bingeing something on Netflix, though, would have to be Breaking Bad. That was back in the fall of 2012, when I was studying abroad in Vienna. (Nothing says taking in Austrian culture like sitting on your bed watching TV, I guess?) Interesting that that would be my first memory, as Breaking Bad is one of the quintessential examples of a show gaining a huge following and immense traction while still on the air through its presence on Netflix.

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  3. I was cleaning out my desk recently and found an early Netflix artifact I'd totally forgotten was part of the initial streaming experience—the physical DISC you had to STAND UP and INSERT into your PLAYER. Seems so archaic now, of course!

    A picture link since HTML tags are forbidden: http://www.handytips.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Netflix-PS3-disc.png

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  4. My earliest Netflix memory doesn't include watching a movie. What I remember most about the early days of Netflix is how my experience seemed to characterized by, and cut against, what now might be considered Netflix's promise of immediacy. For instance, I remember spending days on end waiting to receive my DVD copy in the mail and this being a welcomed and accepted feature, possibly because of its perceived "newness," over other alternative moviegoing options. I think Netflix still offers hard copy delivery services and I'm curious how many people utilize this service.

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  5. I also first experience Netflix through their DVD service where one had to wait for each film to arrive via USPS. What interested me from that moment forward was how this new company was challenging the norms of film rentals and how their low cost supply chain systems drove Blockbuster and the like out of business.

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  6. When I first started using Netflix, I was looking for another streaming platform to watch “Sailor Moon”. Sadly, enough, the series only came with Japanese audio and English subtitles. I began to look for movies and cartoons from my childhood. I was disappointed by the lack of shows that aired in the early 00’s & late 90’s. I’m not sure if there is an issue with Copywriting but I think that Netflix needs to expand its selection. Looking at my viewing history, I see that I watch scary amounts of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Rupaul’s Drag Race.

    What I love about Netflix is, the accessibility of movies that are not mainstream films. I enjoy watching films about LGBT culture and I use Netflix as a way of updating myself with the most recent movies.

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