Home video has entered a phase familiar to music and gaming fans. Just as vinyl records have come back from extinction to establish a fervent following among audio connoisseurs, video game users rebel against the rise of an all-digital future. They claim digital purchases have no substance and that collecting physical copies of games presents an entirely different level of the hobby.
Despite the convenience of streaming, it does feel like movies and TV shows simply come and go these days, soon to be forgotten. For true aficionados, projectors offer the hope of a home cinema that’s felt and not just passively viewed. With the comfort of a personal ritual, every movie and program takes on a vastly more memorable nature.
That’s where the ritualistic aspect comes into play, literally. Just as music lovers relish the feel of vinyl, the sound of turntable needles on platters, and the scent of paper sleeves, so do movie fans crave the shining light and hum of a projector, the fanfare of a screen unfurling, the satisfaction of sliding a disc into a player, and the sense of sitting down to something special rather than simply pressing a button and letting a file play. After all, without our rituals and traditions, how much remains of our collective culture as a species?