PCBEEUSA - Freedom on the Web

My wife and I saw Denzel Washington in “The Book of Eli” last weekend.  A couple of weekends before that we saw “Avatar,” in 3D.  Both great movies.

For the movies that we don’t get to see in the theaters, we have a Netflix account.  DVDs come in the mail and we can stream some movies online.  Not to be outdone, sometimes we’ll connect a computer to a projector and project it on the wall, a bigger image than the biggest flatscreen TV.

To me, a good movie is an experience.  I like to sit in the center of the theater when possible, to get the most out of the stereo.  And Donna and I are usually the last to leave the theater, because we’re part of a very small minority of people who actually hang around and read the credits. Sometimes the music is really nice, and  occasionally, we have been rewarded; the funny after credits ending of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and the big hint after the credits in “Iron Man.”

So I really don’t get pirating movies online, especially before the film comes out.  I want to see the big movies on the big screen.  And then there’s the strange contradiction that I hear from some people.  ”Why don’t they make more movies like this?”  they say while watching a bootleg.  Well, if you watch a bootleg, no one makes money on it and there is just that much less incentive to make those movies.  After all, it is business.  Movies are made to make money.  If they don’t make money, they won’t get made.  If you don’t buy a ticket, buy a DVD or pay for a rental, they won’t make money.

Sometimes it’s just the “cool” factor.  That you managed to “beat the system.”  Years ago, before home video tape, a friend of mine got his hands on a pirated copy of “Star Wars.”  He was so proud of it.  No matter that you had to have an expensive, professional player to watch it.  He showed it to me.  It was noisy and grainy, and, since the person who made the recording did not have an anamorphic lens,  the Death Star looked more like the Death Egg.

Another strange story.  A young lady I knew was watching a bootleg copy of “The Passion of  The Christ” (that was wrong on so many levels!).  If you recall, everyone in the film spoke in Aramaic, the language of that place and time, meaning you had to read the subtitles.  The person who made the bootleg did it by sneaking a camera into the theater.  In the process of recording, he neglected to capture all of the subtitles.  So she got what she paid for.