Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content sourced from across the web. Today, we’re watching a video essay about the cult-like appeal of the Criterion Collection.
These days, if you want something, odds are you’ll be able to buy it online. And in a landscape defined by convenience and choice, many retailers have placed their focus on branding. If you buy a nice tea kettle you obviously want it to work, but who made that kettle and what they stand for might have had an impact on how you ultimately spend your money.
A lifetime ago, I wrote a piece about why movie theaters are going to survive the rise of streaming. I didn’t factor in the ongoing global pandemic (how could I?). But I think the core argument I made is relevant here, so I’m going to rehash it.
Basically (as You’ve Got Mail tells us), when big-box bookstores arrived on the scene, everyone confidently declared that smaller retailers weren’t going to make it. Then, in a delicious twist, Amazon showed up and took over what those big bookstores were really selling: convenience. And, really, independent bookstores weren’t just selling books either. They were selling an experience. And the experience they were selling—of going into your local indie bookstore to buy a physical book—isn’t something you can find on the internet.
The Criterion Collection operates, survives, and thrives for exactly this reason. Yeah, sure, you could find a DVD of Godzilla on Amazon. But buying a Criterion spine isn’t just about buying a film. It’s about all the peripheral things that define Criterion as a brand: the prestige, the ephemera, the box art, the sense of belonging to an (admittedly cult-like) community.
As the video essay below explains, the energy around Criterion is obsessive, loyal, and yes, still consumerism. But it’s also a prime example of why the narrative of physical media’s decline doesn’t quite work.
Watch “The Cult of the Criterion Collection”:
Who made this?
This video essay is by the Texas-based Royal Ocean Film Society, which is run by Andrew Saladino. You can browse their back catalog of videos on their Vimeo account here. If Vimeo isn’t your speed, you can give them a follow on YouTube here.
More Videos Like This
- Here’s another taste of the Royal Ocean Film Society: the importance of Toy Story‘s sound design.
- Further evidence of the Royal Ocean Film Society’s brilliance: why 3D’s failure is a tale as old as cinema itself.
- And another from the Royal Ocean Film Society: a celebration of Saul Bass’ movie poster designs.
- The only thing more addictive than the Criterion Collection itself is “Closet Picks.” The series invites filmmakers and artists into a closet full of Criterion-label films. Watching them pick through the library can be enlightening or just plain entertaining. Here’s a fun one where the Safdie brothers live out our dreams and make off with a king’s ransom of films.
Related Topics: Criterion, The Queue
