I watched The Majestic on DVD today and got to thinking; Hollywood has no idea what to do with DVD's. I guess it must just be there old-school way of thinking but the spectrum of cool things that DVD's could contain is almost endless. How many times have you been watching a movie and heard a song that you really liked; but were unable to find in the ending credits? Why don't they institute some sort of caption for songs? Why not have a separate menu that plays a clip of each song listed in the end credits so that you can figure out which one you liked. Wouldn't that help CD sales? Artists would get more exposure and sales would increase.
There are some television shows that are just great. ED, The Simpsons, American Idol, The Mole, JAG, Friends, The Daily Show, and many others. Sadly though, only two of these few that were mentioned are available on comprehensive DVD's. Why aren't more television shows offered on DVD? I know it's television, but just look at how many people are downloading television shows off Morpheus or Kazaa. In my Public Policy class this summer, we had a great instructor who wasn't technologically clueless like most professors. We watched an episode of The Simpsons that fit in perfectly with the lesson.
There are just so many different cool things that could come on DVD technology. I don't know if Hollywood is scared or disinterested, but I just think they are missing the point. DVD's offer incredible quality and are capable of containing lots of information. CBS had an amazing documentary called 9/11 that I would pay $100 for on DVD, but it's not offered. It would be great to be able to buy a 4-DVD set of CNN's coverage on September 11th. There are images that will last a lifetime and strong memories that won't fade, but really, do you remember a lot of what happened in the early hours? I watched probably 10 hours of television that day, but what are my kids going to see? Nothing except sensationalist pre-made packages aired by the media giants. The raw, honest, inspiring reporting will be lost and will be stuck with the crap that the media puts out afterwards. I am inspired by the people on Flight 93, but I'm tired of hearing about it everyday. The media continues to poke around in a lot of these stories and soon they won't mean as much. DVD could easily be used as a lasting memory; something we can share with generations to come. I just feel as though we, the consumers, are being cheated because the capabilities of DVD are not being used fairly.