subject: Loving The Classics? How Websites Are Playing In The Public Domain [print this page] Walk into any Blockbuster in the country and you're guaranteed to find the latest Hollywood horror... I mean, hit... sitting front and center. What you won't always find are the classics, hits like Ma and Pa Kettle that you used to catch on late night TV when your parents thought you were still in bed.
This disheartening lack of availability is leading to a lost generation who do not know the Swamp Thing, who thinks Edward Cullen is the hottest vampire of them all and to whom Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo and Cary Grant are names their parents uttered when in search of some dumb show.
Here's the good news. Thanks to the wide, wonderful world of copyright protection, many of these films are now entering the public domain, introducing viewers who consider M*A*S*H to be classic TV to what it really means to be a Hollywood star.
What is Public Domain (and Why Does It Matter)?
The public domain is the arena films play in when there are no intellectual property rights at all influencing how they can and can't be used and distributed. This makes it convenient for websites to distribute these classic films on a wide-scale without the huge overhead costs associated with royalties and the like.
What does all this mean to the eager viewer of the classics whose going to be glued to the screen watching every film he can get his hands on? Websites like Hulu and Amazon have paid some punishing licensing fees to get copyrighted material on their sites. This results in a rather limited selection. The really obscure films aren't part of the selection at all. Film buffs the world over are engaging in teeth gnashing and going to eBay in hopes of scoring an original vintage copy of the film that someone is trying to unload.
Please. Like any self-respecting film fanatic would sell a vintage copy of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" to just anybody. Not, you know, that I looked or anything.
The Internet IS the Public Domain
The internet is a fabulous invention because it opens up entire worlds in terms of public domain and makes all that is on the internet available to everyone, everywhere at whatever time they choose to surf.
The internet is not an esoteric tool used by the few. It is a universal one used by everyone all the time. A wonderful thing about this is that an entire new generation has access to the classics, in their original form, instead of pale remakes that are probably not true to the film the original producers had in mind.
It's time to expand your horizons and earn that honor of being called a film buff. Show your kids there is something beyond "Twilight" and "Matrix" and heaven forbid the remake of "Tron." When movie night rolls around again, stay put and get on the internet, search the sites for a really good classic film you want to see that night, and view it right there on your own silver screen.
