Before you could stream virtually every movie from your TV or laptop, people relied on VHS tapes to view their favorite movies or recordings. That meant, “Be kind, please rewind,” was a catch phrase you knew by heart and that entered your mind the second the movie ended.
As a child, my parents encouraged my brother, Will and me to play outside or entertain ourselves with our collection of toys. However, sometimes we would be lucky enough to watch a movie (though movies did become synonymous with sick days at home). The old wooden dresser in our extra room upstairs housed a plethora of VHS tapes. Each drawer contained a variety of movies– from Disney films to action flicks, we had it all. I can still fondly recall watching Space Jam with Will while my mom made dinner and thinking that it was so awesome.The times that we desperately wanted to see a newly released film meant tying up our sneakers and walking to the movie store at the shopping center.
Visiting Video Maniacs, essentially a locally run Blockbuster, always served as an exciting outing for me. Rows upon rows of films lined the store making the options seem endless. Although the goal was mostly to rent a new movie, I had my favorites in the back of my mind as backups in case nothing else looked enticing. In the 90s and early 2000s, renting movies was a thrilling outing for me, providing an entrance into this almost fantasy-like world of films just waiting patiently on the shelves to be watched.
VHS tapes remained at the forefront of home entertainment until the arrival of the DVD. Soon the clunky, black tapes collected dust instead of playing time as the thin, shiny DVD slid into people’s homes across the country. Although it is a throwback to the past and how media was once enjoyed, VHS tapes still take me back to my childhood. They are a reminder of a time before everything was instant and there was joy in waiting and searching for the perfect film to watch.