The Coen Brothers: No Country for Old Men

           by B. R. Tatalovic (Nov 2007)

            My admiration for Ethan and Joel Coen's cinematic craftsmanship started back in 1984, with their debut film Blood Simple. No Country for Old Men is another proof that the Coen brothers are two of the most sophisticated and stylish American auteurs today. This remarkable "retro-thriller noir" (based on Cormac McCarthy's book) has all the elements and signs of Coens' older works, but its ending is what makes it controversially unique, and different from anything that came out of modern American cinema in recent years.

            The story takes place in 1980, somewhere in Texas. Llewellyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) is a "white trash" welder/hunter who comes across 2 million dollars in drug-cash left in the desert. He decides to take the money, not realizing that the bag contains a small transmitter which allows it to be tracked down by its original owner. The original owner of the briefcase is the character named Chigurh (not "sugar"), played (with an Oscar deserving quality) by Javier Bardem. Chigurh is not just a gangster, hitman, or cold-blooded killer. According to Andrew Sarris of New York Observer, Javier Bardem delivers "uncannily apt incarnation of evil as Anton Chigurh, a subhuman killing machine with a touch of whimsy in his expression and in his soothing funeral director's voice". This amazing character is one of the scariest villains in recent cinematic history. He's very intelligent, sophisticated, and super-determined. And above all, his "out of this time" hairstyle and funky looking hand-made killing tools are something that stays with the viewer for a long, long time. Chigurh represents evil at its worst. Nothing can stop him (or "it") in his pursue of human prey, or, as young woman in the Act 3 points out to Brolin's character: "You can't stop what's coming." These words are echoing in the ears of another protagonist in the story.  Sheriff Bell (played with his standard "frozen smile" elegance by Tommy Lee Jones) is an interesting character who knows what's going on around him and wants to do his job as best as he can, but in his heart "he can't stop what's coming". Sheriff Bell is the most sympathetic character in the picture, but he's far from the real action. Finally, near the end of Act 3, he comes so close to the "evil" in a very suspenseful motel room scene. This is where the Coens' cinematic craft shines the most. The viewer is in the middle of recognizable mixture of silence, low key noir-lighting, and slow-progressing action. 

            The chase-game between Chigurh and Moss is unfolding throughout entire film. Every scene is masterfully crafted by the Coens, and wonderfully photographed by the master of noir-cinematography, Roger Deakins. Another element ads to film's "retro-look". The Coens are using (popular in recent years) film desaturation techniques in order to make it look like an old photograph, or something that was shot back in the 1970s. It ads to story's surrealism. Another "missing" element is the soundtrack. The music is non-existent throughout entire movie. The Coens are using combination of "dead silence" and sound effects, mixed with character's monologues and dialogues. This extraordinary approach creates very suspenseful and dramatic sequences.

            Bob Strauss of L. A. Daily News points out that "nothing like closure accompanies the fates of many people whom we've invested in - nor, for that matter, is much catharsis to be found by the story's soul-sick roundup." In my opinion, that's exactly what makes No Country for Old Men a great film. Do I really care about Moss' last seconds of his troubled existence? Who got the briefcase full of dirty money? Did Chigurh perform another surgery on himself (by himself) in order to fix "that fuckin' bone" in his arm. And, how believable is all of that? 

            I've seen Blood Simple in 1984. Yes, it was theatrically distributed in communist Yugoslavia, and it was one of my "required run-out-of-school weekly viewings". The Coen brothers' unique style and details in this old thriller is what stayed in my mind for years. I recognized some of those same details in No Country for Old Men: long country road in the night; the car surrounded by darkness and silence; gushing blood; the "throwing up" scene"; expressionless faces; boots, hats, and... American south.

            No Country for Old Men is clearly the most controversial picture from the two auteurs. It's unconventional ending is what creates the ultimate controversy. Personally, I loved it. It falls right into my alley, together with Kubrick, Goddard, Fellini, Fasbinder, Makavejev, and others who created motion pictures that will require further "in-depth" studies. And my message to all of those (about 90%) popcorn-popping moviegoers who exited the theater demanding their monies back: "You can't stop what's coming", as Ethan and Joel Coen would say. C'est la vie!

The Masters of Nude Photography

by B. R. Tatalovic (2005)

              The development of nude photography as an artform dates back to 1800s. In the twentieth century it further expanded with a help of erotic literature. Nude photography is an artform that visualy explores the form of human figure in its natural beauty, and throughout its150 year long history it has been reflected through the work of a number of prominent artists.

            Creating an image from life models is considered one of the most important elements of the artists’ abilities. The study of human body (nude figure) was one of the key elements in painting and sculpture. The invention of photography as a visual artform further expanded the study of human form. Art history shows that an early development of nude photography started in the first half of nineteenth century. French artists were the first ones to explore this theme. In the early years nude photography was often banned from exhibitions, but slowly it gain the respect of art critics.

            The transitional period in photography was between the two World Wars. Edward Weston was one of the most respected  American photographers of this era. As a Modernist, Weston seperated physical bodies from the psychological beings (Pultz 67). Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) was the first female artist who photographed male models. She was highly influenced by Weston’s work, adding some unique and original elements in her images. Cunningham’s female figures posess a doze of personality and explicit sensuality. In 1915 she produced a series of nude studies of her husband, and some of those images are conntroversial even today (Henry 12).

            Alfred Stieglitz is considered one of the great masters of early Modernism. Between 1917 and 1933 he photographed American painter Georgia O’Keeffe, giving a new meening to the role of the body in portraiture (Pultz 67). Stieglitz was the first photographer who intentionally cropped his images in order to fill the frame with his subject’s body and present it in a fully eroticized manner. For Man Ray (1890-1976), nude photography was a way of personal philosophical expression. He was closely asociated with Dadaists and Surrealists in the 1920s, and actively explored the ideas of these cultural movements using his camera (Ware 8). “La Priere” is a perfect example of Ray’s desire to create a shock in the viewer, by an awkward positioning of the female figure. The pose directly evokes Surrealists’ themes that promote the pleasures of sexual cruelty and admiration of works by Marquis de Sade (60).

            Large number of photographers followed Ray’s experimantations in nude photography. Andre Kertesz (1893-1985) was one of the great masters of nude photography. In the 1930s Kertesz extensively experimented by distorting his images in every possible way. His distortions are formaly inovative, his style is different, but his pictures still show full control of a male artist over a female model, as seen in “Distorted Nude, 40” (Pultz 73). One of his favorite compositions was  to combine distortions and reflections in the mirror, and produce dream-like curved designs.

            The period between the two World Wars exposed various styles, techniques, and inovative approaches in photography. The list of most notable nude photographers includes Edward Steichen and his unnatural statuelike subjects (Life 132). Frantisek Drtikol was a Czech artist who produced very dramatic and graphic images, and Herbert List (German) was a modernist who favored compositions that included young men. At the same time, American photographer Paul Outerbridge (1896-1958) created color nudes using the carbro-color process. His color images show women’s bodies in fetishistic poses, such as “Nude Woman Wearing Meat-Packer’s Gloves”, a complex picture suggesting sadistic devaluation (Pultz 78). Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) was a German-born artist who produced large amount of work in the 1940s and 1950s, in his New York studio. Some of his nude images include various inovative techniques, such as solarization and negative printing.

            Nude distortions pioneered by Kertesz and the 1930s photographers, came back in the second half of the twentieth century, with some inovative compositional elements. The photographs of Bill Brandt combine his unique landscape compositions and beautifully distorted figures of nude females bodies. Brandt uses the nude as a way to express personal feelings as well as to investigate form and shape (Brandt 7). In many of his images the female figure becomes an extension of the background and part of the landscape. These contrasty photographs show huge white shapes of the body which is “as much rock as woman, even to the seaweed-hair that washes over it” (Life 142). At the same time his subjects ocuppy an imaginary world. The bodies are placed in spacious rooms and claustrophobic interior spaces (Brandt 7). Chairs, various objects and pieces of furniture take on new life and meening in Brandt’s compositions (7). His camera captures the contours and shapes of the body from different angles, approaching the subject in a very intimate way. The extreme close-ups further manipulate the subject, making it fictional and abstract.

            Minor White (1908-1976), one of the most important American photographers of the 1950s era used his camera to explore his own sexuality. His “Song Without Words” series with its dramatic sequencing point to the rise and fall of sexual tensions (Pultz 110). White would put a strong emphasis on the sequencing of pictures, and as a result it would increase the precision when it comes to expression of the meaning (110). His nude portfolios include some very explicit compositions that were not exhibited until 1980s.

            In the 1960s and 1970s the sociocultural changes throughout the world created new waves of artistic expression. The era of counter-culture is very well presented in Thomas Weir’s nude photograph titled “Renee Oracle”. This image shows a nude female figure in an empty field with a pubic area completely exposed to the viewer. Weir is best known for his cynotype photographs. By using this old technique, he was not only producing a unique photographic look, but at the same time making a social statement against modern technological world (119). The position of his subject supports the concept of rebellion. At the same time, but on the oposite side of the world, Kishin Shinoyama of Japan emphasizes on the roundness and tightness of the human form (Life 137). His nude photograph titled “Birth” is defined by strong shadows and a very compact composition that balances the musculine body on the rock, with a beautiful sky in the background.

            The end of the twentyeth century redefined the body again. Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) crosses racial lines, and at the same time exposes male homosexuality (Pultz 157). He brings the subject of AIDS, blurres the lines between art and pornography, and generates arguments about sexuality in modern society (158). Mapplethorpe chose young statue-like male models to carefully compose provocative black-and-white images (Stokstad 1138). In many cases his photographs fuled a controversy over public funding for the arts in America (1138). American photographer Spencer Tunick is another artist facing the same problem, with his masive nude instalations involving hundreds and thousands of models on the streets of large cities across the globe.

            The nude has a special place and a unique niche in art, that directly comes from human sexuality and taboos (Life 130). It is in many cases provocative, contraversial, and at the same time, very sensual and erotic photographic theme. Numerous fine photographers faced the chalenges of nude since early 1800s. The beuty of human body, and human desire to visualy enjoy it, will drive photographers and artists to explore this theme and face the same chalenges forever.

                             Works Cited

Henry Art Gallery. Imogen! Imogen Cunningham Photographs 1910-1973. U of            Washington P, 1974.

Life Library of Photography. The Great Themes. New York: Time-Life Books, 1970.

Pultz, John. The Body and the Lens: Photography 1839 to the Present. New York: Harry          N. Abrams, 1995.

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New Jersey: Pearson, 2005.

The J. Paul Getty Museum. In Focus: Man Ray. Ed. Weston Naef. Los Angeles: The J.             Paul Getty Museum, 1998.

Brandt, Bill. Nudes 1945-1980. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1980.

Lot’s Frau: The Holocaust, Third Reich,

and the Nightmarish World of Anselm Kiefer

by B. R. Tatalovic (2005)

           The work of German Neo-Expressionist Anselm Kiefer (1945- ) represents the rebirth of European art during the 1980s. Lot’s Wife[1] is one of Kiefer’s paintings that presents the destructive side of human civilization, people’s suffering, martyrdom, and death.

            Anselm Kiefer was born at the end of World War II and his controversial work seeks to explore and understand Germany’s troubled history, particularly its Nazi past.[2] He uses various materials to construct his compositions: paper, metals, straw, sand, photographs, human hair, ashes, chemicals, dried plants, and  pieces of glass and ceramics. Kiefer successfully combines different mediums and elements in his large scale paintings. Lot’s Wife is a perfect example of his visual explorations of German identity, biblical stories, and the link between the two.

            Kiefer’s painting is very rich in textures. It is a direct result of an unconventional approach and very unique blend of various techniques and materials used to create this gigantic piece of art.[3] According to Keneth Be, in this painting sheets of lead foil were subjected to various treatments and then stapled and glued to a wooden substructure constructed from pine supports and covered with several sheets of plywood. The use of lead as a main material contributes to the painting’s weight of more than one thousand pounds. Kiefer’s unconventional approach goes very far, by combining artistic imagination and chemical elements. He applies various chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, to the lead surface in order to produce numerous white marks and glowing stains. The artist further distresses metal surface by walking and driving over it[4]. The results of this method are visible in the top unit, in the form of footprints and tire tracks.

            According to Be, the extensive surface alteration in Lot’s Wife is a direct result of Kiefer’s extreme manipulation of the canvas with various chemicals, such as a concentrated solution of sodium-chloride. Kiefer creates very unusual shapes by adding and physically altering salt water slurry. The evaporation of chemical solution leaves behind white and yellow crystalline layers. This process created very surreal background dominated by these two colors. It visually defined and completely separated the upper section of the painting. Be points out that these layers of salt helped visualize and convey Kiefer’s compelling iconography.

            In the lower section of Lot’s Wife, Kiefer applies paint on fabric. However, it is not a conventional oil on canvas method. Kiefer’s canvas was exposed to various types of manipulation before being mounted over the massive lead substructure. Keneth Be explains that woven material was stretched, primed, and placed outside for a period of time. After exposing it to natural elements, Kiefer applied various materials to it: commercial stucco enriched with linseed oil, and polymer emulsion using large brushes. Some areas of Kiefer’s special canvas contain purposely added animal skin. It was glued to it in order to  induce cracks in the paint surface. This technique helped Kiefer create an interesting layering effect, as Be points out.

            The artist applies different tones of grays and blacks. He intentionally allows these dark oils to drip in numerous places. Kiefer’s manipulation doesn’t stop there. He applies a thin coating of ash on the top of oils before it’s dried out. Finally, he intentionally burns the canvas with a blowtorch. Kiefer’s heavily altered fabric is flattened, and fastened with a commercial adhesive onto its lead base. He adds two small sections of a belt-shaped canvas to the lower right and left bottom half.

            Kiefer’s massive painting is a complex composition made up of two visually very different sections. The bottom half represents a ground of this abstract landscape. The top section posses an atmospheric appearance. The bottom is darker, heavier, and contains numerous details as a result of physical alteration. The top half is much lighter in color, and gives the impression of clouds on a heavily polluted sky, or a massive stone wall. The contrast between painting’s two sections successfully divides it into two pieces.

             The observable subject matter in this abstract painting is a barren, scorched landscape, dominated by converging railroad tracks.[5] It appears to be one of Kiefer's favorite motifs. He painted the train tracks as they appear on his photographs of the similar railroad tracks in the city of Bordeaux, France. The tracks provide a new element to Kiefer’s composition, giving it the feeling of movement through this imaginary deserted landscape.

            The artist breaks the rules further, by using a white chalk to write a title (Lots Frau) in the lower right corner of the painting. Kiefer uses the same white chalk again across the lower section, making a long vertical mark in the middle of it. The white line meets a foreign three-dimensional object that is attached to the canvas: twisted metal heating coil. The coil is attached right next to the image of the railroad tracks, and its metallic substance and dark rusty color blends into dark brown color of Kiefer’s old rails.

            Anselm Kiefer’s work in general is marked by its place in history and its relation to historical events and traumas[6]. Lot’s Wife directly points to the biblical story of Lot's wife and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah. The story from the book of Genesis talks about a woman who was punished for disobeying the warning not to look back at God's destruction of the two cities. The harsh punishment resulted in Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt. The salt-encrusted areas on the upper panel of Kiefer’s painting suggest the horrific ending of this biblical story. Kiefer’s controversial piece of art contains a broad range of symbolism related to Christianity, Judaism, mythology, history, paganism, and various sociocultural subjects. The artist incorporates his personal internal struggles linked to his homeland’s (Germany) place in history, as a result of National Socialist movement and Holocaust. Lot’s Wife is one of many Kiefer’s paintings that explore the possibility of coming to terms with the German Nazi past, and confronting post-Third Reich taboos.[7]

            Kiefer’s favorite subject matter, which appears in many of his works, might be called “delivery technologies”.[8] In Lot’s Wife, he presents it in the form of railroad tracks. Kiefer’s railroad tracks represent the main symbol of Jewish tragedy and suffering. The tracks were used by the Nazis to transport their victims to the concentration camps. Kiefer effectively uses perspective in order to create a visual tension, to lead his viewer into this horrific world of destruction. The viewer becomes a virtual victim, and follows the path along the tracks going to nowhere, and ending in the clouds of salt. Kiefer’s extreme physical manipulation of his canvas transforms the landscape, and creates very disturbing representation of human suffering and death.

            Keneth Be points out that Kiefer uses the biblical allegory as a warning about what may be expected in the future, if we do not become more environmentally conscious and responsible[9]. The heating coil might represent the global warming, and a metaphorical link to destructive powers of technological advancement. Kiefers emphasis on the salt could be interpreted in various ways. The salt represents life, as well as destruction and death. It posses a symbolic beauty, and contains something mystical, unnatural, and distant.

            Lot’s Wife seems to be Kiefer’s journey through the history of mankind in the form of a devastated landscape. He takes the viewer back where man’s true dwelling is recognized, beyond a world that is falling silent, the “thought that opens up”... a primal unity: “the square of earth and heaven, of devine and mortal beings”[10]. Kiefer’s self-transformation into the alchemist-painter helps him in creation of the dark magma of the surreal landscape[11]. Lot’s Wife appears like a dream vision. It represents Kiefer’s personal dream, or a nightmare that follows him throughout his life. His painting confronts the viewer with numerous unresolved historical, religious, and sociopolitical issues, particularly those issues connected to the German fascist past. Kiefer’s vision of Lot’s Wife is apocalyptic. His vision “raises the hope of redemption only to foreclose it”[12]. 

[1] Anselm Kiefer, Lot’s Wife/Lots Frau, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

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John Boorman’s Deliverance: the Man, the Nature, and the Death

by B. R. Tatalovic (Dec 2007)

         I’ve seen Deliverance at least 4 times (so far). And every time I watch Boorman’s amazing picture (based on the novel by James Dickey), I have the same amount of appreciation for this beautiful piece of filmmaking. Deliverance is disturbingly powerful thriller that paints a picture of humanity challenged by the wilderness, and man’s own insecurities.

          The opening sequence shows a river within the mountains of American south. The nature is about to be changed by the human hand. Boorman delivers the message through heavy machinery and explosions. The man conquers the nature and nothing will be the same again. James Dickey’s “lyrical keenness of moral vision and the fast-paced” suspense has been photographed beautifully by the great Vilmos Zsigmond (Brussat). It’s a dark-green environment, the water is muddy and grey, and the entire picture projects an atmosphere of morbid mysticism. It’s perfect setting for the story about 4 “city boys” who wish to go back to nature and escape their urban dramas. Their little adventure will soon turn into a full scale “nightmare of survival, with the men’s civilized values and human skills put to the test” (Levy).

         In the Act 1, one of the antagonists asks: “What the hell you wanna go fuck around with that river for?”. With this question Boorman sets the stage for something unexpectable, mysterious, and dangerous that is about to happen. The warning is given to the protagonists, and to the viewers at the same time. In the short exchange between our protagonists and couple of local men, we learn about the dangers of wilderness, about the two very different cultures (urban and rural), about the characters and their weaknesses and strengths, and about their intentions. The “rollercoaster ride” is about to begin.

           The four buddies are portrayed by Burt Raynolds (his best performance ever, as far as I remember), Jon Voight (remarkable facial expressions of fear), Ned Beatty (you must be a great actor to “squeal like a pig”), and Ronnie Cox (excellent depiction of a typical suburbanite outside of his own environment). Voight’s multilayered performance (as Ed) makes us identify with the character. Ed is the one that realizes the seriousness of the situation and what needs to be done to get out of it. He’s the protagonist through whom we sense the danger and he nicely brings those feelings back to us (Jacobson).

          On the other side, Burt Reynolds’ character named Lewis is the macho-type leader who loves the more extreme side of wilderness exploration. He’s the sportsman and survivalist. Lewis connects with the nature in a primal sense, and sees their trip as a true challenge to his survival talents and abilities (Brussat).  He’s very different from the rest in this foursome. Bobby (played by Ned Beatty) is a typical salesman of any kind. He could be an insurance salesman (as in the story), car dealer, or an electronics store manager. What a great casting! Bobby’s an “average Joe” with his own insecurities and fears. He’s been terrorized and sodomized by the mountain men, and he knows very well that his life is not the same anymore. At the same time, Bobby wants to survive and go back to his normal life, but in order to do that he must follow through without hesitation. There is no doubt in his mind how to “vote”, and what side to take in Act 2, when confronted with a problem of the dead body.

          Ronnie Cox’s character is unique in his own way. He’s the quiet guy who follows the law and wants to “do the right thing”. When confronted with a problem, he doesn’t want to cover it up, but at the same time he still believes in “democracy”, and he’ll follow through until the end – the ultimate end. Boorman delivers an unexpected twist in the Act 2, when he “disables” Lewis, and transforms him from the survivalist-machine into an invalid. Reynolds’ character is not capable of leading the men anymore, and someone else must step in to fill the role. The peril of situation forces Ed to suppress his own fears and to become a “hunter” himself (Brussat).

          Deliverance is a motion picture that exposes some of the most extreme human emotions: hate, lust, vengeance, selfishness (Cruz). Boorman does it in his own unique way, with a brutal non-romantic force that provokes, disturbs, and engages viewers’ primal senses. He takes time in designing each act of violence. The rape becomes more sadistic when mixed with various details surrounding the characters that are involved: victim’s fearful voice, rapist’s breath, and the reaction of witnesses. The forest is the witness, too. Boorman uses it a very symbolic way. The nature is “raped” by the development and human expansion. The serenity of the river is invaded by outside forces, and the battle for natural dominance occurs (Cruz). The struggle for survival is fought on several fronts. The man versus man; the man versus nature; the life versus death. The “civilization” is raping the wilderness, the urban adventurers are raping the river, and in the process they are themselves raped by the inbred mountain inhabitants (Dirks). At the end (as in every violent conflict) the civilized behavior fails, and the survivalism takes over.

            The musical score in Deliverance is something that stays in the viewers ears forever. The “banjo” scene in the Act 1 is one of the most memorable moments in the entire picture. In this mesmerizing scene Ronnie Cox’s character gets into an improvisational musical duel with a local boy (played by Bill Redden). This amazing bluegrass track is the creation of banjoist Eric Weissberg, one of the greatest banjo players in American history. The Dueling Banjos (or Feudin’ Banjos) song was recorded for the movie by Weissberg and Steve Mandel, but the song was written back in the 1950s by Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith (Dirks).  Boorman effectively uses this track throughout the film, and it becomes one of the pictures highlights.

         Deliverance is an amazing cinematic creation. It is not a motion picture about good guys and bad guys (who’s good in it?). At the end of Act 3 Boorman incorporates the idea of “selfish cell”, with the local sheriff trying to protect his disappearing community (Chaw). The church is gone, and the graves are being moved. Voight’s character stops to observe what’s unfolding in front of him. We can sense his internal fear and guilt about the remains of those individuals he left behind in the wilderness (Farber). Boorman summarizes the journey in a harsh way. Nothing seems to be fully resolved, nothing seems to be gained or achieved (Farber). The “rape” is over, or it might be still unfolding.

                        Works Cited

Brussat, Frederic and Mary Ann. Film Review: Deliverance. Spirituality Practice. 4 Dec 2007. http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/films.php?id=3893

Cruz, Oggs. Deliverance. Oggsmoggs Blogspot. 4 Dec 2007. <http://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2007/02/deliverance-1972.html>

Chaw, Walter. Deliverance: Four out of Four. A Film Freak Central. 5 Dec 2007.

http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/deliverancede.htm

Dirks, Tim. Deliverance. FilmSite.org. 5 Dec 2007. http://www.filmsite.org/deli.html

Farber, Stephen. Deliverance: How it Delivers. The New York Times on the Web. 5 Dec  2007. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/08/30/specials/dickey-delivers.html

Jacobson, Colin. Deliverance: Deluxe Edition. DVD Movie Guide. 4 Dec 2007 http://www.dvdmg.com/deliverancedeluxe.shtml

Levy, Emanuel. Film Review: Deliverance. Emanuel Levy.com. 4 Dec 2007.

 <http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=7020>

From VCR to DVD and Beyond: Video Technologies in the Home Media Environment and Sociocultural Change

by B. R. Tatalovic (2003)

             The home video technology was first marketed to the public in the form of VCR, in the late 1970s. In the last 25 years it has greatly expanded and became one of the most important technological elements within the home media environment. The world-wide adoption of video cassette (VHS) recorders, the diffusion of digital versatile disc (DVD), and an active search for alternative ways to deliver visual entertainment in the new millennium, is having an enormous impact on the audience and media industry, and is contributing to possible societal and cultural changes. 

            The global popularity and spread of VCRs, the ongoing penetration of DVD and video on demand (VOD), and an integration of visual communication technologies, have created an “unexplored new set of problems and issues and a new challenge for communication scholars” (Levy 17). Numerous studies in the last two decades have focused on the home video technology uses. Researchers have examined how much people use video, what are the effects of its use, and what is the role of video entertainment in the family unit. Since the video became a global entertainment medium, the scholars have also focused on its international perspectives. They observed various differences in use and adoption, the effects on various cultures and populations, the government restrictions, the medium’s overall penetration in the Third World, and the future alternatives.

            Video technologies were the major factors leading from traditional broadcast programming to more specialized control-based viewing in the 1980s and early 1990s (Krugman 68). More advanced media technologies related to television, such as cable and VCRs, have also been conceptualized as social technologies (Harvey 20). An industry survey illustrated the socializing power of the television and VCR combination: of 1,000 people interviewed nearly half (47.7%) said that they watch television with their family and 44% said they watch movies and videos together (Haran 9). The socializing power have contributed to the creation of the new form of socially-related leisure activity in the 1980s: home based video party. This type of social interaction is more present within the teenage and young adult singles, or couples without children. Participants actively discuss and choose particular motion pictures, pre-recorded television program, or any other type of visual entertainment, that they prefer to watch.

            Some academic studies have focused on the relationships of VCR satisfaction, use, and communication patterns, with home leisure functions, such as outside activities (Lin 348). The researchers have found that owning more home entertainment technologies, particularly VCR, and going to fewer movies as a result of it, do not necessarily encourage displacement of outside leisure activities for the children, or the family as a whole (350). Furthermore, the study shows that discussion between the family members regarding VCR use, video rentals, or program recording, “appears to bear no relationship on any of the home-leisure functions” (350). According to researchers, the viewing experience for traditional television and VCR movie rentals is not the same. Both, preparation to view and actual viewing are more active and involving for VCR movie rentals (Krugman 220). Feature film rentals require a consumer behavior not required of regular television, or cable services. In almost all instances, someone must go to a store to select the viewing material. The opportunity for both joint decision-making and shopping for VCR movie rentals represents a potentially more active viewing process (229). It leads to another important question: did VCR/DVD penetration change content preferences among television viewers? 

            Research studies suggest that in the United States, an average teenager is using a video to watch more R-rated films and more adult oriented videos with strong sexual content (Greenberg 519). Additional studies show that similar patterns exist in non-American societies. Swedish youth have very strong content preferences for explicit violence, graphic horror and sex (Roe 530). From the psychological point of view, it is closely related to the level of parental guidance. The demand for an explicit and graphic video entertainment could be directly linked to those adolescents who have minimal level of parental intervention and monitoring (Greenberg 520). According to study in Sweden, the adolescent video consumers could be divided into two groups. Positive users tend to record and rent sports, arts, educational programs, and quality, award-winning feature films. Negative users prefer an explicit violence, B-movies, pornography, and low quality programs (Roe 186). The scholars suggest that an introduction of VCR or DVD to the home media entertainment does not trigger a change in teenager’s personal content preferences. These preferences are the product of pre-existing factors: parental oversight, education level, and the extent of adolescent’s alienation and rebellion (186).

               Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the experts have researched differences in adoption and use of the home video technologies, within various cultures and countries around the world. In Arab communities across the Middle East and North Africa, video has increased exposure to foreign cultures and introduced Western values into a region generally shielded from their influence. An academic research study in Saudi Arabia suggests, that owning and using a VCR means that a family is moving away from established Saudi cultural norms, and opening itself to a wider range of influences (Al-Oofy 36). This study shows that home video is popular in Saudi Arabia because neither cinemas nor theaters are permitted in the country, and only two channels of government television are available.

            Studies of the former Communist (Soviet-bloc) nations suggest that the penetration of home video (VCR) parallels major political and social changes that took place in those countries. Together with a massive adoption in the western societies, the VCR quickly entered Eastern Europe through the underground channels sponsored by the dissidents. The governments were aware of the new technology from the beginning, and they imposed harsh laws and trade regulations, in order to control distribution of the video technology, particularly the content of western programs. During the 1980s, the underground dubbing and distribution of western, mainly American films, have expanded into a large network that operated in a manner similar to other types of illegal consumer businesses in the Eastern Europe (Boyd 261). Communist government’s strict regulations could not stop VCR’s penetration, due to an extremely high demand in the Europe’s east for anything that comes from the west, particularly audio-visual entertainment. The fact that imported VCRs were exchanged for an average Russian’s annual salary in 1988, and that the majority of video recordings is comprised of uncensored western feature films, shows the average people’s desire to learn and know more about the other side, the world behind the walls of government’s totalitarian rule (262).

            VCRs in the late 1980s, and DVD some ten years later, have become very popular private home entertainment mediums. These formats could be found in the homes of every nation of the world. The majority of produced entertainment (motion pictures) is still copied and distributed illegally around the world. This is particularly a problem in the Third World countries, where the copyright laws do not exist, or they are not fully developed. Western, mainly American film production companies may have lost billions of dollars, but at the same time, the industry has greatly profited from the legal distribution of features (Ogan 45).

            The adoption of home video technologies has created a demand for various types of entertainment program that is produced solely for the video distribution. Adult film production have risen to a billion dollar industry, due to relatively inexpensive production, and a very high demand for adult entertainment. The VCR was the perfect innovation for this type of entertainment, and it appealed to new audiences who would not go to adult movie theaters, but were able to watch hard-core pornography in the privacy of their home (Komiya 36).

            Since the late 1970s, television audience was able to choose what to watch, and when to watch, by adopting new home video technologies. First it was a video cassette recorder, who’s VHS format have reached an enormous popularity around the world, and has been adopted by more then 90% households in the Unites States. The digital revolution of the 1990s brought a more interactive system in the form of digital video disc (DVD), a technology that delivers better picture and sound quality then VHS. According to industry experts, DVD is the future of home video, and it will completely displace today’s videocassettes and VCRs, starting up a brand new market for the entertainment industry (Dizard 148). The Hollywood production studios and distributors are switching from the old videotape to DVD format. The massive adoption of personal computers throughout the world has helped the spread of DVD, since the discs could be watched on PCs, too.

            Cable and satellite television providers are looking into a new ways to deliver moving images and sound to the audience. Media giants have realized that there is a great demand for an alternative way to entertain viewers. The audience wants more flexibility, interaction, and ability to choose what type of visual entertainment to enjoy, and when to enjoy it. This is exactly what some industry experts had in their mind when they started experimenting with various alternatives in video delivery, such as the pay-per-view (PPV) service and  the video on demand (VOD). PPV has been around for many years through the cable providers, but its offerings were limited to only a few hit movies, and its telephone ordering system was unpopular. In the late 1990s this type of entertainment on demand was upgraded to more efficient, user friendly system (119). Satellite TV (DBS) providers have added digital quality video, expanding the quantity of programs from the motion pictures, to sports and adult films, and allowing greater interaction and easier ordering through the remotely controlled digital receiver. VOD is an experiment by the broadband providers that has a big market potential, but such service is still in its developmental stage (United 99). The Internet has created video delivery system in the form of Webcasting. The technical process is called streaming, and it allows real time delivery of digitized video (Dizard 101). The Webcasters could be an early version of the video-entertainment on demand.  It is possible that in the near future there will be a new generation of networks, serving PPV or distributing VOD through hundreds of digital channels.    

            The first decade of new millennium is a decade of convergence. The Telecommunication Act of 1996, together with FCC policies, is creating a deregulatory atmosphere, and merging different communication technology sectors (Lin 9).

Communication technologies are coming closer together, and changing the world of information delivery. Converging technologies are revolutionizing and “reshaping the ways information and entertainment content are produced and transmitted” (Atkin 37).  Today, almost three decades after an introduction of home video in the form of VCR, its world-wide adoption, and invention of DVD as a new step forward with a greater flexibility, we are still faced with a number of questions regarding these revolutionary technologies, their impact on human communication, and social and cultural changes. The ongoing experimentation involving alternative video technologies, is setting new problems and questions about the future of home media environment. As Edwin Parker from the Stanford University suggested, the communication scholars will have to engage in “an active role in designing the new communication technologies, and in investigating their diffusion and consequences” (Rogers 49).

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