Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store

(From my listmania list: Ghek Remembers Video Stores and their Employees in movies ) "History of the video stores in America...why renting made "sense"...wheeling and dealing with formats and the movie industry...Comments from video store folk...Family Video owns it malls and is growing...Public Libraries loans near Netflix mailings...Netflix peak load >30% of bandwidth (14 pg into, great coda, 52 pgs of juicy notes)"

I actually took a class with Professor Herbert at my last semester at Michigan. This book is even more entertaining and informative than that class was.

When reading this book, think of it as a collection of college-level essays. A collection of essays on how the video store shaped movie culture. Plus, they're 30-something pages each. So, you'd better have a clear schedule. Once that's done, you'll be ready. The pictures and insights the author gives make this worthwhile.

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I first heard about “Videoland” in the magazine Entertainment Weekly, showcased on their “Must List” section. As a former video store clerk, and huge movie fan, I purchased the book sight unseen. My (incorrect) assumption was that this would be an enjoyable read about subjects that I am very interested in. However, upon starting this book, I was disappointed in finding out that this is closer to a text book, or something that should be presented in a classroom or turned in as a thesis. This is obvious when you see that of the 336 pages listed in the Product Details section, the text actually ends at page 227. It is followed by 109 pages of Notes, Selected Bibliographies and the Index. Moreover, the Introduction to this book was 14 pages long – and included 51 Footnotes. Chapter 1 – which is a little over 30 pages long - had over 150 Footnotes. There is nothing wrong with this of course, (the author IS an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan) but I think it is something that should be known before purchasing, as I wish I had. There are some parts of the book that I enjoyed– but again, you have to be very interested in the subject. If you are not completed fascinated by video stores, then this is not the book for you. Even so, the book is presented in a factual, deliberate way with very few personal anecdotes, or relatable stories. It is told in a very mundane, matter of fact way, and again, reminded me of my college/grad school experience more than being immersed in nostalgia or in the movie industry. The tone of the book is hardly light. It is less of a history of Video Stores, and more of a study of social aspects of them and why they closed. If you want a lighter, more personal experience about Video Stores and their history, I would recommend “I Lost It at the Video Store” by Tom Roston. Roston - a former editor of Premiere magazine - gives an oral history with interviews from famous directors/ former video store employees like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. I highly recommend that book; “Videoland” I do not.