I wanted to rewatch Iron Man, the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of the Marvel movies and I wanted to begin with the one that started it all way back in 2008 and be transported to a time when Marvel was taking its baby steps from comic book pages to the silver screen. It was a heady time. Just a year earlier Netflix made its own transition from physical media (remember the little red envelops?) to digital streaming.

I own Ironman on Blu-ray, but it was early in the morning, and I chose convenience. My headphones sync with my Apple TV and I didn’t want to disturb the rest of the house. I opened the Disney+ app, searched Iron Man and clicked play. Right away…ads…so I am paying for this movie with my subscription and my attention?

As the ad plays, I figure it’s beginning of the movie. I can sit through some ads and then enjoy the film. I’m watching the movie, invested in the plot, remembering just how good Robert Downey Jr. is in this role. BOOM, another ad. It was jarring and occurred less than a half hour in! On a streaming service that, again, I’m already paying for. 

This happens four more times during the movie, at one point literally splitting a joke. Including the ads at the beginning and end, a total of six ads for one movie. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

If I had told you just a few years ago that premium streaming services would be showing movies interrupted with ads, I would have been laughed out of the room. In those early halcyon days of Iron Man and Netflix, we were witnessing a revolution in media. We were convinced that we had cracked a code by cutting the cord.

But the lie streaming services sold us has been exposed to the detriment of our wallets and even our hearts and brains. Perhaps it’s because I just finished a superhero movie, but it’s not hard to envision some red-faced executive in a massive boardroom shouting “surely we can find a way to get more ads in front of subscribers!” while he chomps on a giant cigar, lit with a one-hundred-dollar bill. 

This is where we are, friends. We pay high prices for a product that works in a way none of us wanted. Sure, you can pay even more for the privilege of no or fewer ads, but where does it end? 

A broken promise we should have seen coming.

Streaming promised us an accessible, low-cost future where we could cut the cord from our cable providers and enjoy nearly limitless content that we loved. But it never was a promise. It was always a lie. We were lured in with low prices, large catalogs, and no commercials. Now, slowly, steadily, insidiously, we have high prices, massive corporate mergers, smaller ever-shifting catalogs, and more commercials than ever. Simply put, we were duped, bamboozled, and flim-flammed into becoming a product. Look up attention economy and you will see what I mean.

It feels dire but it isn’t. 

What can be done? Simple. Own your media. If I had just watched the movie on Blu-ray, I could have enjoyed it ad free with better picture and sound and had a much better experience overall. I would have been invested in a cinematic experience and not engaged in a commodifying experiment. Lesson learned.

A future we own.

At Rebel Replay, we have a massive collection of VHS, DVDs, Blu-ray, and 4k UHD movies all priced so you grab a stack of your favorite flicks and own them forever. Further, you own your time and your attention. No ads. No ever-increasing fees. Just pure, uninterrupted movie magic. This weekend we celebrate movies! Watch an old favorite, discover a new classic, and share a bowl of popcorn.