My dad is Black Friday obsessed. I guess it’s like hunting for the modern man. He gets one of those 2-pound newspapers filled with ads and coupons, scours those pages for good deals (mostly on guns and large electronics) and plans a strategy.
This past Black Friday he “scored” a new high definition TV. Oh wait, excuse me, he scored an ultra HD TV. After climbing between walls and weaving cables between cobwebs, we finally got it set up and watched our first movie. And to be honest, I was really disappointed.
This new ultra high definition viewing experience completely ruined the illusion for me. Everything looks like a soap opera because the new clarity lets no lighting mishap or makeup flaw go undetected.
The movie “Paranoia” appeared less finished. I like Liam Hemsworth less when his pores become defined before my very eyes. The sweat on his face actually caused some kind of glare in one scene. Where’s the fun in that? Ignorance is bliss, and the whole idea of a movie starring Liam Hemsworth lost a lot of charm when these minor details were no longer left to the imagination.
It felt like watching a bad movie that butchered a much-loved book on which it was based. Daniel Radcliffe isn’t tall and awkward enough to be Harry Potter. And who in the world chose Reese Witherspoon to represent Cheryl Strayed in the upcoming “Wild?”
Perhaps this all stems from a personal perception of the value of movies and books and pretty much all forms of entertainment with a plot, if we’re being honest. I read books and watch movies to get lost in them, to lose myself in a story and then to climb back out of it and relate what has just unfolded before my eyes to my own life.
Books are my favorite form of this adventure because books leave so much of the story to the imagination and creativity of the reader. Mount Everest to me is the setting of Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air,” and it doesn’t quite look like internet images of the ceiling of our world. Harry Potter doesn’t look like Daniel Radcliffe, and part of my attachment to “Wild” was lost when I think of Reese Witherspoon instead of myself when Cheryl Strayed is mentioned.
I like high resolution in climate models and digital pictures, but the cost of a few extra pixels per square inch on my TV is too high for me. The cost of my dad’s new HD TV is the magic of movies, and it cheapens the movie watching experience for me.
For now, I’ll be sticking to my books and the below-300 “standard definition” channels.
Kenna Rewcastle is a senior in College Scholars. She can be reached at [email protected].
