JULY 20 — A large number of my friends are vinyl record collectors. In this era of high-speed internet where downloading whole albums (legally or otherwise) takes only a few minutes, it’s nice to see some people still excited about getting “physical” (instead of going “digital” i.e. downloading). 

If you don’t believe me, just check out music and video stores like Rock Corner and Speedy Video and chances are you’ll find a whole small section exclusively dedicated to vinyl records, such is the demand for vinyl nowadays.

Of course the main reasoning about the improbable comeback of vinyl is that the warmth of its sound beats CDs and download formats anytime. But I think the other main reason that most people forget to mention is that when you’re a fan of something it’s always more fulfilling to have something tangible, something physical on the shelves, which we can see, touch and hold whenever the need arises, as opposed to simply having MP3s stored in a hard drive or iPod. It’s a totally different sensation, having a physical object to call our own.

Besides music, another example would be books. You’d probably buy something to read on Kindle for the sake of mobility, just like music fans would simply listen to their iPods or MP3 players when travelling, because carrying a Kindle is way easier and lighter than lugging books around in your bag, but which would you rather display as your book collection – rows and rows of books on your shelf or a tiny little Kindle with all those books inside? I’m sure we all know the answer to that question.

By the same logic, the same thing should apply to films too, right? It’s probably the same in other countries, especially in the USA and the UK, not to mention France, as can be evidenced by the success of so many small DVD labels like The Criterion Collection, Kino, Olive Films and Cinema Guild in the USA, which sells films that are not exactly going to register with the average filmgoer. 

The UK, with its much smaller population, is an even more remarkable example with lots of these small companies like Artificial Eye, Second Run, Masters Of Cinema, Arrow Video, Soda Pictures, Dogwoof and still many more that I can’t recall off the top of my head, surviving and thriving purely because of their DVD and Blu-ray sales, not so much from the theatrical exhibition of their films.

These are at best niche films, and an analogy can probably be made between these DVD labels and indie record labels when it comes to the world of music. However, over here in Malaysia, there are far more people willing to shell out their money buying original CDs or vinyl records of releases by the various indie labels of the world (even if they have to order it from overseas) than there are people willing to buy original DVDs and Blu-rays. 

Talk to someone who calls himself or herself a music fan here and chances are he or she will have quite an impressive collection of original physical media at home on his or her shelf. Talk to someone calling himself or herself a film fan though and chances are he or she will also have quite an impressive collection of films to reflect the range of his or her film tastes – but more often than not these will either be on a hard drive, or pirated DVDs and Blu-rays.

Yes, I know, most people complain that original DVDs and especially Blu-rays are expensive, but if vinyl junkies can shell out on average anywhere between RM100 and RM200 for a vinyl LP, why can’t film fans do the same? In fact, original DVDs and Blu-rays, even after ordering online from overseas, are still cheaper than buying vinyl records. So actually the price is not really the issue.

In my humble opinion the real reason is that, as a country and a people, we value film far less than we do music as part of art and culture. It is precisely because we don’t value film as highly that we refuse to spend money on it the same way we would for our favourite music, which is why we feel it’s okay to show off pirated DVDs and downloads as our film collection. Would a serious music fan ever display pirated CDs and downloads as his or her music collection? Hell no!

This is probably also why there is practically no institutional support in the form of grants when it comes to making feature films here because we’ve always seen film as mere entertainment and a business. 

It has never occurred in our minds (at least on the “official” level) that films can also be made with other than profit in mind. Most other countries, especially in Europe, have long recognized this fact and have made efforts to safeguard film as culture by creating and providing multiple grant initiatives to ensure that film as a cultural commodity will not be dead.

We, unfortunately, don’t have the same view of the cultural value of films here in Malaysia. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation, I guess. We’ll never know which came first. The important thing though, is that both exist, and our lives are quite a bit better for it.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.