The movie I chose in Module 4 was “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise. Believe it or not I didn’t have to rent or purchase the DVD nor purchase a download through any website. Much of the movie and various clips were available on You Tube. I viewed a large amount of the video straight from my computer. Dr. Thornburg (2009) describes the consequences of a Red Queen in that there is a “Huge competition between two technologies in the process all other competitors are left behind.” Thornburg (2009) describes Increasing Returns as when “Two innovations hit the market at the same time. By chance one technology is locked in and drives the other to extinction."
With this in mind I feel that the current competition between DVD’s and video on demand is more Red Queens. More and more consumers are purchasing and viewing movies online, in some cases cable and satellite companies offer these same on-demand services to its consumers, making it even more accessible through their home televisions without ever having to step foot into a Blockbuster. At the same time DVD purchases are being pushed and advertised, these same advertisements are seen online urging customers to “download now” or through cable and satellite providers urging customers to press the “buy” button to view a movie.
When I think of DVD’s and video on demand as they relate to the four criteria of McLuhan’s tetrad, I feel that they fall into the categories of Enhancing and Retrieving.
Laureate, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Red qeens. [Web]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199715&Survey=1&47=3951732&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Laureate, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Increasing returns. [Web]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199715&Survey=1&47=3951732&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
