EYES WIDE SHUT
WITH ONLY DAYS LEFT TO GO BEFORE IT SHUT ITS DOORS FOR GOOD, JACK O’KENNEDY PAID A VISIT TO LASER ON GEORGES ST. FOR A CHAT WITH LONG TERM STAFFER PETER DUNNE ABOUT THE STORES TWENTY THREE YEAR HISTORY AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LEAD TO ITS IMMINENT CLOSURE. There’s nothing left but a few obscure Jean Claude Van Damme flicks and a dusty copy of Rush Hour Three in the action section. The posters have been thoroughly pillaged, unless you enjoyed 300: Rise of an Empire in which case you’re in luck. A life size frozen in carbonite Han Solo and a model of R2D2 are tucked away in a basement corner, ready to be shipped off to an American collector. What does all this mean? It means that we’ve truly arrived at the last days of Laser, the beloved Dublin based video store chain which by the time you’ve read this article will have closed it’s doors for the final time. Any discerning film fan with a penchant for overspending on entertainment will be aware of Laser, “the specialist film and movie store” which has been trading in Dublin for over twenty five years. Whether you like films or not if you’re a local you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with the flagship George’s St. location with its black and white shopfront and the glaring eyes that make up it’s logo. Since they announced the closure of their stores (The Ranelagh and Andrews St. branches both bowed out in recent weeks) the Georges St. Laser has been a hive of activity as punters look to bag a bargain in the clearout sale. With the closing down of numerous Xtra-Vision locations, the very public struggles of HMV; shutting down and reopening stores in different locations with little success, the end of Laser can hardly have come as a big surprise.
Speaking to Peter Dunne, a soon to be graduated film student and ten year veteran of the store, we’re told that the first sign of a change in people’s buying habits was the post celtic tiger recession, “people just didn’t have the money to spend anymore”. Many would argue that streaming sites like Netflix, which launched in Ireland in January 2012, were the final nail in the retail film market’s coffin. When asked to comment on the boom in popularity of online streaming Mr. Dunne pointed towards the tradeoff one makes when one plugs for that kind of service. “If you have Netflix, they decide what you watch and they have a programme which tells you that if you like that then you’ll like this too. When you use that site you know exactly what you’re looking for, there are no surprises”. It’s a fair point. Scrolling endlessly on a click wheel doesn’t have quite the same appeal as spending a few uninterrupted hours perusing the shelves of a bustling store, coming across old favorites you hadn’t seen for a long time or something brand new that for one reason or another catches your eye. Netflix’s recommendation settings have been the source of much derision in the past and are currently being retooled (this writer was once suggested the Adam Sandler starring atrocity Grown Ups after giving The Shawshank Redemption a favorable review...no me neither). Ultimately an algorithm, no matter how well tested and frequently updated is never going to 8 8
match a passionate employee with a wealth of knowledge of films both old and new, someone who can tease out a film buyers likes and dislikes through casual conversation rather than twenty odd clicks on a taste survey. “I know that if we get a film student in here looking for a film by a particular director, we can say ‘yes we have that for you, and here’s a load of other films made by the same director which you might also enjoy”. The notion of someone logging on, picking and watching a film and leaving it at that, with no browsing around similar areas and filmmakers of interest is anathema to Peter who says that he “fears the next generation of film watchers are actively narrowing their film knowledge, shrinking it instead of allowing it to expand naturally”. It’s arguably been one of the worst years on record for physical film sellers, vinyl on the other hand, is having a bit of a moment right now, with sales this year set to reach their highest numbers in over a decade. How come the same cache and the desire to be a collector hasn’t crossed over to film fans and DVD’s or Blu Rays? “Well, speaking to younger people like my brother it’s becoming clear that there’s a generation of people being cultivated that just don’t understand the concept of paying for films. It’s alien to them and they’re just going to download or stream something without a moment’s hesitation. It’s a generational habit that people aren’t just going to snap out of when they’re in their twenties and say oh now I’ll start paying for films.” Peter goes on to say that the majority of their loyal customers would be older people and that the loss of the younger folk, teens and college students who in previous years would have been the lifeblood of film and video shops, has had a deeply detrimental effect on the health of their business.