vhs

The Yale University Library and its Information Technology Services division has now assembled, as part of its Film Study Center’s Video Collection, an archive of over 6500 VHS tapes that form a homage to the age of scuzz. Thanks to the diligent work of Yale librarian David Gary, scholars and students can now delve into such cultural treasures as I Spit On Your Grave or Toxic Zombies, or others that first helped define the category “straight to video.”

What’s more, these films are not simply being digitized, but are actually being preserved as physical artifacts, in homage to what Gary defined for Bloomberg as the “physicality” of the medium. As well as an allusion that David Cronenberg would recognize, that term should have some resonance for other librarians and archivists in all media – with not only the content but the medium itself also a key concern for the archive, even down to the packaging.

Horror and exploitation flicks are absolutely not the only films available on VHS at the Video Collection – other more notable works from 12 Angry Men to 12 Monkeys are also available in the same format. But they’re certainly the ones that have attracted the most attention. So plug in a cassette, kick back, and grunge out, without shame.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Feel sorry for the poor Roman Empire. As it fell into decline, it could only feed Christians to the lions in the Coliseum. It couldn’t send scuzz (meaning disgusting and sordid) videos of those devourings around the empire to entertain. Nor did the Empire have the equivalent of universities to preserve the Empire’s vile horrors for the ages.

    Was that a loss to the world’s cultural heritage? Not at all. Nor would the destruction of this collection at Yale be any great loss. Gresham’s Law, bad money drives out good, applies equally well to culture. The vile stuff drives out the good. It cheapens, weakens and perverts society. When the barbarians arrive at the gates, there’s little or no difference between the barbarians and a supposed civilization.

    At least the Romans were honest enough to recognize that they were in decline. Their modern counterparts seem under the illusion that they’re enlightened and progressive.

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    Quote: “Horror and exploitation flicks are absolutely not the only films available on VHS at the Video Collection…. But they’re certainly the ones that have attracted the most attention. So plug in a cassette, kick back, and grunge out, without shame.”

    Yes, “without shame.” Perhaps nothing Paul StJohn Macintosh has ever written better summarizes the fundamental differences between he and I than that. He has no sense of shame—and hence no sense of honor. I do.

    As C. S. Lewis put it in The Abolition of Man:

    “In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”

    –Michael W. Perry, Inkling Books

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