Module 5: Red Queens and Increasing Returns

When I decided to watch the movie Paycheck, which is based on a Philip K. Dick book, I did a YouTube search for the movie. Several videos came up and one of them included a note from the YouTube user that contained another link to an outside website that had the full movie. I went to it, it loaded within seconds, and I watched it. The competition between DVDs and video-on-demand is a great example of Red Queens because the Red Queen in a Lewis Carol book tells another character, to run as fast as she can to stay right where she is. This is similar to technology competition because both DVDs and video-on-demand are available to people and are constantly trying to put the best opportunity forward to attract people (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). For example, DVDs were available for rent if you went to the store and they were available to borrow. At Blockbuster, the cost was approximately $5.00 for a 4-day rental. Then, the amount of time the movie could be borrowed increased and then the cost dropped. Shortly after, rentals were available through a vending machinefor $1.00 and they could be mailed directly to the house. This is all to compete with the videos readily available through On Demand features on the television and through the computer, which is how I viewed the movie.

            In regards to McLuhan’s tetrad, I think video-on-demand enhances the way people can watch movies because it is immediate, there is no wait time. It enabled me to complete my assignment within two hours. It makes VHS tapes and DVDs obsolete. It retrieves when VHS were first invented because this was the first opportunity people had to view movies at home rather than in the movie theatre. The reversal will be when all movies can be found on video-on-demand. Currently, that is not the case.

Resource

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.