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[roadrunnertwice]

Polaroid to stop manufacturing instant film

I've never had that intense connection to film that a lot of my artier friends have, and I pretty much welcomed the digital takeover without looking back. (Well, okay, I feel twinges; especially when looking at faded-out color prints from the late '70s.) But you know, when I was a kid and someone would whip out one of those whirring beasts, watching that picture slowly emerge from the murk felt like real, live, irrefutable magic.

I wonder if it seemed like magic to kids who are 8 years old today? Did the digital takeover make that go away, or was there something inherently amazing about that bizarre, right in plain sight alchemy? Better ask quick, I guess.

Comments

[coldjones.livejournal.com]

What amazed me was not so much the fact that they were cutting out instant film, but that they were only losing 450 jobs in doing so. That, as much as anything, says how little of that market remains, I think.

I'm also wondering what's gonna happen in ten years or so, when kids born right around now start watching old 80's movies that show characters using Polaroid cameras - will they have any idea what's going on, or will printer miniaturization tech have advanced to the point where they'll think, "Oh, that camera has a built-in printer, duh!"

[roadrunnertwice]

Good question. Maybe it'll be like the first time we saw old flash photography in the movies, where we understood the basic idea of what was happening, but weren't really aware that they were actually setting something on fire.

[nightswatch.livejournal.com]

Man, I remember our polaroid was the coolest goddamned thing ever. Its coolness was enhanced by the fact that it takes our family nigh on three years to get around to finishing a roll of film and getting it developed.

[roadrunnertwice]

And here we arrive at the core of why I welcomed our new robot overlords with open arms.