VHS FROM nasties TO nostalgia
Don’t let the cumbersome aesthetic fool you: it was a god in its day. It enjoyed a tantalising title position with ‘sex’ and ‘lies’ in a breakout indie hit. It formed a movie title with the word ‘drome’, promising illicit delights within. It spawned a rental sector, a generation of collectors and the careers of free-thinking directors. And it saw off a moral panic, endearing itself to us forever in the process.
Nowadays, we are long past even the time when notes in charity-shop windows would politely ask customers to stop donating old collections. Yet even after its decline, the VHS video cassette holds a top-loaded spot in film fans’ affections. Forty-five years after it began to click and whirr towards our homes, VHS intermittently re-emerges to remind us of its one-time promises, whispers of possibility heard down the years from home cinema’s birth.
Recently, shelves of VHS titles glimpsed in Jordan Peele’s Us tickled our nostalgia glands. Elsewhere, its influence shows in books, retro packaging, exhibitions, games, rock albums, horror movies and beyond. Most of us ejected our last video years back, but its after-effects spool ever onwards.
track back
To find out why, hit rewind. For the arrival of VCRs decades back should do. For its origins, go further; for its peak, aim for the early ’80s. The hairstyles will guide you.
