Movie piracy has been an issue for a while now, but it’s been getting worse during the quarantine according to Ryan Scott of MovieWeb. There’s a definite reason for it, but in a way it sounds like so much whining much as many things these days do when it comes to having ‘nothing to watch’ and ‘nothing to do’ because people have to stay indoors and actually find ways to entertain themselves. This is coming in an era when we have more than one streaming site, an internet that’s full of content and videos galore, and can be run on multiple devices along with many other apps and programs that can offer some form of entertainment. People are somehow still bored enough and need more stimulation than streaming and cable networks can give apparently, and it’s become a reason for movie piracy to rise in great numbers as theaters are closed and people want to see the newest material and are somehow too good to be stuck with untold hours of movies that they can watch either for free because they purchased them or because they’re paying the monthly charge for one service or another, or two or more which increases the amount of content that a person can pore through. Even in a couple of months it’s not possible to watch everything that Netflix has to offer, or Hulu, or Disney+, especially if one has a job and other things going on in life.
Think about that for a second, not everyone’s job has been deemed non-essential, so there are plenty of people still working and still helping out the economy, meaning that there are plenty of people not watching TV or movies during a good part of the day. Of those that are home, there are a lot that are still working while they’re at home, and therefore might have access to movies and TV but usually don’t have the time to watch them. Then comes those that are off of work and aren’t working from home, and have complete access to TV and movies and all the time in the world to watch them, unless they’re doing something else with their time. As Kasey Moore of What’s On Netflix has figured out, the streaming network has roughly 4 years or more of programming online at this moment and there’s even more that’s bound to come. Tack on what’s on Hulu, Disney+, what will be on HBO Max, Quibi, and Apple TV+ and others, and you’re talking even longer when it comes to how much content is really out there. That’s not counting YouTube, iTunes, and so many other options through which a person can purchase, rent, or simply view movies, that downloading and pirating illegal content shouldn’t even be necessary unless one is adamant about seeing the new and anticipated movies, which in many cases have been held back because the companies releasing them don’t want to place them on streaming for their own reasons, namely the loss of money that would come as a result.
But the fact that piracy is climbing is a serious copout by those that are doing it when the reason behind such an act is that there’s not enough content to stimulate the people. The reason this is a copout is that there is plenty out there and more than any one person can handle in a given year. With as many movies, TV shows on streaming, original content, and various other forms of entertainment are currently available within any given society there’s no reason for piracy other than to show how eager one is to rebel against a system and show that they’re ‘bad’ and can get away with it. In a bigger sense, it’s a stab at authority much as it’s always been, no matter the reasons that a person wants to give for their own personal decisions when it comes to something such as this. Remember the people in the neighborhood that used to steal cable because they didn’t want to pay the ridiculously high prices and figured that it was a harmless crime? This isn’t that different since it’s basically telling those in charge that people are going to do what they want even if what they’re stealing feels trivial and not at all bound to hurt anyone. Unfortunately in a real sense those that are doing the stealing are taking away from those that made the content possible, and when it comes to new movies and shows this is extra harmful since the people that put so much work into each project are on lock down just like anyone else and aren’t making much, if anything, from their contribution to the movie right now. Kofi Outlaw of Screenrant has more to say on this. So be a rebel, be as ‘bad’ as you want to be, but all the pirates are really doing is showing that they’re too lazy do the work to earn the privileges they’re stealing.
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