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Comment by mtoner23 | Hacker News Reader

Idk, the matrix is in the library of congress, i think it's going to be preserved just fine

>Think of all the countless valuable film, music, etc that didn't have the acclaim of The Matrix. Gone sooner, and more prolifically.

E.g. Existenz and Strange Days

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Days_(film)

You're saying both of those no longer exist on streaming services? That's a goddamned tragedy (though I have local copies of both).

Side note, I first watched Strange Days on a VR headset (the Gear VR) while on a 6hr flight, having no idea the movie would be about virtual reality. That felt pretty damn special.

Ah no. To clarify I was highlighting mvkel's point by pointing out two lesser known films that future film historians would want to access to in addition to The Matrix.

Luckily there are plenty of DVDs floating about for those films, but you can imagine a situation where a cult classic released now will not have that physical artifact.

With books there is a requirement for to upload all books published in Australia to be put in the Australian National Library. The US has something similar.

It's surprising that something like that hasn't been legislated for film and possibly for TV.

It would be quite doable today technologically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Film_Registry

Both readily available on DVD still thankfully, although Existenz is selling for about twice what they want for strange days for some reason.

Existenz is on the MS Store for some reason.

There are a lot of things preserved in the library of congress which remain inaccessible to most people. It's better than having works vanish entirely, but our culture is still poorer and shrinking as a result.

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