destroyed-vhs
destroyed-vhs
Despite heated Facebook opposition, the Santa Fe University of Art and Design's film department is hosting a VHS "Smash and Sell" this afternoon.
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If you're old enough to remember the phrase, "be kind, please rewind," then you're old enough to remember the frustration caused by a VHS tape. By now, nearly all media once held in those bulky, plastic cases has been transferred to a digital format on hard drive or DVD. At least that's what the Santa Fe University of Art and Design is banking on.
On Tuesday afternoon, Santa Fe University of Art and Design's film department posted its plan to deal with their VHS tape collection on the university's Facebook wall. "SMASH AND SELL" is the name of the event aimed at gaining not just space in the department, but revenue as well.
Beginning at 1 pm today, all VHS' in the department archive will be on sale. Prospective buyers have two hours to purchase any tape for a quarter or buy five for a dollar. Collectors and purists alike had better be quick on the uptake, because two hours after the sale ends, the "main event" begins.
From 3-4 pm, the less enlightened and more enraged can buy tapes for the same price, but for the sole purpose of destroying the outdated media in (almost) any fashion they deem necessary. The event's organizers will provide instruments of destruction, though VHS executioners are encouraged to bring their own, with a few exclusions that have been posted online (no wild bobcats, for example).
Events such as this one are common on college campuses; though often involve a donated, run down vehicle and cost quite a bit more. The post explains that all proceeds will assist the department in acquiring new titles on DVD and Blu-ray disks, but many are upset over the decision
Only an hour after the event was posted online, a virtual riot ensued on the university's Facebook wall. Though a student from the department tried to calm the masses by ensuring that no irreplaceable VHS' were for sale (either to keep or destroy), many commentators still compare the destruction of the archive to the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
"This is outrageous," one comment on the post read, "there may be work on those tapes that will never been seen again."
"Calm yourselves guys," commentator Maxwell Gately pleads with the growing online mob, "we already pulled the irreplaceable tapes." Gately claims the only tapes up for slaughter are films like Air Force One or the Star Wars Saga.
As the firefight continued online into the evening on Tuesday, no one was available for comment from the university via telephone.
Then, sometime before Thursday night, the post mysteriously disappeared.
When SFR contacted the university, the individual working the phones had no information about the post removal but believes the event is still planned due to the presence of numerous posters still displayed around campus.
Avid collector or angry opportunist, this may be the last and only chance to either smash or own some vintage films.
