Overview

Rewind, Replay explores the birth and maturation of the pre-recorded video entertainment business in the UK. Informed by archival research and the examination of contemporaneous trade periodicals, industrial documentation and ephemera, it scrutinises distributors, wholesalers and shops. It explores industry shifts previoulsy unconsidered in scholarship, including video rental, market rationalisation and the development of 'sell-though' videocassettes to identify the key factors that led to the video boom.

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9781474454476

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Reviews

"A loving, and detailed account of how video 'boomed', and bust, in Britain [...] The way in which Walker has brought together different magazine and journal material to generate a historical snapshot of a burgeoning industry is wonderful [...] an illuminating, poignant and insightful text that establishes an important and previously unclear historical narrative.--Graeme R. Spurr ""Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television"" An illuminating, poignant and insightful text that establishes an important and previously unclear historical narrative.-- ""Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television"" Rewind, Replay is a formidable addition to an important and growing body of scholarship establishing home video as a prelude to the digitalization of life. Walker shows how marketing and distribution of analogue video folded 'cinema' into a swathe of other activities.He does so with skill and depth.--Frederick Wasser, Brooklyn College CUNY Walker authoritatively chronicles the formative years of the home video boom in Britain. By tracing the distributors, shops and clubs that brought video into UK homes, he identifies the conditions that enabled popular uptake of a new entertainment technology. In so doing, Walker provides us with essential coordinates for grasping the full significance of this transitional period in the history of screen media in Britain.--Paul McDonald, King's College London In Rewind, Replay, Johnny Walker traces with exemplary clarity and copious detail the evolution of video distribution and retail in Britain from 1978 to 1992. A great deal has been written about 'video nasties' but far less about the industry in which they, and many other kinds of videos, circulated. This is a much-needed and very welcome addition to the literature on the early days of video in the UK.--Julian Petley, Brunel University Written in lively prose that is infused with Walker's clear passion for the subject, Rewind, Replay is as engaging as it is insightful [...] this book is essential reading for students and researchers that specialize in home video as well as those that focus on British media culture.--Daniel Herbert ""European Journal of Cultural Studies"""

Author Information

Johnny Walker, Associate Professor in the Department of Arts, Northumbria University.

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