Widescreen vs. "Fullscreen": An Argument That Should be Dead

There's three ways to approach this argument:

- You prefer "fullscreen" (I'll get onto why I put quotations on it later)
- You prefer widescreen
- You prefer the original aspect ratio that it was viewed in.

I'd say I'm the last one of the three. I believe things should be as they were when created; HOWEVER, the grey area lies in things that were shot/animated in one ratio, but presented in another. For this area, I support the release of both versions, so a "fullscreen" and widescreen release being separated is fine (though optimally, having both in one package would be nice...).

Now for the part where I complain.

It is beyond my understanding as to why some people still prefer bastardizing the original aspect ratio of... anything. Be it a movie, commercial, TV show, video game, etc. There are large number of people who still buy "fullscreen" versions of movies, and worse yet, STILL under the misconception that they are seeing more footage. This bullshit has to stop right now. While those in the know, already are aware that some movies do indeed have more in the fullscreen version, this exception is usually only made to Super 35 films and animation that was actually drawn within a wide ratio. My real problem with this, err, problem, is that there's so much misconception, and there's only more with the advent of 16x9 televisions. Here's what used to be the problem:

1. Movies were widescreen, but pan and scanned for 4x3 sets. Most people are too stupid to notice/card.

2. Widescreen movies were released and the advocates could be happy, but the dumb fucks thought that it was "removing" footage because suddenly, their TV sets are "full", but the movies are not.

That problem still exists today, but I fear we may eventually shift towards a slightly different version of this issue:

1. 16x9 TV's will become more and more common, essentially becoming the standard ratio for almost everyone.

2. After becoming standard, "fullscreen" will continue to mean "taking up the entire frame", and the term will mean that any feature shot/animated in a wider ratio than 16x9 will suddenly be cropped off to fit anyway. This already happens on many HDTV channels, sadly.

You know what I really love? There's a lot of people who bought "fullscreen" movies, and still do, but they own, or will buy an HDTV. These same people will be the first ones to bitch about how their movies look stretched out, or that there are now "black bars on the side" (pillarboxing). Hell, I knew someone who almost always bought "fullscreen" movies simply out of preference, because he DID believe that he was seeing more, and then he finally bought an HDTV; I asked him what he did with his collection, and he merely said it worked.

Bullshit.

People need to wake up and use some fucking common sense. Buy Original Aspect Ratio and shut the fuck up.