2D Glasses: Worthless Invention or Necessity of the Future?

By  · Published on April 21st, 2011

When I caught the video pitching 2D glasses – which take a 3D movie and only allow in the right visual particles (I made that part up) to give you a headache-free 2D image – all I could think about was that I had a completely free way of turning a 3D movie into a 2D movie:

Buy a (cheaper) ticket for the 2D showing.

In fact, that’s better than free. It’s money-saving.

It’s not rocket surgery. Why pay for a 3D price only to wear image-dimming glasses that turn it into 2D when there’s a 2D screening down the hall that doesn’t have an upcharge?

Now, these 2D glasses (being sold by Hank Green) might be a huge joke that I’m not getting, but they seem about as useful as a battery-powered egg cracker. However, they might be the product of the future.

In that future, James Cameron has gotten his wish, and every single movie is made in glorious, eye-straining 3D. Those of the population that are physically injured by 3D will have to have these glasses in order to see movies at all without knocking back a handful of Excedrin. But for now, you’re spending $8 to have your upcharge rendered meaningless.

Who knows. In a decade, when the price has quadrupled, doctors might be prescribing them.

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Movie stuff at VanityFair, Thrillist, IndieWire, Film School Rejects, and The Broken Projector Podcast@brokenprojector | Writing short stories at Adventitious.