Remember when going out to the movies used to be cool? When having your parents drop you off at the local multiplex with a group of your fellow giggling preteens proved that you were finally adult enough to “go out” with your friends unsupervised? Now, trying to find someone to go see a movie in theaters is like pulling teeth. I’ve heard every excuse in the book, from “It’s too expensive!” to “If I have to hear one more baby crying or cell phone go off, I’m going to shoot myself.” Of course, I could just assume that my friends are trying to find reasons not to hang out with me, but since they’re all perfectly willing to rent a DVD and watch a movie on the couch, I have to conclude that something deeper is going on here. Our generation just doesn’t want to go out to the movies anymore.

I admit, I’m hardly the first person to make this brilliant observation. And part of me wants to fall in with Gen Y’s home-entertainment-system philosophy. After all, $12 for a movie is ridiculous, and why make the effort to go out when it’s so much more convenient to have Netflix deliver movies right to your door? Well, at the risk of sounding like I’ve just stepped out of a 1920’s MGM ad, I’ll tell you why. There is something magical about seeing a movie in theaters: the communal experience. It’s almost thrilling to hear a room full of people laugh at the same moment, or to hear an utterly deafening silence at a film’s suspenseful climax. But even more satisfying than the feeling of universal enjoyment is the certainty that every other person in the theater is hating a movie as much as you are. You have absolutely no reason to identify with these totally random people, but, somehow, you feel like part of a community. A community with a two hour life span, perhaps, but a community all the same.

Case in point: I went to see Beowulf this weekend, an utterly terrible movie. During one of the more elaborate mythological sequences–and trust me, there are many–as I was feeling totally confused and thinking that if it weren’t for the cool 3D effects I would have walked out an hour ago, a man at the back of the theater grunted “I have no idea what the hell is going on!” There was a moment of silence, and then suddenly the entire theater just started laughing. Because none of us had any idea what was going on. And knowing that my theater-mates were my partners in confusion made me feel great. The movie sucked, but I walked out with a smile on my face. So no matter how convenient movie-watching at home becomes, I will always be a sucker for the cineplex.

- Jessica Spiegelman

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.