One of my very first film going experiences was seeing the remake of “Shaft” starring Samuel L. Jackson with my family. I remember holding my mom’s hand as we waited on line and staring down at the cheap red vinyl carpet. I remember walking into the theater and looking up and seeing the velvet faux curtains that lined the walls. But, most importantly, the thing that made the greatest impression on me, I remember the lights going down and the Paramount Pictures logo in huge, bright pixellation for the first time. That memory means something to me in a way that few others do, because it was a moment where I felt like a greater portion of my imagination was sparked. It wasn’t one of those moments you hear a lot of performers talk about; that “Oh God, I wanna do that!” moment. But it was an “Oh my God, people get paid to do that?” moment that eventually led me to my “Oh shit, I wanna get paid to do that!” moment, which eventually came with the release of “Kill Bill, Vol. 1.” But, I’m not here to talk about “Shaft” or Quentin Tarantino. No, I’m here to talk about that screen.
The new mark of the savvy young adult is the ability to hunt down newly released movies and watch them in the comfort of your own bedroom or living room. I’m also the child of a born and bred New Yorker, so I’m familiar with the ever-present bootlegger who will sell you this week’s new releases along with a pack of tube socks and some hoop earrings while your getting your hair done. But, in the face of all of this, I dunno, I’m still extremely fond of the movie theater. Despite the absurd ticket prices and the extreme mark-up on snacks (5 DOLLARS FOR A BOTTLE OF WATER?!), I love it. Call it nostalgia, call it pretension, call it whatever you want, but if I had to choose between watching a movie on a 17″ laptop with pinhole size speakers and watching it on a 72 x 52 ft screen with eardrum bursting surround sound, you better believe I’ll take the latter, every damn time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m practically drowning in DVDs. I download movies I like with regularity, but it feels so good to buy a huge tub of popcorn, toss your feet up on the back of an empty chair and sink into the cardboard plush goodness of those terrible theater chairs as your brain is transported to an entirely different world.
Movie theaters are magical. They make the real world more beautiful, even with the comparison of that perfectly composed, pixelated world chafing up against it. I guess it’s like…being able to construct your own reality out of films and watching them play out on screen that makes it beautiful. When we watch John Singleton films, or Quentin Tarantino films, or, hell, even Michael Bay, we’re getting a glimpse into their minds, the way they see things. Theaters delineate a safe space to see those things. They mark a clear and distinct separation between reality and the movie world, and you can feel safe in that world the moment the lights go down. If movies are the dreams of society, then movie theaters are definitely society’s bedroom.
And another magnificent thing about movie theaters, you can’t hit the pause button. Some people would say that’s literally the opposite of a good thing, but I disagree. You have to sit there and engage. You have to be conscious of what you’re consuming. You have to disconnect from everything else and be there for that experience. I love that. It’s freeing. It allows you space from all the shit that’s happening to you in your real life. It lets you forget while you watch some other person figure out their own problems. That’s great.
Am I a little sad that movie theaters are becoming less of a part of our lives? Yeah, but whatever. I’m honestly a fan of internet distribution and on-demand. There are some beautiful, brilliant independent films that just can’t make it to the movie theaters because they don’t have enough financial backing. But still, (and this is where nostalgia comes into play,) the movie theater has been one of my safe spaces for so much of my life that I’m really reticent to let it go. So that’s why I’ll advocate for movie theaters until my throat is hoarse and everyone thinks I’m pretentious.
And then I’ll go home and watch shit on Netflix.
Antoinette Kwadzogah