Did I do anything productive today? I drove my roommate to the store and organized my favorites on Chrome. I cooked myself dinner and cleaned out the catbox. Other than that, no. Not one damned thing. Then again, it got up to 105, so I suppose even doing what I did was an accomplishment. Wait, I cleaned the AC. No, actually, that was yesterday.
By the way, if you've never cleaned on your AC, do so. You'll find that it has its own special kind of wet and horrible dustbunnies. You'll also find that after it's been cleaned, it works a lot better.
Anyway, it's Friday and normally I have a list of stuff. Today, however, I'm just going to talk about something that has come to disappoint me, bitterly, in the system around me. I'm not talking about something I always disliked, this is something I used to adore. That adoration is gone.
One of my earliest memories is going to the movies. I loved everything about this. I loved the rich colors of the curtains and seats. I loved the smell of the popcorn, the feel of excitement as you sit through previews and wait for your movie to start. I love that moment when the lights dim and the magic begins to happen.
For the most part, going to the movies used to be cheap and easy entertainment. My roommate and I used to see at least three movies a week, sometimes more. Sometimes, a couple on the same day. Then it was maybe one a week. Then one a month . . . now, we're lucky if we see a movie a year.
Why? Well, part of it has to do with the deeply shitty selection of movies out there. Summertime used to produce great movie after great movie. The winter months would give you horror films or really great holiday films. Then you'd get all your Oscar whoring movies at the first of the years. Now? Meh! You maybe get one or two good movies out of the slew of crapfest.
However, the biggest factor for us and for a lot of people is that it's just become too expensive. While our small town does have a theater, it's tiny and usually not showing stuff we want to see. In order to have a reasonable selection, we have to drive about 40 miles away. When gas was setting at less than two bucks, this was nothing. That was a long time ago.
Beyond the gas, matinee tickets used to range between 4 and 5 dollars. You could get a combo special of unlimited popcorn and two drinks for under ten. So, for less than $20.00, we had movie, food, and fun.
Now, matinee prices have gone up at least two dollars. If the movie is in 3D, and most of them are, that is another dollar, if not more. Forget the cheap combo. Drinks are usually five bucks a piece, with only one refill, and popcorn is at least five. When you factor in the gas, the "cheap trip" to the movies suddenly becomes a major expense.
Even if the movies being put out right now were stellar works of art that will forever alter the way I view the world around me, I, as a poor person, simply can not justify spending that much money to see a movie when I could wait and watch it on Netflix.
As I write this, I can't help but think about the stories my grandmother used to tell me about the Depression. She and my grandfather and their various friends were deeply poor as teenagers. They would do stuff like have boiled egg parties! And that isn't some euphemism. They would literally all bring over chicken eggs, boil them, and eat them. As a party. Yeah, they were that poor.
They would still go to the movies though. Every week, they'd pile into cars and drive to the same town I spoke of before. They'd spend the day watching movies, then go somewhere to eat, drive home, and be happy. They did this during the Depression. A lot of people, during the Depression, did this. Watching movies was an escape for them. Sometimes, it was their only escape from the crushing poverty and freaky uncertainty around them.
Because of this escape, Hollywood was able to build itself into a major thing. It was able to take this media of movies and build an empire, alter our culture, alter the world.
And here we are, almost a century later, caught in another very bad time for people financially. During these days, people need cheep escapes. People need something to dream about, to be inspired by, and to enjoy. If the movie industry was smart, they would find a way to make movies more accessible again. They would find ways to draw in the crowds.
They would start making wonderful movies again. Not just one or two a season, but dozens. Movies where people would have many to see during the week. They would realize they have to sacrifice some money now in order to make a lot of money later and lower prices. Sure, they couldn't do anything about the concessions or gas prices, but they could find ways to lower the ticket costs (I assume). If they did this, they could restore the empire.
Will they? No, probably not. And thusly, it will all crumble around them. And they'll blame barbarians . . . well, okay, in this case, pirates.
No comments:
Post a Comment