Ok, I will admit to occasionally binge-watching an entire TV series on the internet. Devouring 7 or 8 episodes at one sitting is like reading several chapters of a book, except for the “reading” and “book” parts.
Yet for movie watching there is nothing quite like the shared experience of the theater. And I don’t mean those little teeny ones either. I mean those giant mondo cineplexes with surround sound and big soft seats and screens the size of a 747. By the way have you ever stood on the tarmac next to a 747? Those babies are so huge they make you feel like a little shrew or beetle or something. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the movies.
This summer, my daughter and I have been going to matinees on weekends. Even the word “matinee” brings forth memories of a bygone era, one where men wore fedoras and high pleated pants and spoke in quick, clipped tones. I always try and get to the show a bit early to glom the best seats and to watch the trailers. Movies have three sections: the advertisement section, the trailer section and the movie section. After many movies we have effectively memorized the advertisement section, especially the part where..oh wait I better not give away the ending. I tell my daughter the trailers are the best part. At the end of the trailer section I am tempted to applaud but I am told this is bad form, akin to yelling into your cell phone, “Hello? No I can’t I’m at the movies! The trailers are great! All the people are looking at me! Bye!”
We recently went to see “Star Trek: Beyond”. I told her that if they had given a leading role to a pop star, they could have called it; “Star Trek: Beyonce’ ”. One of the trailers was for the latest Bourne movie predictably called: “Jason Bourne”. She leans over and says, “they should have called it, ‘Bourne Again’ “. We are the Punsters, hear us groan.
We leave the bright hot day to enter the dark warrens of the inner sanctum. We share the experience with others. We are transported to the Place of the Story and share that journey as well, senses attuned to worlds within worlds. Eventually, the credits roll and the patient sun pulls us back. Blinking like moles, we pick up the next chapter, right where we left it.
whoisfenton 