The Cinema

I'm not a rabid film viewer, but I do enjoy the experience of going to a movie theater and plunging into an alternate universe for one and a half or two hours. It has been at least a year since I've had the chance to do so.

Why is a movie theater still attractive to me, when sitting on one's own couch munching or drinking whatever one pleases and popping in a rented DVD is so much more convenient these days? Because the big screen offers so much more of a complete immersion than anything one can set up at home. It's partly the whole ceremony of paying for the ticket, finding the right seat, looking around at the decor and the other patrons, watching the lights dim as the sound comes up and voices hush, then watching the world change before one's eyes--it's that ritualistic aspect of being at "the cinema" that still holds an appeal for me; then there's the magic of the first moments, when the film starts to cast its spell (hopefully), with either a faint tremble or a rush of music, or words, or noises, or--something.

But the primary reason I remain interested in the whole movie theater experience is the sound aspect, something that can never be recaptured in a home setting (and I've heard some of the best home theater systems--it's just not the same)--it's that gorgeous sound that keeps me interested in spending time in movie theaters, more than anything else. Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca, Star Wars, Gladiator--how greatly these films are diminished on a small screen, and how sad for the younger people today who've never seen them in a theater.

Sometimes, these days, it does feel like I'm too old and too motherly--too wrapped up in baby-related concerns--to sink into a film and let it penetrate my psyche the way that I used to when I was twenty. But I'd certainly enjoy giving it the old college try.