Over the years I have found that my fondness for going to the movies has been dwindling. Perhaps that is because I’m no longer a teenager that is excited to leave the confines of the parent’s house to ride in a car that is being driven by a romantic interest. Date night at the movies was all about being made to feel special by my date.
He would always open the car door and the movie theater door, making me feel like a royal princess. We would walk arm in arm up to the ticket window, where he would proudly open his wallet to pluck down the cold hard cash he had earned at work, to buy both of our tickets.
He would also order and pay for the large popcorn with extra butter and two large sodas, and a huge box of Good ‘n Plenty candy (my favorites were the pink ones.) Then he would wait patiently while I freshened up in the ladies room before entering the screening room. If we were a little bit late, the screening room would be dark and he would expertly guide us to the best seats in the house.
Going to the movies often involved a double date, with friends or siblings. Those could be fun, too, but often the guys would start to act very immaturely and that would put a huge dampener on the entire “feeling special” part of the date.
As I drive through the various nearby towns on my way to and from errands and appointments, I see the old, downtown movie theaters closed and shuttered. I remember the good times of my youth spent in theaters like those, and I find myself feeling sentimental about the apparent http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/the-end-of-movie-theaters-fcc-will-allow-studios-to-send-films-directly-to-consumers-over-secure-tv-lines/”> and find myself wondering what in the world modern society’s teenagers and young adults are “doing” on their dates when they “go out” at night.
Then I remember going over to Andy’s house a few months ago, and how he was showing off his brand new wide-screen television that took up the entire width of his living room, and his new sectional sofa where every body had a recliner and cup-holders, and even little storage boxes in the arms for snacks. Walking into his living room was just like the movies, only better!
In the rear of the room was a wet bar, complete with a mini-fridge, and a small pop-corn popper that looked like a miniature version of the commercial pop-corn poppers that are used in the movie theaters!
Looking around the room, I saw that he had put black-out curtains on the windows, and illuminated strips of LED lights on the floor that defined a walk-way so that people could leave the room if the needed to take care of personal business without disturbing the other viewers. That is when it hit me – there are probably a lot of parents that have these types of screening rooms in their own homes! Along with the installation of in-ground swimming pools, saunas, hot-tubs and spas, the American consumer is pulling back inward on itself. After a long, hard day, people want to stay home and watch their movies in their bathrobes and slippers, not fight traffic, and not have to deal with rude patrons out in the public movie theaters.
My favorite part of “staying in” to watch the movies is being able to put on the closed captioning, and pausing the show if I need to leave the room for a bit, or being able to nod off to sleep, wake up and go back to part that I missed and catch up.