I was thinking the other day of how much I miss going to the movies at a movie theater. There is nothing like sitting in a dark theater, together with fellow human beings, all experiencing the same film on the large screen in front. Only in a darkened movie theater can you truly feel totally transported to another world.
Don't get me wrong. I feel lucky to be able to watch wonderful movies from the safety of home thanks to Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and other streaming platforms. And through them I've also been able to watch films that most movie theaters just don't show these days, even pre-pandemic, like some independent and international films. But watching at home, on my own, surrounded by my things, and often distracted by my personal clutter - it's just not the same.
I worry that the very few independently owned movie theaters left in my area in the age of the multiplex won't survive Covid-19. They've opened again after being closed when we were all on strict lockdown. But despite their assurances that social distancing and disinfecting measure are being taken, I still don't feel safe going. And I'm sure many share my fears. I feel conflicted because I know they need their audiences to return in order to survive.
(Would I make an exception to watch Uncle Vanya with Richard Armitage on the big screen? That depends. We'll have to wait and see.)
I used to belong to a movie club that took met in one of these neighborhood independent movie theaters. I've watched movies and documentaries because of the club that I would have not discovered on my own. Indeed quite a few, several international ones, and the documentaries, never made it to a screen or even streaming, anywhere else. But that ended because of Covid-19. I thought maybe they might decide to do it virtually, or find a way to do so. I understand though how difficult it has been, and is, for these smaller movie theaters to even survive.
I hold out hope that by the end of 2021 we'll still be able to go and watch movies on the big screen in the dark.
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Patagonia Opens in Former Historic Old Town Theater
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