I’m a movie buff. I mean I really like movies. I taught an upper division course at San Jose State entitled “Political Films,” and it may have been my best course ever.
It didn’t stop there. On one of my trips back from California, I learned that the theater in Atwood, Kansas, had been purchased by the town when the theater was about to close. The town government felt that a movie theater added to the town’s luster and also provided one of the few places teenagers could go on a date in a small Kansas town. With the help of students, we then called every county in Kansas and found that twelve Kansas towns had purchased their theaters and were showing films. You can read the results of this study in the Fall 1998 issue of Great Plains Research published by the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska.
Obviously I was saddened to hear the Mahoning Theater was closing down for good. Movies are my main source–I might say only source–of entertainment. The Opera House in Jim Thorpe, live concerts, Penn’s Peak, Broadway plays–never. Just movies. It is the quintessential American art form. I also will miss manager Bruce, who was also a knowledgeable movie connoisseur, and I’ll miss the employees who sold the tickets, made the popcorn, and cleaned the floors.
If you tell me the movies are available on HBO or Netflix or Amazon, that’s like saying “I get my news on Facebook.” It won’t work, and this area has lost a wonderful asset.
As you know that I have a home theartre setup with a 100" screen. Last night we watched three movies. I get them from Amazon prime as part of my monthly cost of $13.77. Sometimes we get them from You-tube. With my stereo sound system and the big screen its like we are at a theater, only with a comfortable chair and I can pause anytime I need a bathroom or snack break.
ReplyDeletePlus I save a lot of money. Amazon allows me to maintain a file as a watchlist so that I can watch again anytime and should I only watch half and need to stop it keeps a restart point to pickup again. Roy, you should look into this.
There is something about the shared experience watching a movie with a room full of strangers united in laughter, or horror, or awe, that you just can't get in a living room. Plus, it is a night out, it is special. You cannot replace that big screen experience.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is nice, but in this day and age I am ever so glad that I have my own BIG screen experience. Besides I have all the best company with my Marie.
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