Well we took off running to see the film “The Pursuit of Happiness” staring none other than Will Smith and his delightful son. I had just arrived home for reading week and my Mom was keen to see this flick so I agreed and off we went to Chinook Center. After battling the weekend warrior shoppers for a parking spot we set out, well I should say Mom set out a break neck pace to navigate through the crowd with me in tow. I hadn’t seen a movie since I was stuck in Nelson New Zealand after missing my bus to explore the south island so Id forgotten about battling the masses. Thank God for my mother, I probably would have gotten lost and sat in the corner and cried had it not been for her action oriented self. We got there at 2:49 and we were in the movie with a bag of popcorn (you have to do it) by 3:04. The most stressful and disgusting part of the whole experience was infact waiting for the popcorn. Never look at the floor of were they serve you the goods. Its amazing that some new breed of fauna didnt evolve off that floor and start consuming the masses. The smell of butter and salt is so thick that you have to approach the counter carefully to avoid salivating on the kid serving you. Not that he’d mind, hes sixteen and has seen his fair share of crazed moviegowers with 2 minutes untill show time pushing through the crowd, waving twentys to solicit some attention and be rewarded with the salts and sweets they crave. Nothing out of the ordinary for a movie theater that sees thousands of people pass through its doors between shows. They even have an express Pizza Hut and a Burger King, it reminded me of the strip in cranbrook, just one fast food, immediate gratification station after the other. People love it, hell I statred to love it.

Through the ticket counter and down the hall to theater # 10 we wandered…just walking into the theater while the lights were dimming. I thought it would have been busier on a Sunday afternoon but only about half of the theater was filled with eager viewers. Even though I hadn’t yet read Smiths article, the slopping, chewing and incessant talking through the previews made me say a silent prayer in hope that it would all stop. Now having read the article, he does have a point…just not a very strong position. I mean if the world is that appalling, sweaty and sinister then why bother taking yourself out  in the first place…to a movie or just to ride the train? I mean if I wasnt in a theater directly observing my surroundings with a notebook, would I have noticed the rustling, the talking and chewing, the sticky floor or even the new chairs the theater put in? Ahha maybe thats where Smiths idea came form…it made me wonder if  we hate smiths article because its not that people arent appauling and ruthless, its that weve created ways to avoid believing that that is the case. And is it so bad.?…only if your the observer

Once the movie came on the restless shuffling of popcorn bags and slurping of oversized pops settled into a comfortable drone. I was amazed at how comfortable the seats were, the last movie I saw in Canada was about 12 years ago and long before Chinook Center was rebuild into the super mall it is today and Southcenter still had a theater. I forgot how nice it is to be so immersed in a story ( I took a little break on starring at the crowd they were getting ornary), taken over by the scenes and sounds, the queued music and all. I lavished in it and in light of the last couple of months this movie was exactly what I needed to see, the ending was premature but the moral of the story came rushing through the little electrons and beamed into my skull. I didn’t find anyone to be excessively, rude, or loud…even the two preteens who sat in front of us were well behaved and respectful. There were a few appropriate cries of delight that escaped the crowd, and the expected sigh fallowed by someone yelling NO! But for the remainder of the movie my observations went like this:

Im staring at a crowd thats staring at a screen and the skinny bald guy in the corner is getting nervous, he thinks I’m recording his thoughts…I wonder what he has to hide….it is Sunday after all. SO the crowd there they are, chillin’, devoid of any thought about the outside world and mesmorized by a story that is not their own. Is there some moral, existential reason that I shouldn’t support this? Stories were meant to be told and in some cases but definetly not all we are lucky to be able to hear so many stories and learn form them.

 Ah the elderly couple they are always of interest to me, to see two people so comfortable with each other that there’s no need for small talk. They smile at each other when something is funny or sad and each of them just know, almost instinctively what the other is feeling. I wish there had been some more drama, something relevant and spectacular to include in my blog….but my movie going experience was nothing but a walk through the park…

While I’ve definitely felt annoyed and aggravated in a large crowd, especially after living in the woods for the summer, Smiths article was nothing more than a poor attempt at creating some poetic injustice. Crowd mentality can be superficial, annoying, and make you wonder what alternate universe you woke up in, but as our society gets bigger and bigger people seem to be able to hold onto their individuality more and more. Maybe thats why the churches are struggling, collective effervecence is being bread out of the people. We no longer feel the need ot connect with our neighboors just because they are our neighboors, and thats ok. Although staring at crowd staring at screen can be dry appauling on its own level, movie going is great pass time for many people, and if they like it Im all over it. But there are various reasons why movie going is on the decline, most of them dont involve troughs but hey….check out this link if you want…http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/07/declining_movie.html

The bottom line is that it is a choice to see a movie and a fairly simple one at that. If it was so bad it wouldn’t be a multi-billion dollar industry that is seeping into our common knowledge of the world around us. That may be the true atrocity …but hey it’s a risk I’m willing to take to spend a saturday afternoon with Mom.