Go See A Movie In A Theater This Weekend

In the comments of Devin's post about the Aurora shooting, la.donna.pietra said something that's been on my mind since I first heard the news: go see a movie in a theater tonight. Your local movie theater needs you right now, and you need it too.

We go to the movies to celebrate and escape, to share our ineffable love for something with hundreds of strangers in close quarters. We feel safe there and exhilarated at the same time. James Holmes can't take that away from us, and neither can crass reporters or opportunistic politicians. This is what we do. We buy our tickets months in advance and we stand in line for hours without growing tired or cranky because we're propelled by the shared elation of everyone standing in line with us. We have our preferred seats and our favorite snacks and we make sure we go to the bathroom early so we don't miss the trailers. We stay until the end of the credits and then we stand in the lobby for half an hour and talk about what we just saw with our friends. And then we get on Facebook and Twitter and blogs and share our impressions with the world. We save our ticket stubs and we remember for the rest of our lives the first time we saw our favorite movies on the big screen. This is what we do, and it means something to us. So we should keep doing it.

Movie theaters across the country are struggling. With VOD and bit torrenting and Netflix, attendance is at an all time low, and last night's shooting at a midnight screening isn't going to help. But I say fuck that. Don't let this pointless, devastating event keep you from doing what you love. Don't let it hurt an industry that is hurting, an industry that has brought us so much delight and poignancy and rich material for discussion our entire lives. Go see a movie this weekend - any movie, at any theater. And enjoy it with everything you have.