This
post leaves BookWorld, because sometimes the larger world intrudes...
I
know it's been several weeks since the Aurora, CO shootings, but
sometimes it takes me a while to come up with the right words for
certain situations. I'm not vain enough to think that many people
care about my opinion on what happened, but as we learned from Rent
“The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation.” And in order
to attempt to wrap my brain around such a random violent act I've
undertaken this act of creation.*
I've
gone to the movies twice since it happened, once to see The Dark
Knight Rises. I will admit that both times I was hyper-aware of
people getting up and leaving the theater, or even just shifting in
their seats. Much like when I flew back to New York in October 2001,
there was a completely different feeling in the room. An act that we
all viewed as normal, or sometimes exciting, had been transformed
into something completely alien and vaguely threatening. As we all
tried to adjust to the new world created from acts of horrible
violence the whole experience took on a more serious and somber tone. It
was not something I had ever expected to feel in a movie theatre, the
place we all go to escape reality, now suddenly oppressively
weighted with it.
And
much like flying now comes with a new set of rules, so does going to
the movies. Most of the major chains are banning any sort of masks
and fake weaponry in theaters, some are even starting bag searches
and talks of metal detectors. While I completely understand and
support these measures, it does make me a little sad as well.
Some
of the happiest times in my adult life have occurred at midnight
movie screenings. It always involves a large group of my friends and even family and an even larger groups of total strangers gathering
together for a single purpose. Since most midnight screenings
involve really geek-centric movies there were always great costumes
on display. I once went to a Harry Potter screening where I
sat in front of Princess Leia and Indiana Jones, and they were a lot
of fun to talk to while we waited excitedly for our movie to start.
I almost never engage in small talk with strangers, but somehow all
those rules fall away for midnight movie screenings. There's always
a sense of camaraderie and shared passions and pure joy at seeing
something we've all been waiting for. It's a completely different
experience than seeing a movie at any other time during the run –
people applaud and cheer, no one texts or talks to their friends –
we're all there to be completely transported to a new world. (One of
my favorite moments was when an entire theater of Potter fans boo'd a
Twilight trailer. Awesome. Then later when that same audience went silent as we watched Severus Snape make the ultimate sacrifice and show us an amazing love story.) I hope that theaters don't
decide to take these midnight movies away from us, but, more
importantly, I hope people don't stop going to them.
I
don't think we should forget what happened in Colorado, but we can't
let the actions of one disturbed man ruin one of the few ways we as a
community gather together to share in a common interest. And we
can't blame the movies, because it's not Christopher Nolan's fault
that someone took his art and used it as a backdrop for his violent
act. We all need the escape that the movies provide, and we also
need the emotional catharsis that art, when done well, can provide
for us.
So
I will absolutely be there with the rest of my nerdy brethren at the
midnight release for Frankenweenie. And The Hobbit.
I'll leave behind my Wench-y personality for a few hours and talk to
the other fans as we wait in long, cold lines to be transported away
to magical worlds full of new and old fictional friends, refusing, as
all good heroes do, to let the bad guys win.
