A New Introduction to the Movies
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The trauma that was 2020 showed itself yesterday evening.
You know when you don’t do something for a while you feel like you have to relearn it all over again? One of those things I never expected to have to relearn was how to go to the movies.
That sentence feels like a ridiculous one to me.
Who would have ever thought that going to see a film in a theater would be something new again? Before 2020, if someone had told me that would be a thing, I would have laughed. It’s exactly what’s happened though.
March 2020 was the last time I’d been to a theater. (A tip. If a local independent theater is showing The Thing, buy the tickets for Valentine’s Day. It’s worth it.) Before the chaos, my boyfriend and I practically lived at the theater.
Remember those good old MoviePass days? He and I abused those cards. (Shout out to seeing Black Panther 7 times in the theater.)
March 2020 was the last form of normal. I remember the blistering cold standing out in a very crowded line in Providence. Getting into the theater and trying to decide where the best seats were. What individuals looked like they wouldn’t have been incredibly distracting or annoying. The usual when you walked into a movie theater in the past.
And then the world fell apart.
We’re all used to it by now. We spent time locked inside of our homes. We grew accustomed to watching movies on our televisions. There was no hype over theaters releasing films. Our most anticipated films sat in post-production for well over a year. Some of the films we were looking forward to were even slighted. They went straight to streaming services.
As someone who enjoys the rush of a crowd when it comes to films, this has sucked. Some of my favorite memories include being allowed to stay out past midnight for the (shush! — a lifetime ago) Twilight premieres with my older sister. Or that sound of gasps and cries as our heroes turned to dust in Avengers Infinity War. There’s a sense of comradery in moments like film premiere nights that make me feel like I’m not alone.
After nearly a year and a half of not stepping inside a theater, I finally got to see a film I’d been waiting for since May 2020.
