Movie Going

Some of my fondest childhood memories center on going to the movies. For me, going to a movie is an event that includes more than just watching the movie itself. Maybe, everybody feels the same. I don’t know everybody, just myself.

As a child, my uncle Tony would come over to try to coax one or both of my parents into going to a movie with him. I could always tell when they were up to something and I always lobbied hard and strong to go. Sometimes I won. Sometimes I didn’t. Besides the movie itself, there was the fun of the drive and the discussion that followed. Through my teenage years, almost every date involved a movie. Now that I’m grown and have a family of my own we share movies as part of the gluing and assembling of a corporate family memory.

During my childhood, my family didn’t have very many traditions. Other than Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve we had no real reason to be together and those two holidays were never as pleasant as they should have been. Once I had children of my own I became determined to build at least a couple of traditions that would help bond us. Over the years, now I can say decades, we have always had pizza and a movie on Friday night. When my son went away to college, no matter how busy our schedule, he knew he could always get in touch with us on Friday night. His girlfriend, turned fiance, turned wife was quickly included and indoctrinated into the Friday night movie bonding experience.

We do more than just watch a movie, we congregate. Unlike a critic we look for life lessons, examples, counter-examples, and references to other movies. We’ve traveled throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada, Mexico, and Europe so we have a running contest to see who will be the first to say, “I’ve been there.” whenever an applicable location comes on the screen. I usually win We also try to spot when an actor or actress has been in another movie. My wife usually wins that one. I have only one rule, while the movie is running we let it be itself. It is its own reality and makes its own rules. Dissection is saved as a post-movie activity. If we find the movie is a remake we’ll get the original and watch it. The goal of the event is not to watch a movie but to give us something to share.

I never compare a movie to a book. They are two completely different mediums of expression. Each so rich that I believe they deserve their own categories. I see no value in comparing one with the other. But, hey, that’s just my opinion. Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series gave me six exciting stories instead of 3 originals and 3 re-makes in a different medium.

The next time you have a chance to watch a movie, I hope you’ll watch it with someone and turn it into an event to remember. Maybe, you too can build a tradition that will last a lifetime.

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