Over the weekend, a friend and I went to see “Furiosa,” the prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road.” My short review is the movie impressed me by being very different to “Fury Road” while having entertaining characters, a well-developed sci-fi world and some exciting action set pieces. I also appreciated that while the movie is violent, it doesn’t push it to excess the way some have in recent years.
As we bought our tickets, I noticed other patrons and everybody seemed to be buying tickets for different movies. It looked like every movie was getting a couple of viewers that came together.
“Furiosa”itself is tracking to be the third or fourth high budget movie to bomb for the summer and its opening weekend has flooded the internet with stories about the “death of movie theaters.”
One of the more analytical critics discussed how younger generations seem to flock to short videos on apps like TikTok and YouTube over long movies and also said that the trend away from theaters is partially due to people not wanting to be around other people, preferring the isolation and comfort of home to a shared theatrical experience.
My love for the ‘big screen’ has always been high enough that a birthday tradition for my mom and I was going to see a movie before grabbing lunch and shopping for the school year.
Most of our home set-ups can’t compete with the screen, sound and snacks available at the cinema.
It also can’t offer the shared experience of going to see a comedy and laughing along with a crowd of others at a comedy or chuckling at someone screaming from a jump scare in a horror movie.
There’s a collective bond when people experience something together and as everything pushes to streaming, we’re losing the ability to share in frustration or delight at plot twists or or big moments in tv shows or movies that move us.
“Sorry, I’m still on episode 3.”
“It’s in my queue. Don’t spoil it for me!”
The idea that humanity could prefer isolation is far sadder and scarier though.
Without other insight and discussion and debate in good faith, we’re left alone with our thoughts. Many turn to social media as the preferred way to interact with others due to the lack of viable real world options. They’re greeted with veiled advertisements, bots and angry arguments from people refusing to consider other opinions.
People in my experience aren’t always the same online as they are in person. The Dublin Area Reunion is coming up this weekend as well as the Irish Stampede and Chamber sponsored events. Check out every event that interests you and see the better side of people.
If you’re a fellow movie lover, when you see me at the cinema, I’ll gladly wave back.