Pop Life
I have to admit right here, right now, my favorite part of summer. It’s not the sunshine, it’s not the cheese curds, and it’s not even the lack of homework. All those are fine, but when it comes right down to it, I cannot get enough of summer blockbusters.
Sure, I love Oscar bait. To your right you’ll see me trying to get the Oscars broadcast in during the first night of my Habitat for Humanity trip last spring. But at the end of the day, I’ve still seen “Footloose” around 15 times. The appeal of the summer flick is simple for me: It’s not preachy, it’s not pretentious, and it’s not supposed to change my life. It’s escapism at it’s best. And judging by this summer’s box office, I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Take my dad, for example. This is guy who hasn’t been to the movie theatre since he took my brother and me to “The Lion King” the summer before the 5th grade. Before that? No idea. Probably sometime before I was born. He hates the theatre. He thinks the prices are ridiculous, the screens are too small, and there’s too many distractions from less involved patrons. Keep in mind; he developed this train of thought back in 1996. This was before people, like my friend Jackie, decided to start answering their cell phones in the middle of a movie. (She’ll ask me to note it only happened once, in high school, at “Mean Girls.” I say, the Dude abides.)
ANYWAY, the point is, he’s ready to head back to the theatre this summer. To see “License to Wed.” While I’m kind of lost on his logic, (Really, Dad? Robin Williams? Really?) all that I care is that it brings him back.
Honestly, I can’t argue with his anti-theatre sentiments. Lucky for me, while I’m here, I go to movies for free (my roommate works there) and the screens are much larger at the Century 10 in Fargo than at the Movies 10 in Brainerd. As far as the distractions go? Well, nothings perfect.
I was watching a clip of Prince fans lining up outside of First Avenue last weekend on the WCCO website (Jason DeRusha, you’re my boyfriend!), and one camper said that those who went to the Macy show are the fans with the money, the ones that went to the Target show are the commercial fans, and the ones lining up in the 100 degree heat are the loyalists. I feel the same sort of thought can, and SHOULD, be applied to choosing movie times. When I went to see Ratatouille on a Sunday afternoon, I knew the theatre would be crawling with kids. When I went to see ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” at midnight, I knew the theatre would be crawling with fellow obsessive muggles. That’s the point. If you’re going to take the risk of devoting the next 2 hours of your life being in one room with a group of strangers, you have to choose your group of strangers well.
Which means, naturally, that I’ll be heading to the Friday at 7 showing of BRATZ. Wearing body glitter. And platform sandals. And a whole lot of eyeliner.
Go summer! Go Ultra combo!