All the World’s a Screen: Theaters aren’t essential. How we watch movies is


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If you can remember that far back, when we used to go to the movies, a new box office year was just beginning, which means the biggest question on Hollywood’s mind was likely: “Will the box office continue on its slow, sure, decline? Will the power of streaming sites only continue to grow, pushing people out of theaters? ” If you would’ve asked me, sitting at a theater for the last time this year watching “The Invisible Man,” I would’ve told you I think this is going to be a solid year for going to the movies. I would’ve argued my point with upcoming blockbusters such as “Black Widow,” “Tenet,” “No Time to Die” and “Dune” — people won’t wait for these movies to be streaming, they’ll have to go to the theater!

You could call what happened in the contest between streaming services and movie theaters a bit unjust — a sickness that requires people to stay at home seems a bit unfair to the orthodox movie-going crowd. Of course, most would rather stay healthy than watch a movie in theaters, but I think that the argument for theater viewing was never about going to a building to watch a film; what a crowd represented to Spielberg, in his resistance to Netf lix films win-ning Best Picture, is really after is our attention.

Watching a movie in a theater is not essential, but watching a movie with the attitude a theater fosters is vital.

When AMC theaters reopened a few weeks ago, they put on a special one-day-only sale: Fifteen cent movie tickets celebrating 100 years of going to the mov-ies (“Movies in 2020 for 1920 prices”). Perhaps AMC was only desperate for customers to feel safe indoors once again, but their offer naively connected our time to the grandest movie-going era. The 1920s saw movie attendance skyrocket. Both working-class and middle-class theaters became important hubs for communities, either for socializing with friends or for displaying your affability at the “movie palace.” Movie theaters were significantly more im-portant 100 years ago than today, and theater chains are foolish to think they can ascend to that level of prominence again.

Or maybe AMC wanted us to remember a time when going to the movies was essential because there was no better way to be entertained; or, even because the world was changing drastically and Hollywood was a huge part of that change. Whatever the case, an offer for 15-cent tickets only serves to remind us how far we’ve come from 1920, and for those of us who refuse the offer, how little movie theaters really mean to us.

I have sincerely missed going to the movies, but not because I miss going out and paying $20 for a ticket; not because I miss having something to look forward to at the end of the week or always having that option with friends and family. I really miss going to the movies because of the kind of “viewing ethic” the theater fostered — the building, the lighting, the sound; all of it tells us to pay attention to the movie and only the movie. I miss showtime.

Watching movies at home has made me miss the dark room of a theater where what is on screen is my sole focus. I don’t have to belabor this point, we all know it’s much easier to get distracted working or studying from our laptops at home; I’ve had to watch films online for my cinema course, acutely aware about other things that call for my atten-tion. Watching a film in Norris Theatre, I would forget about everything else. That’s the kind of attention movies deserve.

We won’t get back to movies for a while — even if all theaters open soon, we ought to be prudent, take it slow. Theaters themselves aren’t worth the risk (though an argument might be made for local, independent theaters). But, we should still keep in mind what theaters have taught us. How should we watch a movie? Most of us don’t have a big room where the lights dim and a projector blasts the image before us. Big screens and lights are designed to highlight the importance of the film itself. If we can consider movies that important without all the pageantry to assist us, if all we need for showtime is the movie itself, I think we’ll have learned something worth more than 15 cents.

Isa Uggetti is a senior writing about film. His column, “All the World’s a Screen,” typically runs every other Monday.