I have a secret to share with you...and sometimes it's a little bit embarrassing...but here goes...
I love tv and movies.
Now that I've got that off my chest, let me elaborate a bit.
I've always loved television and movies. I can remember being a kid and wanting to make movies and tell stories. In fact, I was 12 years old when I bought my first video camera. I had to save up my paper route money for 5 months straight to buy it. Do you know how hard it is for a 12 year old with money to keep from spending it all on Nintendo games and candy?
Fast forward to present day. I still love movies, television, and telling stories. The technology may have changed, but up until recently, the communal experience of watching a movie in a movie theater (or in your living room) remained close to the same. Hearing people laugh at the punch-line to a joke, gasp at the danger the protagonist is in, scream as the bad guy emerges from the shadows, that is what I love. Unfortunately, that has become increasingly difficult lately. Movie theaters have shut their doors or severely limited attendance. Movie production studios have pushed back movie release dates and are commonly offering movies in a streaming format rather than a traditional theatrical release. Things are changing, and in stereotypic "get off my lawn" mentality, I don't like it.
Movies and television are great fun to watch, but I really believe the experience is better when you have others surrounding you. Whether a living room full of friends or a theater full of strangers, you feed off of each other in your surprise, laughter, and tears shed. I think back to the wonder and excitement that I had as a kid, watching a movie in the theater, being excited by the trailers leading up to it. Sure, they're not all worthy of an Academy Award nominations, but take me away to a world where cars with human-like qualities fight each other and explosions abound. Bring me back year after year so my friends and I can find out if the "One ring to rule them all" would actually be destroyed. Throw in a Coke and some popcorn and for a moment I'm a kid again.
Aaron Spencer,
Media Arts Teacher
Media Arts Teacher