Going to the Movies

Going to the movies is always a festive occasion. Something about it feels totally different than just watching it at home (and it's not just the high prices that we pay for just about everything). When I went to see Catching Fire, it was no different.

First stop is the ticket counter, of course. I brought twenty dollars and they took ten. So that I only had half left off the bat. Then it came to the snacks and I barely had enough money with my other ten. By the time I finished, I felt totally ripped off. Part of me was thinking how it was a total and utter scam. What was the big difference from doing it at home? Home is certainly cheaper and the soda there is reasonably sized.

But then it hit me once I came in: there's a whole unique theater experience. There's the watching the previews for about a half hour (which isn't like commercials because it shows movies in the future and is interesting). Then there's the whole crowd experience and the popcorn experience well.

The theater is also fairly different from home because it's so big. Everything is louder and much more dramatic, intensified. It's so much more exciting and feels entirely different. It's so exciting you guzzle down on the popcorn so quickly that it's gone within the first ten minutes of the show. Then maybe you don't have to feel quite as ripped off.

Yet before you know it, the show is over. The popcorn is empty and the soda is still half full (because it was so huge). You're either mumbling to yourself or to your fellow moviegoer how good it is or mumbling how disappointed you are to have spent all that money on something mediocre or downright awful. Then you're rushing to the bathroom trying to beat out the millions of other people who waited the whole movie to pee out the gigantic soda you've just consumed.