Whenever I have the good fortune to go to the movies with Johnny, he always ends the trip with, "See ya later, good to sit in a darkened room in silence with you, not interacting at all!" Often there is actual dining or other hanging out before or after, and very often it's a funny movie where the good lines are rehashed. But I do think it is an odd ostensibly "social" activity.
I realized when I went home for Christmas this year, all the time I had with people seemed so precious that I only saw one film, with my mom. The rest of the time I wanted to be doing something else with the person.
I know a lot of people won't go to the movies by themselves, but I go alone most often. There are numerous reasons: I really like movies, both because I love reading and because I feel I am supporting my hometown (oh brother, right?). Sometimes in individual cases, it is a matter of taste: I didn't want anyone to know I would pay good money to watch Vince Vaughan in "Four Christmasses," didn't know anyone who hadn't already seen "Slumdog Millionaire," everybody already knew I'd seen "Sack Lunch" and would want to know why I wanted to see it again. And John's right, you don't get a lot of added value by bringing a friend into the theatre with you (unless it's for, you know, making out or whatever) so it's a lot less weird than the idea of going to see a band play by yourself. I do that too, but at a concert, there's the possibility of real live people doing something unique, something that won't be recreated that spot over and over again for weeks.
For this reason, Michele's and my ingenious "virtual movie date" makes actual sense when the two of us are the only people we know who want to see some (usually terrible) movie, but we live 1100 miles apart. There's a time difference, but since Los Angeles and Austin both have tons of movie theaters, a near-simultaneous viewing can be arranged. If something awesome happens two hours in, we can talk about it later. I can't tell if I feel embarrased sharing this strategy.
I was going to say, since my solo-concert-going predates my solo-moviegoing that it paved the way for it, but I don't think that's correct, especially since I am probably at peak group-music-watching age and I seem to like it though I used to much prefer going alone (no one at my high school wanted to see Sebadoh). I think what actually makes me feel comfortable going to the movies alone is having gone to church alone for 10 years, now.
Those two experiences are actually much more the same. I like to arrive right on time (or rather I hate to be early) and this drives some people up the wall. There are ritual food and drink, you aren't really supposed to talk, and it's a time to be told stories and to reflect on them. You're around a bunch of (for me at least) strangers but are feeling roughly the same emotions, and you're there because you choose to be, for no other end than being there itself. You probably paid a little bit of money. Sometimes it's disappointing, sometimes you cry, sometimes you get really angry that someone's trying to feed you a line of bull. In church, a lot, I think about all the experiences piled into the room and how they are coloring the reception of the words I'm hearing differently. I don't get to hear what these different interpretations are because people don't generally say them out loud, which is too bad because "the Bible is such a rich text" by which I mean some of it is totally multifacetedly insane, although not quite as bad as, say "Mulholland Drive." On the other hand, people love to give their opinion about movies, and I love to hear and read them and are grateful to hear them talk in a way that it's hard to get them to talk about anything else. I guess it's the closest I'll ever get to being in a literature class again. I think partly what I am saying is it would be really cool to have someone to go to mass with someday, like, often, but I don't really think that will happen.
"Benjamin Button" was fantastical in just the self-absorbed way that I hate most - it was like the anthropocentric bombast of science fiction made personal. ALSO, it's a little condescending to suppose that I need to watch the most attractive face in the world to get me to care about the aged, or about Hurricane Katrina. "Doubt" was good.
Haha I only blog about movies and church. Don't worry, Oscar season's almost over.
**"Sack Lunch" is really "Garden State."
