I took a time-out this afternoon to go see a cute little movie.
For 9 - that's
N I N E - American dollars.
For a 3:55 pm showing of a two-hour movie. At which I am forced to see commercials beforehand.
But, that's not what I haven't been able to stop thinking about this afternoon.
For better or for worse, I rarely go to the movie theatre. When I do, it is usually to see a movie that only kids and their parents are attending. (I'm just not an R-rating kind of girl). I only want to
waste, I mean spend, that much money on a movie that multiple trusted reviewers claim is really worth it.
So here's what I can't stop thinking about: I am floored that parents pay $9 (or more at a non-matinee)
per person to bring children who have no business being at the movies into a movie theatre.
Now, I'm not saying we should ban children from the movie theatre below a certain age. But, where is a little discernment these days?
When I saw
Prince Caspian a few months ago, the 8 or 9-year-old girl sitting next to me had zero comprehension of what was happening during the first half of the movie. She was either explaining it to herself or asking her mother to explain it to her.
Which led me to question if she, or any of the other question-filled youngsters in that theatre, was capable of simple reasoning. Because the
who is that question asked by children all around me for the first 15 minutes was about to drive me bonkers. I mean, might they figure out that he's the title character - Prince Caspian??
Speaking of which, parents seem to have given up on speaking quietly in the movie theatre. Today, I was bewildered, humorously so, by the little social microcosm I stepped into by going to a movie theatre populated by little girls under 10 and their mom or dad. There was a dull roar the entire movie. Some kids, and some parents for that matter, didn't even try to whisper.
Unless I'm remembering incorrectly because of the lack of oxygen up here on my high-horse, I would have been given the look of death by my parents if I had deigned to make a peep in the beautiful old
Fox Theater in Redlands, where I saw many Disney double-features.
Today, the movie I viewed lost over half the kids in the audience in the first 15-minutes.
Kit Kittredge deals with some difficult to understand, and frankly depressing, concepts. The little girl behind me was absolutely begging to be taken home by the movie's midpoint.
Now, I'm not saying that
Kit Kittredge isn't worth seeing - although it frankly should have been a "wait for video" since it doesn't
need to be seen in a theatre. The American Girl movies do a terrific job of giving the viewer a taste of what a certain period of history might have been like. Kit's parents are wonderful examples of two people in very tough circumstances who choose to handle their unhappy circumstances with grace. There are many lovely aspects to this story. I just wish parents would wait to bring their kids to the theatre until they can fully understand, and enjoy, the film being presented.
Also, since I'm already ranting full-force, what mother doesn't notice their kid kicking the seat in front of them? Okay - maybe
this is the ban I would create and enforce: Don't Put Your Feet Up On the Seat In Front Of You.
I can't wait until I'm a parent so I can
not bring my kids to the movie theatre.
*Sigh*