Just for an eye-opener, ask someone who has had to serve house arrest how they liked being forced to live within their residence day-in, day-out. It’s punishment, right?
Then, think about how increasing numbers of people are using technology in their homes as a means of not having to leave the premises.
It doesn’t make sense, but an awful lot of what for most folks has made life enjoyable – getting out of the house, meeting up with people, doing things and socializing – is being ditched because so many are mesmerized by what they can get out of a little electronic box.
On Tuesday, The News featured an article about the challenge faced by a local group of cinema aficionados to keep attracting audiences to the theatre for rare screenings of films. With the growth in popularity of such services as Netflix and online streaming of movies, say Steve MacLean and Pat Gorman of Plaid Marquee, the potential audiences are shrinking.
Anyone in Pictou County recalling the history of this organization will know its raison d’être. Even in a town like New Glasgow with a multiplex theatre, oftentimes the finer cinematic offerings typically available in a larger city would not make it to the area.
A bunch of cinema buffs formed Plaid Marquee in 2002 to make some of those films available in what is usually a single showing at the local theatre.
It’s been a great addition for those who look forward to seeing something outside the mainstream. But as MacLean and Gorman told The News, a lot of those movies that wouldn’t make it to New Glasgow for a conventional cinematic run are now available to anyone who has high speed internet. The group suspects more people are watching movies at home.
This is a trend, of course, that is affecting far more than entertainment. Just consider what online shopping is doing to our availability of stores in the area. The option to actually go out and have a first-hand look at something before purchase is in peril – as are the jobs and local commerce that go with it.
In the case of seeing a film, it’s worth thinking about the unmatchable experience of watching it in a cinema on the big screen. You’re totally immersed in the images and sound. It’s put before your eyes as it should be, an artistic offering to be enjoyed and contemplated in a single sitting, no interruptions from the phone, or maybe the cat trying to tell you something.
Add to that, many have pondered what the fleeting images and bits and pieces typical of electronic communication are doing to our brains, to the ability to digest and appreciate something that requires the focus of a couple of hours.
Then there’s the social aspect. As the Plaid Marquee people suggest: get off the couch, get out and socialize, see a movie in a setting with others and have the chance to talk about it.
We have to be careful about what we let slide. The theatre is something we want our grandchildren to experience, not just hear us describe.
