Favorite Place - One of Many: Darkness, Bass, Frames and Magic
At the risk of committing an egregious over-generalization, I'd venture to guess that nearly every human being has a favorite place. These areas whether physical places or mental safe havens, serve us and our needs. These needs can range depending on the individual; from a place of comfort to an area that provokes critical thinking and challenges. I've got a couple of these places in mind, but decided to zero in on one specific and utterly important place to my development. This place checks all of the boxes of comfort and entertainment as well as provoking critical thinking/mental challenges. Funnily enough, this haven isn't actually a singular place on a geographical map. It's been many places for me, scattered throughout the bay area. These places being the many movie theaters I've attended in life.
Since I was a child I've been obsessed with storytelling, glomming onto any of the various forms I could absorb. Film was my first and continuous love in regards to storytelling. As a child nothing could match the magic of seeing films and specifically seeing them within the confines of a dark, blaring bass/speaker filled dome. In childhood it was the pomp and circumstance of action blockbusters that drew my eye and as I grew my taste evolved, quickly opening to a wider pallet of genre. This obsession resulted in an acknowledgement of film being more than just entertainment. Film and movie theaters became for me a window into varying perspectives, searching for every indie film, art house picture, foreign and old faithful blockbuster I could view. Using film as a conduit of understanding, the theater became a place of entertainment and examination. Dissecting the directors message frame by frame, truly appreciating this wonderful art form and the diverse stories that can be told/used to bring about wider understanding. Also, the ability to challenge or outright confuse(Hello, David Lynch's and his surrealist pictures), my experiences watching film in theaters could do it all depending on the title. This love affair with film was 100% fostered in one of my favorite places, the movie theater.
Since I was a child I've been obsessed with storytelling, glomming onto any of the various forms I could absorb. Film was my first and continuous love in regards to storytelling. As a child nothing could match the magic of seeing films and specifically seeing them within the confines of a dark, blaring bass/speaker filled dome. In childhood it was the pomp and circumstance of action blockbusters that drew my eye and as I grew my taste evolved, quickly opening to a wider pallet of genre. This obsession resulted in an acknowledgement of film being more than just entertainment. Film and movie theaters became for me a window into varying perspectives, searching for every indie film, art house picture, foreign and old faithful blockbuster I could view. Using film as a conduit of understanding, the theater became a place of entertainment and examination. Dissecting the directors message frame by frame, truly appreciating this wonderful art form and the diverse stories that can be told/used to bring about wider understanding. Also, the ability to challenge or outright confuse(Hello, David Lynch's and his surrealist pictures), my experiences watching film in theaters could do it all depending on the title. This love affair with film was 100% fostered in one of my favorite places, the movie theater.
Hi Caesar,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us. I love going to movie theaters for the same reason. I get lost in the movies there and relax. What are some of your all-time favorite films?
-Patrick