Reminiscing with family over the weekend, we suddenly realized that a childhood ritual has passed, killed by technology. Back in the days when watching a movie at home meant network television (how many here remember having only three channels?), there were a number of annual movie events everyone watched- the Wizard of Oz, for example. How many millions of children were simultaneously sitting still across the country? How many disposable skillets of Jiffy-Pop were popped at the same moment? And you knew everyone else was doing the same thing, too- the sense of community was inescapable. Not that it was always joyous community- I, and all my brothers, and all my male friends from childhood remember the agonies of Gone With the Wind- 37 straight hours (or so it seemed) of truly wretched boredom inflicted by parents, relieved only by memorizing snide comments to share with fellow prisoners the next day. None the less, it was still palpable community- now replaced by DVDs.
1 comment:
I understand how the majority of men feel about 'GWTW' especially you. Why do you think I watched the movie in the garage all those years? Now you understand how I felt about listening to old Beatles tunes.
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