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Amazon, Netflix Not the Same as Malls, Movie Theaters
Technology is efficient but it’s destroying gathering places
Humans are fundamentally social animals, but are gathering spaces disappearing in the name of efficiency and cost-cutting? That thought went through my mind when movie theaters, which have always been one of my favorite escape spaces, shuttered.
I’m a fan of the movies. And I’ve been a fan of the movies for more than 40 years. I love going to the movies; I like waiting in line to get my ticket, I love the previews and I like buying overpriced popcorn at the concession stand. I also enjoy watching the posters for upcoming movies and, of course, I like sitting in the darkened theater and forgetting my troubles for about two hours. Going to the movies is the ultimate escapism experience.
I can’t remember the exact date, but I believe the first movie I saw in the theater was a “Tom and Jerry” flick. This must’ve been sometime in the early ’70s. This was before the days of 24-hour cartoon networks and computers that could play DVDs of cartoons. It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away …
The movies have always been cheap entertainment. For 10 bucks, you can lose yourself for a couple of hours and disappear into a celluloid world. And when you add developments like…
