Movie Ticket Stubs

There is something mystical about sitting in a dark, crowded theatre. Watching images flicker across the screen; images that sometimes provide valuable insight into our own lives. Being able to be transported to any time or place in the form of any character is something that, in today's world, we all are in need of. Being in a movie theatre with someone you love or maybe even hate, only adds to the experience. Sitting in a dark theatre with your friends or family, you begin to realize what the movies are truly about, the experience and escapism. The pictures on the screen move at twenty-four frames a second. I believe that we go to movies not always to see what we pay for, but to escape from reality and define our individuality.

When I was very young, going to the movies was a frequent occurrence. Nothing would intrigue me more than sprawling the Sunday newspaper out in our living room and staring with childish awe at all the ads for movies currently playing. There is no way of accurately numbering all the ridiculous movies I made my parents sit through. Other parents took their kids to the movies to have a widescreen babysitter for a couple of hours. My parents took me so they could share with me the experience of falling in love with a good movie. My love for film was fueled directly by my parents, who drove me around to video stores to see if they could find me the latest movie posters to adorn my room. Over the summers, my mom would take me to the local video store to rent five movies just about every week. I began to identify with all sorts of different films and I started to understand what made me like certain movies and not like certain others. Although, I've never truly hated any film I've seen. There was something romantic about being able to escape in a good story every Friday night. I just wasn't sure what it was yet.

Being a teenager in the dry county of Randolph limits some kids on their ability to have fun. I would always just go to the movies with my high school sweetheart when something good came out. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always wholly into the movies that we saw, but something always stirred inside me when I would look over at the face of the girl I loved and see her perfect profile in the flickering white light of the movie as the images danced across her face. Her eyes wide with excitement/anticipation/fear/sadness or whatever the particular case may have been. Something about the experience of going to the movies with her would stay with me for the rest of my life.

Dances were big in middle school and the eighth grade dance was the biggest of all. I was a bit of a loner and always kept to myself. Therefore, to no one's surprise I was dateless to the dance that night. Jared, my best friend, decided that he thought the night was a pointless event of awkwardness as well so we decided to see a movie he had really wanted to see. The film was Mission to Mars, and it was one of the worst movies I had ever seen in my life. But Jared and I just sat in Asheboro's empty, two dollar theatre and laughed at everything about the film. I can remember in detail everything we laughed at and how fun it was thinking that we could make a film just as good as that. I can almost promise I would have long forgotten the eighth grade dance by now. Now every time I see Mission to Mars on television I realize how fun it was to be that age and how quickly eight years can pass.

I read the Lord of the Ring's novels when I was very young, too young to remember what age I read them. So when I found out there would movies about them I was met with a wave of anticipation and deep-seated fear. Over the course of three years, right around Christmas time I was treated to an experience like no other. My parents and I would always buy the tickets weeks in advance and get their hours early on opening night. Lord of the Ring's enthusiasts and film fanatics alike would line the doors for what seemed like miles to see the film on opening night. For three holiday seasons my parents and I were always there. My mom still pretends she likes the films and my dad has long since given up the guise. They do it for me, so I will have the experience. I'm just glad I have them to share it with. My eclectic group of friends, from cheerleaders and football stars to art class, punk rock kids knew how much I liked the films, so we always made the time to go see the Lord of the Rings movies, all ten or so of us.

Movies are escapism but they are also so much more than that. They are chronicles of our own lives. They are experiences with loved ones. Movies define us as who we are. We as people go to movies and allow them to change our mind about things or experience something we are unaccustomed to. Movies are life and I believe who we are happens to be shaped by a simple twenty-four frames per second.