There Are Worse Things You Can See
At long last the truth is out. The one movie that can unite the Baby Boomers, the Gen-Xers and the Millennium Kids is -- you guessed it -- Grease.
At least that's the impression I got when I took my girlfriend to a showing of that movie at a local movie theatre last night. People of all ages were there, and although the audience was predominantly white non-Hispanic, there were even a few black movie-goers in the audience. The audience was far larger than the audience at the last old movie I had seen in that theatre -- Breakfast at Tiffany's -- and my girlfriend and I had to sit in the third row as a result.
Once the movie started, people started hollering, clapping, singing along with the songs, and even waving their arms in the air in time to the music. More than a few folks in the audience even held up their lighted cell phones at key points in the movie for the same reason people raise up lit lighters at a rock concert. (And yes, I'm aware of the irony of using a device as modern as a cell phone to celebrate the virtues of a 1978 movie set in the 1950s.) Towards the end, one enthusiastic fan -- who may or may have been too young to even have been alive when the movie was originally released -- shouted out, “I love you, John Travolta!”
I must confess that I used to be embarrassed about the number of times I've seen Grease. Sure, it was a popular movie, but it wasn't the type of movie that it was fashionable to like if you were a serious movie buff.
However, the older I get, the less I worry about other people's opinions and what is or isn't fashionable. Too many of my favorite people pay little if any attention to what's in fashion in the modern cinema. And quite frankly, life seems way too short to worry about something as trivial as other people's movie tastes. If they like the same films that I do, fine. If they don't, well, there are worse differences one can have.
Do I still love movies? Yes, I do.
Do I still love good movies? Yes, I do.
Do I realize that a popular movie isn't necessarily the same as a good movie? Yes, I do.
But after finding myself underwhelmed by many of the “better” movies of last year, I can't help drawing the line between good and popular differently than most people.
It has been so rare that I've seen the enthusiasm in a movie audience that I saw in the audience for Grease. I'm glad I witnessed it. I find it sad that not many recent releases I've seen have produced a similar reaction in their respective audiences but that is an issue for another post.
I'm no longer ashamed of all the times I've seen Grease with my siblings. I'm just glad I got the chance to share the experience with my girlfriend.
At long last the truth is out. The one movie that can unite the Baby Boomers, the Gen-Xers and the Millennium Kids is -- you guessed it -- Grease.
At least that's the impression I got when I took my girlfriend to a showing of that movie at a local movie theatre last night. People of all ages were there, and although the audience was predominantly white non-Hispanic, there were even a few black movie-goers in the audience. The audience was far larger than the audience at the last old movie I had seen in that theatre -- Breakfast at Tiffany's -- and my girlfriend and I had to sit in the third row as a result.
Once the movie started, people started hollering, clapping, singing along with the songs, and even waving their arms in the air in time to the music. More than a few folks in the audience even held up their lighted cell phones at key points in the movie for the same reason people raise up lit lighters at a rock concert. (And yes, I'm aware of the irony of using a device as modern as a cell phone to celebrate the virtues of a 1978 movie set in the 1950s.) Towards the end, one enthusiastic fan -- who may or may have been too young to even have been alive when the movie was originally released -- shouted out, “I love you, John Travolta!”
I must confess that I used to be embarrassed about the number of times I've seen Grease. Sure, it was a popular movie, but it wasn't the type of movie that it was fashionable to like if you were a serious movie buff.
However, the older I get, the less I worry about other people's opinions and what is or isn't fashionable. Too many of my favorite people pay little if any attention to what's in fashion in the modern cinema. And quite frankly, life seems way too short to worry about something as trivial as other people's movie tastes. If they like the same films that I do, fine. If they don't, well, there are worse differences one can have.
Do I still love movies? Yes, I do.
Do I still love good movies? Yes, I do.
Do I realize that a popular movie isn't necessarily the same as a good movie? Yes, I do.
But after finding myself underwhelmed by many of the “better” movies of last year, I can't help drawing the line between good and popular differently than most people.
It has been so rare that I've seen the enthusiasm in a movie audience that I saw in the audience for Grease. I'm glad I witnessed it. I find it sad that not many recent releases I've seen have produced a similar reaction in their respective audiences but that is an issue for another post.
I'm no longer ashamed of all the times I've seen Grease with my siblings. I'm just glad I got the chance to share the experience with my girlfriend.
Labels: Generaciones, John Travolta, Películas Neoclásicas I, Vaselina
posted by Tonio Kruger at 4:50 PM
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