Movies

There was a recent question about Disney movies that started me thinking, and I have to tell this story. I have never been a big one as far as movies went in general; they tend to be too expensive and too glitzy, and I'd much rather do "real life". I like small art films instead, and those are mostly all I go to. (Well, I did see "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" recently, but that's an exception.) Do you remember when "Brokeback Mountain" came out? People don't believe me that I never saw it: because I'm (a) gay myself, and (b) involved with gay rodeo (ahem: VERY involved). You'd think it was the perfect combination. But when the movie was scheduled to go to Little Rock, Arkansas (where I was living at the time), it was originally supposed to go to a more artist theatre, because that was the kind of movie it was supposed to be. I was quite happy with that. At the time I was involved with several gay-rights groups, and we arranged with the theatre to have a night where our organization would go "en masse", and they were going to let us do some advertising and have some extra fun after the movie was over.

Then the movie was nominated for an academy award: and suddenly everything changed. Previous agreements were changed, and the movie went to the local cineplex-type theatres in the city. I was bummed; I figured it would eventually make it to the art-place, so we put our plans on hold and waited so we could have our rodeo-party a bit late. But it was all about the money. Our party never happened; the movie never came. The big theatres wouldn't let go of the film until the interest had died away and other subjects had come up. All my friends saw it: either elsewhere or on video. I was too disgusted. To this day, I've not seen the movie.

My odd relationship with movies actually goes back several decades. When I first moved to the States, to Chicago, I moved in order to go to school: I attended (and graduated from) Moody Bible Institute, a conservative Bible College in the heart of Chicago. There were several rules that governed our lives: no drinking, no smoking, no dancing, no playing cards... and no movies. I have a three year stretch during which I not only didn't see any movies, but basically didn't even talk about them. Why talk about something that you can't do? Even though I don't see many, and never have, I hardly wanted to put myself through temptation.

When I graduated, I remember that I was so excited to be out from under the rules that my friend Kelly and I decided to see a movie our last night in the city. I know, a strange thing to do: your last night in a city like Chicago, I was with a pretty girl, and we chose to see a movie rather than walk on the lakefront. But we had not been in a theatre for three years. So we went to a place nearby (I think it was at Watertower Place) and chose something... anything... the one that looked most interesting (which meant, by our standards: the least gore, least sex, least violence) was The Naked Gun. Ahem. Let's just say that we were sorely disappointed. I remember walking out before it ended. I've seen, of course, many movies over the decades since that day, but I still remember that experience. I choose my movies carefully.