Freya and I had a bit of a discussion recently about what she calls my “movie snobbery.” She claims I have officially crossed over from having high standards to being untrustworthy because I outright dismiss most Hollywood films. She may be right.
Last Friday we went and saw Toy Story 3 in a theater. We caught the last showing before 5, which in the old days meant we caught the last Matinee, but not now, because a Matinee showing is anything before 3. We avoided the 3D and saw the old-fashioned 2D version and yet our tickets were still $21.00 – $10.50 apiece. For a Pixar film I would probably pay more (and multiple times – I hope to see Toy Story 3 again before it leaves theaters) but $21 is a lot for an hour and a half of entertainment. It’s high enough that when I pay that much I am not willing to risk an crappy film.
Ever since I got married, well, probably even before then but more so since, I have tried to be very intentional about how I spend my money and on what. This applies to everything from food to entertainment to furniture. And in attempting to wrangle in my foolish spending habits developed through years of being a mindless consumer, I’ve realized that a lot of what I spend my money on does not give me benefits that justify the cost.
There is a hidden dilemma for the modern consumer that corporations work hard to hide; the dilemma of what standard of living your income allows you to have. What I mean is that Chinese factories and low cost big box retailers have made easily available to us a great deal of luxuries that until about 50 years ago weren’t within reach for the middle class. But the tradeoff is that most of these consumer goods are really shoddy – they don’t cost much but they don’t last long either.
Freya and I have a lot of books so this year we went looking for a new bookshelf. The first thing we found was that no one sells bookshelves much any more, apparently they aren’t in demand. But the second thing that we found was that we had two choices – very affordable bookshelves that were primarily made of particle board or rather expensive bookshelves that were made from solid wood or metal. This choice is one that is presented to us regularly but we just don’t realize it. We can save money and buy something cheap that will have to be replaced once it inevitably breaks, or we can pay lots of money for something that won’t need to be replaced for a long, long time.
The choice comes in the form of food – of cheap fast food that kills us more quickly and tastes the same no matter what part of the country you are in versus healthier food that tastes better and is good for our health. The choice comes in the form of clothes – of having lots of cheap clothes that you change out because of new trends or of spending a bit more money on clothes that fit well and last a long time and aren’t subject to trends. The choice comes in many forms.
Upon recognizing that viewing my purchases from a long-term perspective changes everything, I soon realized that it applies very much to entertainment, and ever since I’ve had a much harder time justifying most entertainment purchases. There are a lot of people out there looking to make a quick buck off of me (or a quick 21 bucks) by making me think that the entertainment I receive will be worth it.
The truth is, most entertainment is shit. Not because it contains offensive content, but because it is created and marketed merely to con me out of my money. And I’ve realized that for years I bought into this, I told myself the lie that it is occasionally nice to just “zone out” and be entertained. I would pay good money to go watch a bad movie because I just wanted to be entertained.
But as soon as I realized I was being taken for a sucker, I wasn’t entertained any more. Hollywood has realized that if they make a crappy movie and take all the funny parts and put them in a trailer and feature a famous person or 3, they can make millions. And we don’t even notice! We have decided that it’s more worth it to watch a dumb movie now than to hold out for something worth our money.
And so I’m fed up. Hollywood is worthless. They are selling us the same lie that nearly every large corporation in America sells us every day – that short term instant gratification is just as good as intentionally seeking out that which is good, even if it requires a sacrifice or extra expense. This is a lie, and once you recognize it, it is rather infuriating how stupid these corporations think you are. They are very confident they can sell us anything. I for one, have decided not to buy.
The best part about this though, is that the local indie theater in Nashville – The Belcourt – is incredibly antithetical to the Hollywood machine. They play first-run independent films from all around the world that are hand chosen, along with regular retrospectives of great filmmakers, classic films, and more. Rather than constantly trying to feed me the crap that Hollywood is selling, they attempt to provide good films to the Nashville community. And they do it at a phenomenal price – $8.50 if you aren’t a member but $5.75 all the time for members. Now that I’m a member, I can see a movie anytime I want that is almost guaranteed to be good (which doesn’t mean I’ll like it, but it means I can respect it) for under $6.
When I have that choice – under $6 for a good film versus more than $10 for any generic, formula-based Hollywood film, well why would I ever consider them? They just can’t compete. Unless they are Pixar, in which case, well, Pixar isn’t trying to sell me anything except the best film they can possibly make. And they happen to be really good filmmakers.