Popcorn please - the immersive joys of going to the cinema
Sophie Lombardi
A trip to the cinema is one of the only things which will detach me from the sofa in January. As soon as our local cinema opened their doors after the Pandemic, I was in there like a rat up a drainpipe, ordering every confection available at the Box Office. Despite the joys of being tucked up with popcorn and immersed into a fictional world, box office sales have been in rapid decline due to the increase of streaming subscriptions. With big fancy televisions and access to all films at anytime, we are seeing the slow death of the cinema.
When cinema opened back in 1930 it was the predominant cultural pursuit. Women would put on a cloche hat and wear a marcel wave and dress up for a night at the picture palace! (Lisa Stead). Cinemas continued to thrive for the next half a century and were particularly popular during the Second World War and the Great Depression in the USA. Sitting in our beautiful Art Nouveau cinema, I feel so sad to see most of the plush seats flipped up. Streaming services offer a good bang for your buck, but a trip to the cinema offers so much more.
Watching a film at the cinema will provide you with around 2 hours of uninterrupted escapism. If you are anything like me, then watching a film at home will also involve scrolling through your phone, answering to the snack needs of your family and responding to work emails. Without these distractions I can fully immerse myself in the plot, setting and characters. Watching a film at the cinema is viewing it as the Director intended. Some films are a visual feast and even the most sophisticated televisions cannot compete with the definiton of a cinema screen. I recently enjoyed the gorgeous wide angled shots in Conclave : the scarlet vestiments of the Cardinals illumininated against marble courtyards in the Vatican City.
The collective experience is the best aspect of watching a film at the cinema. Everyone is captivated by the same thing as we share laughter, sadness and surprise together. A couple of years ago, I watched the horror/comedy Cocaine Bear and the whole experience was enhanced immeasurably by the shared response of the audience. People were shouting, screaming and then laughing as the intoxicated bear goes on his murderous rampage. Several viewers had their coats over their heads and another had crawled under the seat.
One reason we go to the cinema less these days is simply because it costs so much to do so. However most tickets cost the equivalent of 2 pints of beer and there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of punters outside our local. So how can we revive The Golden Age of visiting the Picture Palace ? The experience has been elevated by companies such as Curzon who offer beautiful art deco styling and an adjacent bar. I personally think that nothing beats an evening out at the cinema, stepping out of everyday life for a couple of hours to laugh or cry with a bunch of complete strangers.
