The Comfort of Movies

Yesterday, my life just felt a little too real. I needed a break from it all. So, come quittin' time, I did the thing that always makes me feel better: going to the movies! I ventured over to a nearby movie theater to see New York, I Love You. I adored Paris, Je t'aime and was curious to see the NYC iteration. It was just the ticket for my mood as the film really set the scene of the city nicely and I was able to get lost in vignettes, little pockets of tender humanity. I love going to the movies. I get this from my mother, who has pretty much seen every movie that is not in the horror/sci-fi/action/thriller genres. There is rarely a time that I go home and we don't end up at the local movie theater.

The feeling of being in a darkened theater with this huge screen before you, flashing glamorous depictions of how happy, how sad, how scary, how glorious life can be. Movies represent possibility. They excite with their scale and sound. Watching a movie in the theater, you become part of story, closely connected to the characters (providing it's not Dude, Where's My Car?). For two hours or so, you cease to live your normal existence and instead travel to New York, Paris, Tuscany, or... to where the wild things are. You can be anyone you want and sometimes I feel at most myself while watching a movie. It's almost like being at church- where all your thoughts are contained by the collective silence and reflection and you become part of something larger than yourself.

Image found here.