I love going to the theater for a movie. It's definitely cost-prohibitive now, sadly. I still try to go for anything that seems like it needs a big screen. I've always loved the whole experience of the darkness, the popcorn, the trailers, walking out and listening to what the rest of the audience is saying.

I wish there were more second-run and dollar theaters around.

With the ability to sneak food into $7 movies here, it's not so bad. Hardly romance, though.

Sara doesn't like popcorn (IDEK) so when I take her, we split a small soda, I get a small popcorn, and I smuggle in candy for her in my bag. And we always go to a matinee.

Kids' movies make up probably more than half the movies I see in a theater now.

Yeah, most of the complaints I see read like "Oh noes! Now there will be no Important Gatekeepers Of Knowledge", which does seem very OFFAMYLAWN.

That's not really the essence of my interest or question, but I guess I'm not articulating it well.

I'm glad that I still have a (very big) record store to go into, but I'm not particularly nostalgic that I used to have go to a dozen small ones to find something I was looking for. And I probably had more unpleasant than pleasant interactions with record store clerks over the years, and I'm fairly genial with the social niceties.

I do think film in a darkened theater is a very different experience than watching it at home. For somebody like Ple, who dislikes the moviegoing humans, the difference slants towards the benefit of home viewing. I think the experience is far more immersive in a theater (with a much bigger screen and better sound) and I can easily blot out the other humans. And I do think comedies in particular have much more effect and power in a large group viewing.

But that's all a matter of individual taste.

Cultural product (film, books, music) is just where we're hitting a post-scarcity society. I just don't think we understand the implications of that quite. I'm really looking more at the philosophical question of value. If the supply is infinite there's an effect on demand, on "the economies of desire."

These will still be curated, though - the magic of meeting new people, being exposed to new stuff? Crazy random happenstance? Not sure how that is going to happen.

I'm not sure if I'm missing a connection here or not. Are those things that happen when you go to see a movie in a theater? I agree that seeing a movie in a theater can be a different experience from seeing it at home, but... I don't know, I'm not meeting new people at a movie. I'm just sitting near them.

I think, as sort of suggested here, having so much readily available content is more likely to lead to specialization than dilettantism. Which has a different set of problems.

I wish there were more second-run and dollar theaters around.

I am a fan of AMC's pre-noon $6 movies. That's how I see most movies these days. And I do love Going to the Movies. Big screen, loud sound, communal laughter and reactions.

Are those things that happen when you go to see a movie in a theater?

When you go to the Roxie for the noir fest, it is a social scene as well. There are bars nearby filled with people talking about it before and after the film. Even if you don't engage in conversation with somebody new, the buzz is part of the experience.

However, I've mostly talked about movies with video store clerks.

But things like noir fests at the Roxie seem to me like exactly the kind of media event that WON'T be going away - frankly, I doubt most people are going to such a festival because they really wanted to see one particular movie and that was their only way to see it. Most people are going to the noir fest to experience that exact buzz you're talking about, and that market will always be there. Just like live music survived records and theater survived movies. Yes, the markets diminished, but the more specialized the experience the more likely its market will continue to exist.

And I do think comedies in particular have much more effect and power in a large group viewing

Oh, Magnolia and The Bodyguard were HILARIOUS in a large group. And we were all sober! Also, the only ones laughing. *cough*

When you go to the Roxie for the noir fest, it is a social scene as well. There are bars nearby filled with people talking about it before and after the film. Even if you don't engage in conversation with somebody new, the buzz is part of the experience.

Yeah, that makes me TWITCH. TWITCH.

When you go to the Roxie for the noir fest, it is a social scene as well. There are bars nearby filled with people talking about it before and after the film. Even if you don't engage in conversation with somebody new, the buzz is part of the experience.

Also, the percentage of people who would never go to something like that are the majority of the movie-going audience. So the people who want it are going to make sure it's still available.