At the movies this weekend it was packed but I and my friends were able to find four seats together not all the way at the top and not too far from the middle. I, being the last of us to climb the steps, was on the outside and sat next to a young boy. The child's mother was there, too, sitting on his other side.
I immediately folded my arms and resolved to sit that way throughout the movie. I didn't want to intimidate the kid by inadvertently fighting for the armrest. And soon after sitting down, the lights dropped to dark and the previews began.
First was Arthur Christmas, a movie about an inquisitive young man that appears to be observing and reporting on the activities of the elves at the North Pole. They played up the secretive nature of the movie's subject to make it all the more mysterious and asks the question, "Is it too early to think about Christmas?" Yes was my answer.
Then was Cowboys & Aliens about one middle-aged and one old guy fighting aliens in the "old west" with a hot chick hanging around somewhere on the periphery.
Then Hugo, the story of a sudden orphan struggling to unlock the secret of a mechanical man given to him by his father. Joining him in his quest is the adorable Hit Girl and the repulsive Borat.
Sherlock Holmes 2 was next. With the assistance of Watson, Holmes investigates a mystery involving a beautiful woman and (spoilers) narrowly solves the case, foiling Moriarty, and saving the damsel in distress in the end. BUT I'M JUST GUESSING.
And then there was The Dark Knight Rises. It was just a teaser with the only new footage being Commissioner Gordon in his own inimitable action-packed style ... lying in a hospital bed and hoarsely pleading with an off camera Bruce Wayne to bring back Batman. Oh, and one shot of Thomas Hardy as Bane.
Finally, the last trailer, singing and dancing penguins and one clumsy walrus bringing us Happy Feet 2.
Watching these previews, despite my feelings about the worthiness of watching any of them in the theatre, if at all, I thought about the kid next to me and what role models he had in these films.
In a universal sense, we can learn from anyone. I've learned things from men and women of varying ages and ethnicities at all points in my life. But in this experience of entertainment, when our minds and hearts are held open by spectacle and we can be influenced by whatever is set before us, which is so much more true for a child, who did this impressionable youth have to look up to?
Nearly every actor/character I saw was white. Arthur? White. The cowboys? Both white. The hot chick? White. Hugo? White. Hit Girl and Borat? White. Sherlock, Watson, Moriarty and the damsel in distress? White. Gordon, Bane and Bruce? White. Happy Feet? Okay, that's an animal movie. It doesn't really work with the point I'm trying to make.
The only non-white characters I recall were a couple of elves in the Arthur Christmas trailer. I'm sure there was some African American or Asian or some form of Non-Caucasian person or persons in the trailers, but I guarantee you they did not have a lead role. They were a glimpse in a crowd in the background and completely unmemorable.
And while I'm pointing things out, there were only three notable female characters in these trailers: The hot chick, the damsel in distress and Hit Girl. Sidekicks and sexualized, if age appropriate.
I thought about the kid next to me and what stories he was being told, how he was being influenced. Does he feel as if he has a future if he can't see one in the movies? What does a young woman think of herself if these are the women up to whom she has to look?
We measure the worlds' injustices by how far we as individuals can stretch our denial to cover the injustices of the past and the prejudices handed down by society and our parents, but if you really look you'll see that we haven't come very far at all and we're not trying hard enough to make it any better.
All that and the main feature wasn't very good either.
***
At least I didn't think so. I mean, I guess it was alright. It was Harry Potter, the last one (actual spoilers ahead) ... I just felt like the book was a better payoff and I couldn't help but notice the things I didn't like in the series in this last movie. Like the fact that Draco undergoes no change whatsoever throughout the series, even though he's a main character and he's a kid that could totally turn his life around. Slytherin house, a quarter of the kids sent to Hogwarts to learn, are unceremoniously locked up when, really, they haven't done anything wrong after Snape is ousted. It's like, "Fuck you because we don't like you." And the fact that Neville doesn't get to take down the woman that killed his parents, Bellatrix. But it was good enough, I guess.
Oh, and while I was grateful they didn't CGI the kids for the ending sequence, I found Ginny to look not at all 20 years older. She looked weird.
And now I'm done. Thanks for reading. Please, try to tell good stories to each other.
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