revdorothyl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
revdorothyl) wrote2004-06-30 05:14 pm
revdorothyl) wrote2004-06-30 05:14 pm
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Fahrenheit 9/11 and the pleasure of the 'group thing'
Since I couldn't tell from the listings online if "Fahrenheit 9/11" was going to be still in town today, I cut short an IM conversation with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
keswindhover yesterday afternoon, and hauled butt down to the late afternoon showing at the one screen in town it was playing on.
The length of the ticket line and the sign above the ticket office saying that the 7:20 PM showing was all sold out made me nervous, but I was able to get a ticket for the 4:25 show, and able to find a seat in the very crowded theater (though in the third row from the front, much closer than I'd normally sit). Apparently, a lot of other people in town had the same fear that the film might not be around longer, or they were just that eager to see it.
By the way, the film is, of course, now playing on 8 screens at 5 multiplexes around town, as of today. But I wouldn't have missed this 'group thing' at the theater yesterday for anything.
First let me say that, although I wasn't convinced by all the connections and proof of collusion with the Saudis that Michael Moore tried to make, the evidence that I was already familiar with -- combined with our president's own ability to make himself look stupid, arrogant, and/or dishonest -- was more than enough to make me feel as outraged as the other folks in the theater seemed to be. The audience (of which I was a willing part) broke into spontaneous applause at several points, such as after a particularly pithy denunciation of Bush and vow to work for Kerry from an injured soldier at Fort Campbell, on medical leave from Iraq.
I found myself exchanging sympathetic looks of outrage or amazement with the strangers seated beside me, many times during the movie, as we realized that we were all on the same wavelength, politically speaking. We bonded for the two hours we were in that theater.
It was almost like a Democratic revival meeting, so heartfelt and enthusiastic and united were we in our emotional responses. It reminded me of some really great worship services I've participated in, where even midwestern Presbyterians start to get huggy and full of fellow feeling.
It reminded me even more, perhaps, of the Opening Ceremonies at a science fiction convention (especially those that include a satirical skit or two), where just by BEING THERE and laughing at the same jokes and applauding the same things, you know that you are surrounded by people who feel as you do about some important subjects -- you know that, though you may feel isolated and alone sometimes in the mundane world, you are not the only one who thinks this way, and you belong with these people.
I think Victor Turner would have called this an experience of communitas, and it is quite a rush! After the lights came up and the large theater slowly emptied, some of the glow and elation remained, and I found myself marveling that there were this many liberal little old ladies (many grandmothers still chortling over some telling point in the film) and teenagers and middle-aged folks in Nashville. They may not even have been liberals or Democrats, for all I know, but they (and I guess I have to say, at certain points, we) were seriously into this movie.
As a postscript, let me note one curious fact: for the first time in all the years that I've been going to this multiplex, they had a theater employee standing outside the door to our theater checking ticket stubs as myself and other latecomers scurried in to find our seats. She was just looking to make sure that our ticket stubs did indeed say theater "16" on them, she said.
Since "Fahreheit 9/11" was only playing in that one theater, and since the 4:25 showing had NOT yet been sold out (meaning that tickets were still available for purchase), I was puzzled by this precaution. It made me wonder if, just perhaps, they've had trouble with people (possibly people more pro-Bush than the rest of us) sneaking into the theater (presumably after paying to see some other movie), so they can see what the film says without giving any money to Michael Moore or helping the film's box office numbers. It just made me wonder.
keswindhover yesterday afternoon, and hauled butt down to the late afternoon showing at the one screen in town it was playing on. The length of the ticket line and the sign above the ticket office saying that the 7:20 PM showing was all sold out made me nervous, but I was able to get a ticket for the 4:25 show, and able to find a seat in the very crowded theater (though in the third row from the front, much closer than I'd normally sit). Apparently, a lot of other people in town had the same fear that the film might not be around longer, or they were just that eager to see it.
By the way, the film is, of course, now playing on 8 screens at 5 multiplexes around town, as of today. But I wouldn't have missed this 'group thing' at the theater yesterday for anything.
First let me say that, although I wasn't convinced by all the connections and proof of collusion with the Saudis that Michael Moore tried to make, the evidence that I was already familiar with -- combined with our president's own ability to make himself look stupid, arrogant, and/or dishonest -- was more than enough to make me feel as outraged as the other folks in the theater seemed to be. The audience (of which I was a willing part) broke into spontaneous applause at several points, such as after a particularly pithy denunciation of Bush and vow to work for Kerry from an injured soldier at Fort Campbell, on medical leave from Iraq.
I found myself exchanging sympathetic looks of outrage or amazement with the strangers seated beside me, many times during the movie, as we realized that we were all on the same wavelength, politically speaking. We bonded for the two hours we were in that theater.
It was almost like a Democratic revival meeting, so heartfelt and enthusiastic and united were we in our emotional responses. It reminded me of some really great worship services I've participated in, where even midwestern Presbyterians start to get huggy and full of fellow feeling.
It reminded me even more, perhaps, of the Opening Ceremonies at a science fiction convention (especially those that include a satirical skit or two), where just by BEING THERE and laughing at the same jokes and applauding the same things, you know that you are surrounded by people who feel as you do about some important subjects -- you know that, though you may feel isolated and alone sometimes in the mundane world, you are not the only one who thinks this way, and you belong with these people.
I think Victor Turner would have called this an experience of communitas, and it is quite a rush! After the lights came up and the large theater slowly emptied, some of the glow and elation remained, and I found myself marveling that there were this many liberal little old ladies (many grandmothers still chortling over some telling point in the film) and teenagers and middle-aged folks in Nashville. They may not even have been liberals or Democrats, for all I know, but they (and I guess I have to say, at certain points, we) were seriously into this movie.
As a postscript, let me note one curious fact: for the first time in all the years that I've been going to this multiplex, they had a theater employee standing outside the door to our theater checking ticket stubs as myself and other latecomers scurried in to find our seats. She was just looking to make sure that our ticket stubs did indeed say theater "16" on them, she said.
Since "Fahreheit 9/11" was only playing in that one theater, and since the 4:25 showing had NOT yet been sold out (meaning that tickets were still available for purchase), I was puzzled by this precaution. It made me wonder if, just perhaps, they've had trouble with people (possibly people more pro-Bush than the rest of us) sneaking into the theater (presumably after paying to see some other movie), so they can see what the film says without giving any money to Michael Moore or helping the film's box office numbers. It just made me wonder.