Tragedy In Colorado May Give Much Needed Stimulation To Movie Goers To Keep Theaters Thriving
According to film scholar and film industry authority Lopez-Larmo, the tragedy in Colorado could help movie theaters keep their edge.
By EDUARDO LOPEZ-LARMO
Published: July 21, 2012
Holmes brought real life off the screen and into theaters.First, please understand that in no way does this piece condone or forgive the violent acts of that monster on Friday, July 20 in Colorado. This sad human being – James Holmes – will go down with Timothy McVeigh as a true to life, home grown villain.
That having been said, out of the ashes of every tragedy comes some measure of redemption. From every insurmountable loss comes some unexpected blessing.
For the last 40 years, the motion picture exhibition industry has suffered setback after setback. Once the fountainhead of Hollywood’s gifts to humankind, today movie theaters are withering and dying. Their revenues have fallen each year for the past five years. The corpses of once great movie houses litter our cities like charred skeletons of some bygone war.
Every generation of motion picture exhibitioners have tried to come up with gimmick after gimmick – CinemaScope, 3-D, Smell-o-vision, Sensurround – to keep people from retreating to their family room televisions. The exhibitioners knew then – and know now – that if they do not offer something viewers cannot find at home, their industry will perish.
Recently, video and sound technology have advanced to the point where anyone can have a home theater experience in their living room. Portable devices give us entertainment on the go. Yet we simply cannot abandon our theaters because of their history and sense of community they provide.
This is where Mr. Holmes comes in. On Friday, July 20, a small legion of movie enthusiasts in Colorado watched the action come off the screen – literally! Explosions, smoke, gunfire, screams, and even blood became more real than smell-o-vision or sensurround could ever depict. The rest of us soaked up the dramatic scenes through copious news coverage. This is cinema verite in its purest and most undiluted form.
It is not that I can accept Holmes' violence. It is just that I love film more than I hate Holmes.
Mr. Holmes showed us – in his own ineffable way – that movie theaters will always give us something the cocoons of our living rooms cannot provide. It is not that I can accept Holmes' violence. It is just that I love film more than I hate Holmes. Only Holmes could show us again that movie theaters exist in the real world. The drama on the screen may at any moment envelope us because, after all, that is the beauty and tragedy of our existence.
Perhaps there will never be another day when an American movie goer can sit in a theater and not be at least the slightest bit on edge. Funny thing is, we may all be better off because of it.
Eduardo Lopez Larmo writes reviews for the LBT each Friday.
