Movies and TV As a Part of Our Lives
Once upon a time people lived vicariously through movies and then a small square box made it possible to do it in the home, too. When television became available in the 1930’s, very few people had one. There were very few television broadcasting stations and programming was very limited. In the 1950’s, television became the center piece of most family living rooms. It was a major way to get products into the public eye. Commercials became important in the 1950’s when an entire program would be sponsored by one company.
Saturday night at the movies became a ritual in the early 1960’s. Full length movie features were shown with commercial breaks. For the first time, the family could watch a movie together in the comfort of their own home. Today there are channels that are devoted to running movies 24/7. There are also channels that offer first run movies for a small payment after the movie has its run in the theater. With the advent of large screen televisions and surround sound, a family can sit down with a bowl of microwave popcorn and a favorite drink and watch the latest movie released on DVD.
Being able to watch a full length movie in the comfort of your own home is great. There is no need to get a babysitter because even the youngest child can be present. Dinner and a movie can be as simple as delivery pizza in several choices to suit the entire family. Pause the movie for bathroom breaks. Finish the movie the next night. You are in charge of the schedule.
Whoever told the corporate movie executives that increasing movie ticket prices so that it is necessary for a family of four to take out a personal loan in order to take in a movie; he or she was terribly wrong. It should not cost over thirty-five dollars just for a movie and refreshments.
3D movies are new again. They were very popular back in the 1950’s and 60’s. Everyone wore those tacky little cardboard glasses and watched the screen as the characters seemed to pop out at the audience. The movies were totally out of focus if you did not use the glasses and people often had headaches when watching the movie with the glasses on. Today the 3D movie has been made popular again by the advent of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland.
These two new 3D movies were great on screen where things seemed to just jump out at you and you seemed to find yourself in the movie. When the movie was released on DVD, it was easy to watch in the comfort of the home. No tacky glasses were needed because the movie was in perfect viewing order in a non 3D format. Being able to enjoy either or both of these blockbuster movies in the comfort of your own home is great. Lower the lights, get the popcorn and other snacks and drinks ready and turn on the movie.
