• Movie Watching Is Emotional Aspirin

    It’s 5:30AM. I just finished watching Jupiter Ascending. I’m not here to discuss the movie. Only what the movie means to me in this very moment.

    As I close the aluminum lid of my Macbook Pro, I sigh a contented sigh. I have successfully lived another adventure from the safety and security of the living room couch.

    I have experienced the highs and the lows of adventure without actuallly breaking a sweat. And now I must face the reality that I’ve missed hours of sleep while the rest of my family prepares for the day ahead. And I am just now almost ready to fall asleep.

    I hear my son waking for the tenth time. He’s restless and hungry. But he’ll fall back asleeep if I’m not too loud with my typing.

    And while I contemplate the missing hours I  cannot regain, I admit to myself that movie watching is  perhaps the best example of human tragedy in our first world society.

    Where else can we feign a life for such little cost and achieve catharsis to allow us to continue in the world a little longer? It’s as though the theater were a rejuvenating spa whose effects only last a few fleeting moments. But those moments are worth more than the hours lost staring mindlessly at a brightly lit screen. It’s emotional aspirin.

    Whether you look forward to tomorrow or you hide your face from the overbearing light of day, the film will soothe your ache at least for a moment. Let it all slip away. And be someone else for a change. You can always be you tomorrow.

    Photo credit: Marcelo Acosta via Foter.com / CC BY-NC