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Last Updated: Jul 10, 2008 - 12:32:05 PM |
The Dangers of Consumerism
To the Editor:
When I was a child in Ireland, a trip to the cinema was an all-day affair. My mother would give my brother and I a couple of shillings for the “pictures” and we would join a couple of friends and spend the afternoon switching seats and watching the same program over and over again. These were Saturday matinees, and the theatre would be empty if not for us kids so the ushers would give us a wink and a nod and the place was ours for the day. We would pool our money and buy a box of chocolates between 6 or 8 of us. You had better not be the last on the aisle or you got a shiny box filled with those little frilly papers and not a sweet in sight.
Fast forward to last Thursday. My four-year-old grandson invited me to go with him and his mother to an afternoon movie. We arrived at the new theatre, which is as big as the Taj Mahal and just about as expensive. I paid my king’s ransom and was delighted to get a dollar senior discount, so I knew that my grocery money was safe for the coming week. I was amazed to see that the lobby was fairly milling with what appeared to be small- and medium-sized children lugging wheelbarrow-sized tubs of popcorn and cups of caffeinated drinks large enough for a family to bathe in. There were $5 hot dogs and $4 bottles of water.
Ironies of ironies, the movie was the splendid little gem WALL-E, the very same that was reviewed so splendidly by Ms. Reel in the current edition of our Village News. As Ms. Reel reports the movie concerns itself with our planet which has been literally buried under mountains of garbage created by catastrophic consumerism. The accompanying pollution has turned the earth into a veritable wasteland. The social commentary is withering and never stoops to preaching. The tender love story takes the bite out of the dreary landscape and the science fiction and action kept the kids glued to their seats, when they were not in the bathroom relieving themselves of all that caffeine.
When the movie was over and we all emerged from the dark cave, I took another close look around. Many of the children were actually demanding even more food. There were several little ones chinning themselves on machines with blinking lights in the arcade. This is a grotto-like section of the lobby right by the front entrance that contains machines with names like “The House of the Dead,” “He Wanted Love” (I kid you not), and “The Fast and the Furious.” There were a couple of mothers huddled together in serious negotiations with children who were insisting that they wanted to see the movie again, or else.
The whole afternoon turned out to be quite an experience on several levels. I have felt for years that the “everyone gets a trophy, super size me” rabbit hole that we have all fallen into in the last several decades is so destructive. Not just for ourselves, but for the children. This little movie brings it all home to roost with humor and humanity and in the end, hope. I would encourage everyone to go and see this sweet and wise story. It is indeed a cautionary tale. Take your children to the theater. There is much to learn in the lobby...
Greta Shefers
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