Movie Hype in the 21st Century

Remember when you had to stand in line for 2 hours to get tickets for the next big blockbuster only to be sorely disappointed when you finally got to the window and learned that all showings had been sold out for the weekend? Yeah, me neither.

We are so spoiled when it comes to buying movie tickets these days! The scenario I described to open this post was inspired by the stories I have heard in documentaries about the initial release of Star Wars in 1977. I remember someone saying they saw the movie for the first time during opening weekend and immediately got back in line and waited 2 hours to buy tickets to see it a second time. When I was younger I recall standing in line to get tickets to a few movies here and there, but none of my experiences were anything like those of moviegoers when Star Wars first came out. Nowadays, we can order our tickets well in advance and even reserve the exact seats we will be in to enjoy the movie (rather than taking our chances in the "first come, first serve" battle for good seats). 

Fast forward to the year 2015 and chances are you knew about Star Wars: The Force Awakens long before it was released. Whether you knew a lot about it (i.e., the plot, names of the new characters, etc.), or only a little, you still knew it was coming. The hype that builds up before modern blockbusters is amazing to think about when you compare it to the hype that preceded older movies. Believe it or not, Star Wars (1977) was not very well known by the public at the time of its release. Its success was due in large part to word of mouth after the premiere. 

Unlike moviegoers who had to wait hours to see the original Star Wars, I purchased tickets for my family and I to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on October 19th, 2015, almost a full 2 months before it was even released! I knew that if we waited any longer than opening weekend to see the movie that spoilers would be all over Facebook and YouTube, so I made it a point to get tickets as early as possible. The night I went to get tickets was the same night they were first made available. Even then, all the "good" seats for the showing we ended up going to were already claimed by the time I got to the theater. I had initially hoped to get tickets for the "Tightwad Tuesday" after release, but that particular showing was already sold out!

I have been interested in seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for some time now and the latest trailer got me fairly excited about it. Yesterday I was going to make the trip over to the Megaplex at Geneva to buy a ticket for a showing on the first "Tightwad Tuesday" after the movie is released. Before I left to go to the theater, I decided I should probably check the theater's website to see if tickets were available yet. When I saw that advanced tickets are scheduled to go on sale starting Monday, the 29th, I was actually disappointed. The movie will not even be released for another month! After feeling disappointed for a minute, I realized how silly it was for me to even think that way. This experience made me reflect on just how much the times have changed and how different the movie-going experience is now compared to what it was like for our parents and grandparents. 

So next time you go see a blockbuster movie with a pre-purchased ticket (and there will be a number of them this year alone), take a minute to think about how awesome it is that your seats were reserved so you did not have to sit up in the miserable front row, or how you were able to walk right in and not wait in line for an hour or 2. And as advantageous as technology has become in revolutionizing the theater industry and our experience as viewers, PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE! (Haha, just thought I would throw that out there.) Enjoy the movie!

#BeingThirteen

When Dr. Marion Underwood mentioned the CNN special report with Anderson Cooper, #BeingThirteen, I knew right then that I wanted to watch it and use it for a blog post. I found some of the information in the report to be a repeat of what she shared in her lecture at BYU the other night, but there were also a number of interesting points brought up during the special that she did not mention.

Here's my breakdown of the points that intrigued me:

• One girl said, "I don't like dealing with things face to face because it's really easy to hide behind your phone. [And in] face to face you have to deal with the other person. I don't like dealing with people that cry, or get really mad, and they say something mean back to me, and I'll lose, and I don't like losing." 
• Though I can completely understand why this girl would feel this way, I find this somewhat alarming. This quote makes me think of all the talk surrounding the issue of "losing touch with reality" and how personal communication/interactions have suffered because of digital media.
• When discussing cyberbullying: "Their biggest source of pain is from those closest to them."
• Cyberbullying is certainly becoming a bigger issue as time goes on, and if left unchecked I see no reason for it to slow down anytime soon.
• "57% of kids in this study said they'd rather be grounded than lose their phone, meaning if they had to choose they'd rather be cut off from the real world than the cyberworld."
• Are individuals (especially teens and young adults) becoming compulsive/heavily dependent on social media? Food for thought.
• Dr. Underwood emphasized a great distinction toward the end of the report about addiction when she discussed that she does not believe children are addicted to their phones/social media ("not the screens, not the devices"). However, many do seem to become addicted to the access that social media gives them (whether that results in positive or negative experiences) with their peers.
• Anderson at one point said, "Parents were way out of touch with what their kids were feeling. About 60% underestimated how lonely, worried and depressed their kids were." Later, Dr. Robert Faris (who was the other primary researcher involved in this study) said, "The other thing that's going on is that kids, by and large, don't talk about the kinds of conflicts they're experiencing because they feel like adults can't help."
• Though "way out of touch" might be exaggerating the point, I do think this should be a red flag for parents. I strongly believe that most parents never get to a point of communicating with their children too much, especially during adolescence.
• When parents at least make an effort to monitor what their kids are doing online it can really help to mitigate the conflicts their children experience online with their peers.
• The report spent some time discussing the idea of kids adopting a different persona online compared with who they are in real life, which granted was due to the nature of the study. However, I think this issue goes well beyond 13 year-olds and adolescents. Many people seem to do this on social media, and I think it begs the question how it affects society in general.
• Anderson gathered a number of parents in the studio and asked them about their children's use of social media. When he asked them, "Does it drive you all nuts how much they use the phone?" and "Do you think your kids are addicted?" all of the parents responded with a unanimous "Yes!"
• When a couple of the parents were shown some of the specific posts and videos from their own children, it was very interesting to see each one of them raise their eyebrows in surprise at what their own children were saying online.
• Bright spot amid this issue: At one point, Dr. Underwood said, "Nothing about the technology means it has to be bad." 
• Over the course of the study, thousands of positive/prosocial posts were recorded, which is a great finding. Social media can really be a great tool when it is used in positive ways.

Social media is a phenomenon that I definitely find intriguing. I have often thought that I grew up just ahead of the "social media boom". Facebook was big when I was in high school, but Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, and countless others did not really become as big as they are now until I was on my mission. Since I came home I have never really bothered to get involved with any of the newer platforms and just stick with Facebook. 

I hope the findings from this study spread and really catch the attention of the public eye. It will certainly be interesting to see how social media continues to evolve over time. Towards the very end of the report, Dr. Underwood shared what I believe to be the most important take-away: "I think parents can help kids remember that it's possible to have fun in other ways, that there are other things that are important and interesting." Well said.

Next Star Wars Movie to be Rated R?

RUMOR WARNING: This post contains rumors! Almost any article that discusses something about a movie that has not been released yet seems to contain a spoiler warning. Isn't it about time that rumor warnings became a thing too? Anyway, consider yourself warned.

Now that the Force has awakened, most, if not all, sites featuring production news and rumors for upcoming Star Wars movies have shifted their attention to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is scheduled to be released in theaters December 16th, 2016. (If you thought this post was going to be about Episode VIII, sorry to disappoint.)

I opened Facebook on my phone the other day to check the details of an activity and at the top of my feed was an article titled, "Darth Vader's Scenes in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Described As Brutal". My curiosity was piqued so I decided to see what it had to say. (Click here to read the article for yourself)

I remember reading an article a few months back that said Rogue One would set itself apart from other Star Wars movies by not having any Force-using/lightsaber wielding characters. The original concept of this movie, as described in early reports after it was first announced, was for it to be a gritty, more militarized story set in the Star Wars universe. However, over the past month or two I have seen more and more articles popping up about the possibility of Darth Vader showing up in the new film. Since he has been considered one of the most formidable film villains of all time, I think it would be a great idea to work him into the movie!

What really intrigued me about the article I read was the possibility of Darth Vader being portrayed as ruthless in Rogue One, and the potential display of violence that would accompany any scenes with him. One possible example of his unyielding behavior could include using bodies on the battleground as human shields. According to the original report on this rumor, the concept art depicts possible scenes in the upcoming movie as "more violent than what we’ve seen Darth Vader do on screen before."

The original trilogy was released before my time, so I would love to see Darth Vader in action on the big screen! Sure, the iconic suit showed up at the end of Revenge of the Sith, but he did little more than stand around for a brief amount of screen time. I think it would be awesome to see a new portrayal that gives the character more gravitas as the ultimate bad guy (and potentially re-establishes him as the greatest movie villain).

At the end of the article I saw on Facebook, the author said if these rumors of a more violent version of Darth Vader turn out to be true and these scenes are included in Rogue One, "there's a good chance that the standalone film could get a Rated-R rating, but I highly doubt they'd show something violent enough to get that rating." I highly doubt this as well. Star Wars has always been a franchise made with kids in mind (just look up any of the plethora of the interviews available online where George Lucas makes this point). With that being said, Darth Vader can still show up as a force to be reckoned with while keeping the violence and gore to a minimum.

I consider the portrayal of The Joker (RIP, Heath Ledger) in The Dark Knight to be one of the greatest movie villain performances ever. The Joker was a rather violent character but a lot of his more disturbing actions happened off-screen (such as "Let's put a smile on that face"). Darth Vader could easily be portrayed as a merciless character in Rogue One by implying a lot of his cruel behavior rather than showing it explicitly on screen. 

In conclusion, a question for anyone who reads this post: Do you consider off-screen violence to be as bad as on-screen violence?