movie and food associations

[lauradi7dw]

The groups that are supporting viewings of "A Wrinkle in Time" for kids are providing popcorn and a drink along with each ticket. Being myself, I wondered why one wouldn't finance hundreds more kids' tickets by not providing the snacks, but Arthur suggested that to provide the movie-going experience, the stereotypical food and drink must be included. When we go, we don't buy stuff from the concessions area. I have given up popcorn in general, with sadness, because of fears of chipping a tooth. Not that it matters - I chipped a tooth the other day eating a clementine segment. I drink a little Orangina on New Year's Eve, but for the most part don't drink soda. I almost never eat candy. (I eat sweet things, but usually baked goods). I realize I'm not the typical USian movie-goer. I was trying to remember what I ate at movies as a child. I remember paying 35 cents to see Mary Poppins when it came out (and we could sit through repeated showings back then for one admission), and I remember that my best friend always bought a small Milky Way and a Sprite (also much smaller than cups now) for movies, but I don't remember what *I* ate. Popcorn in our family was the treat when shopping at the Rose's department store (I don't know that K-Mart is the closest comparison to the Rose's of the 1960s, but it gives an idea). There was a popcorn machine in the store, apart from the lunch counter. I remember my father saying that when he was given a quarter as a child that was enough to go to a movie, get a hot dog, and have something left for the offering plate on Sunday. I don't know whether lots of kids eating hot dogs would make more or less mess in a cinema than lot of kids spilling popcorn on the floor.

Comments

[negothick]

Ah, good day for movie memories. I spent a lot of time in movie theaters alone, from the age of about 9 onwards. I would enter about 1 p.m. Saturday and stagger out blinking in the sun about 5 or 6. My parents owned a downtown store, and it was all very convenient for them and for me. I remember my mother giving me a dollar and expecting to get change. That was for lunch, movie, and any snacks. I was never a soda fan, preferring to save the money for candy. Good and Plenty, Milky Way. Not a popcorn fan. I watched whatever was playing--which was usually a creature double feature, plus cartoons in between. Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Blob, etc. But sometimes it was sword-and-sandal epics. My favorite from those days was The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.

[negothick]

Today, however, I never buy anything--there's nothing I CAN eat. Generally I've got a cough drop or hard candy with me. And I still go to movies alone--those early habits still in place.

You and I are not the desired movieplex customer: since ticket prices mainly go to the film distributors, the theaters count on concessions for most of their income.