It’s no secret that the last few
days have been incredibly rough for so many people. First the George Zimmerman
trial verdict sparked rage and unrest all over the country, and less than 24
hours later, friends and fans of Glee’s
Cory Monteith woke to the tragic news of his passing. Although I’m far less
directly affected by these events than many people, they’ve certainly been on
my mind. So today, I went to see a movie.
I saw Pacific Rim, and it was
fantastic. Two hours of robots, monsters…and great writing with real heart. Now,
if I were you, sitting and reading this, I might be a little upset by that last
sentence. “Wait,” I would say. “This guy yanked me in with talk about serious
stuff, and now he’s gonna hit me with a sneak movie review. Not cool.” And yet,
not so! Because here’s the thing, friends. The movie theater is a sanctuary to
me, no matter what film I’ve gone there to watch. I’ve written about it before,
here and elsewhere, and I’ll probably write about it again…because god knows
this isn’t the last time we’ll all feel the way we do now.
Anger is hard to deal with. Grief
is even more difficult. But the brilliant thing is, that’s part of the reason
we watch movies. Or TV shows, or read books…to escape. And there’s no shame or
harm in that. Tolkien wrote that “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory...If
we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it is
our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
On days like today, that’s what the
movie theater is for. It’s a way to escape. To sit, even just for a few hours,
and let go of everything that’s weighing us down. In the process, if we’re
lucky, we find something that helps us walk out into the sunlight believing
that we have a chance. That the world can get better.
I realize that sounds about as
corn-fed as you can get, but here’s the thing. When did real good ever come
from anyone who decided that “just OK” was enough? For me, movies aren’t just
an escape. They’re also an inspiration. As a creator, a writer, I walk out of a
film like Pacific Rim inspired to write – and to write better, more true, stories.
As a plain old person, I leave movies like that with a feeling something like
hope for myself and the people around me. I flat-out yearn for theater experiences like
that. They’re the fuel that keeps me going and the respite I need from rough days.
Now, I’ve never really been part of
the Glee fandom myself. But I am part of other fandoms. I follow people on
Twitter and Tumblr who are as invested in Glee as I am in (for example)
Supernatural. And today, I remember the name Kim Manners.
See, back in the years before
Supernatural was a big show, and before I discovered the community of online
fans that I know now, Kim Manners was a consistent director on the show. I
remember seeing the name at the bottom of the screen during episodes, and I remember
that when he passed away, for a while, it felt like a part of the show had died
too. Even offscreen, his presence always mattered. And now, after 8 years of
investment in the show, I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to lose
someone else who is a part of it. My heart really does go out to the fans of
Glee and of Cory himself, as well as his family and friends.
For people like myself, TV and film
aren’t just images on a screen. We live in an age when the internet lets us get
close to others. It tells us just about anything we want to know (and some
stuff we really don’t) about not only our favorite characters, but the actors
who play them. One consequence of this saturation is that, as we’re learning
today, it hurts much more to lose any one of them. But to quote a much greater
writer than myself (John Green), “The truth is it hurts because it’s real. It
hurts because it mattered.” And in the end, that’s a realization to treasure.
We talk about being proud to be
nerds and geeks, that there’s no shame in loving the people and things that we
love. That applies to times like today maybe more than any others. These are
the times when we can all come together and support one another in all sorts of
ways, and there’s a strange sort of joy in that. No one wishes for tragedy –
but when we have to face it, we are pushed to be at our best. And so, when I
was sitting in the theater today, nothing about the movie I watched resonated
with me quite as much as a few simple sentences uttered before the climactic
battle:
“Today there’s not a man or woman
in here that shall stand alone. We have chosen to believe not only in
ourselves, but in each other!”
So when the hard times hit you,
remember. Remember that the theater, the internet, the TV screen, aren’t just
places to escape to alone. They’re also the places we can come together, and
that, more than anything, is what matters.
As always, thanks for reading,
friends.
