The American Experience

Sunday was the 4th or 5th hot day in a row here, in a town which doesn't get much hot weather. We swam in the lake to cool off every afternoon until Sunday, when the combination of some clouds and my laziness demanded a change. So I checked online to see what our movie options were and decided to take my four year-old to see the new Pixar movie, Wall-E.

We had just missed an earlier show at a theater which is fairly close, but there was another matinee at a downtown shopping center. I considered taking the bus down, as we have enjoyed that as an outing a few times, but because the movie would be getting out close to dinner and bedtime, I opted to drive.

We pulled into the underground parking and headed for the elevators. As soon as we exited the elevator, we entered what felt to me like another world. Bright florescent lights, big stores, people everywhere. It seemed so full of people to me, and I'm not sure why that was so surprising. After all, we were there, and I had planned on killing some time in the shopping center while waiting for the movie to start. I realize that going shopping is an activity that was a normal pursuit for most people. And it's not that I never do it. I certainly have my shopping routines (can anyone say, Tar-jhay?) and in fact have purchased more clothing in the past 6 months or so than I have in a long time. But the feel of this place was scary. It had the "anytown USA" syndrome, anonymous and unnatural and designed to fuel the fires of retail therapy. A reader? Stop in to BigChainBooks and load up. Have an overpriced Nationalcoffee while you're here. Hungry? We have Mexican, burgers, Italian, and Thai food, all packaged in a sugar and fat format that will not shock the American palate.

So, we browsed in the bookstore and got a couple of paperbacks for Adelaide. (When in Rome, right?) Then it was time for the movie. Or should I say, the 30 minutes of pre-movie sales and "entertainment." I swore the last time we went to the movies that I would arrive 30 minutes after the start time, so I wouldn't have to explain what all the crap we were watching was (that's called a commercial, honey, and they are trying to sell you things. No, this isn't the movie, I know you don't like it, it will be over soon.). I forgot. Next time.

Finally, the feature presentation. Presented at decibels just slightly into the range of middle ear discomfort. Um, hello? Kids have good hearing. "Brideshead Revisted" has all of the geriatrics, save the hearing-aid augmentation for theater 8.

I won't give away too much of the movie in case you want to see it. It was cute, and up to the high standards that Pixar sets for itself. The theme was particularly fitting for the experience I was having that day. The earth has been abandoned due to the magnitude of human abuse, and all the humans are off in space, getting fatter and fatter and less and less able to exercise free thought or any parts of their bodies except their mouths. It was funny, and a little scary in its potential truth.

You know that feeling when you walk out of a matinee and the daylight seems blindingly wrong? Well, it was similarly disconcerting to walk out of Wall-E to find a reality similar to that of the movie. We were surrounded by blue-toothed ears, overweight bodies with motorized chairs to allow for continued shopping, and glazed-over faces hidden by giant sugared drinks.

Let's have another look: