Cinema Culture: The Times They Are A Changin'

Being in France has its benefits and its pitfalls. The main reason that I began to study French was because of my love for the cinema, not just French films, but the experience of the cinema. There is no more comforting of a feeling than the aura you get when you walk into a theater, big or small—the dimly lit lobbies with red, plush walls and movie posters of coming attractions accented with small lights that let off that old nostalgic glow of decades past, the smell of popcorn that lingers so delicately in the air daring you to buy the next size bigger, and seeing some thrilling or beautiful picture that on the big screen is in perfect, grainy detail.

This experience is the shadow from my long, gone childhood that lures me back into the theater to recapture that excitement and thrill of what it was like to just be overtaken by a film, let it just trickle over me like a warm summer rain. Unfortunately in my college years, where coincidentally, I fully realized my love for the cinema, I suffered from the poverty epidemic like so many of my fellow scholastics and was not able to go experience the cinema as much as I wanted. One of the main causes (other than the outrageous tuition costs, even for the small university that I attended) was the quickly rising ticket prices.

I remember the time when I could hitch a ride with one of my buddies, we’d all go to the movie theater, buy a ticket, get a pop and popcorn, all for about 7 or 8 bucks. Yeah that’s quite high regardless, especially if you think about the costs for a viewing historically. Remember the nickelodeons? Probably not since most of our grandparents probably don’t even remember them. Not to be confused with the cable television station that featured some classics in television history, the nickelodeon only costed a nickel! Ah, those were the days.

Anyways, back to my original point. The “movie culture” (i.e. the process of watching films, whether in the theater or on video) in France, not just the “cinema culture” (i.e. the process of going to the movies), is totally different than that of the United States, and one that I admire. Maybe because the cinema culture aligns so well with the rest of French culture, that slow-placed lifestyle that demands that you appreciate the finer things in life, whether it’s your baguette that you munch on during your two-hour lunch break, or the thimble-sized espresso that you sip on after you’ve finished said baguette.

This same mentality, I’ve found, is engrained into their movie culture as well. For example, in the United States, there is an emphasis on instantaneous satisfaction when it comes to entertainment. We have to have it now! The first reason is the internet, most definitely, and it’s ease of access, and because of that, we have Netflix. Not only has it helped create this mentality in the U.S., but it’s helped maintain it and even increase it. Now there are many other internet based movie viewing sites, like Hulu, etc. France does have internet (for those of you who think that France is a third-world country… they’re not,) but France has access to neither Netflix nor Hulu. (Granted, there are the other illegal downloading websites used quite often, but not exceedingly in France, for example Megaupload, etc.) These two companies helped make it possible to watch virtually anything at the drop of a hat.

Another interesting and older aspect of movie culture is the rental store. I’ve found very, very few here in France. They are dwindling in numbers in the U.S. because of massive companies like Netflix and Redbox, who have just taken over the movie rental business (or at least what is left of it.) But since these two entities (and Hulu) don’t exist in France, wouldn’t you think there would be more movie rental stores? I would, but they are few and far between. There is a movie rental kiosk right around the corner from my apartment, but with very limited selection. I’ve yet to look at the price.

The next closest source of movie rental that I’ve found is on the other side of town. One day I was on a walk and finally stumbled upon the store. So, I went in—out of curiosity, and I discovered what seemed to be another reason why the movie rental business isn’t booming in France, which is because a rental for one night was 4 euros! Let’s translate that—5 dollars per night!

So why would I consider France to have a much better movie culture? The reason is simple, because they have a better cinema culture. I’ll reiterate. When I say movie culture, I mean the way in which movies are watched in general, while when I say cinema culture, I mean the process of watching movies in theaters. I’m a bit of a purest when it comes to films. I feel that they have been intended to be viewed on the biggest screen possible and with the best sound possible, which would probably be at the theater. However, there is one more element that I think is essential. Films are meant to be a social experience. They are intended to be viewed in a crowded cinema where everyone can feel the energy of the film pulsating through the hundred other people viewing the same film.

In the United States, Hollywood has become a bloated entity, where the cost of the average film has increased dramatically, which has led to the average cost per ticket to go to the cinema has increased as a result, in Ohio in a major cinema it costs about $9-11, just for a ticket. There is also the Ratings system, and what is socially appropriate (in France, nudity is more acceptable, whereas in the U.S. violence is), which has a firmer grasp on the industry in the U.S. as opposed to France, and limits what kind of film you can see in the theater. (I’ll try not to go into too much depth at the moment about my theories about how the Ratings system is a form of censorship.)

But, in France, movie ticket prices are simply much more affordable. They are around 4-6 euros (about $5-8.) It seems that France is trying to promote this cinema culture by making ticket prices much more affordable. If you go to the cinema—at least in Toulouse—on a given Friday night, you’d better show up at least 20 minutes early or you won’t get your ticket before the movie starts.

The turnover of a film (the time from a film’s release in the cinema to its release on DVD) has become so quick, and the ease of access to films on DVD has become so great (in the U.S.) that it is sinking the cinema culture. People are more likely to wait three months to rent a film for the family for 3 bucks, maybe get a pizza, make their own popcorn and watch it on their flat screen, rather than spend the 50 bucks it takes just to get into the theater. The large swing of people not going to the theater is causing Hollywood to come out with these huge-budgeted films that appeal to the least common denominator to try and get more people to see them to make up for costs, in turn decreasing the quality of films released in the theater.

My proposition is a return to the “cinema culture.” If movie theaters begin to charge less for ticket prices, more people will go, which means that if more people go, the theater is more likely to sell more popcorn, candy, etc. If Americans made this transition back, there would be less dependency on fewer major corporations like Netflix, and the distribution of wealth would be, well, dispersed more. America is in a recession (even if they don’t call it that anymore), and everyone wants to be out of it now. I understand. I do too. But it won’t happen by continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So, maybe we need to change our culture, and I think a transformed entertainment industry is a good way to start. The times, they are a changing, and we Americans need to think outside the mail box again.