Movies and the Movie Theater: Extinction?

     The answer is simple to this growing conundrum: no. As we discussed in Journalism 1 class today, the concept of the movie theater is slowly growing less popular as years go by, and as newer technologies come to surpass it like online media (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), specialized movie channels with uninterrupted viewing (FX, Showtime, Starz, etc.), and the newer phenomena among young people, "streaming" websites, also known as "pirating" websites (Megaplus, VideoWeed, etc.). Ticket sales dropped by almost half in just ten years from the 40s to the 50s, around the time television sets became larger and cheaper for single income small families.

     Despite these growing threats to the movie theater, it still remains a rather popular place of culture to the group most targeted, those ages 12 to 24 (this could arguably be counted as the "demassification" of Hollywood to bring in more viewers, but probably not the overall demassification of physical movie theaters themselves). A few of the main reasons include the fact that movie theaters are dark places, with surround sound and (most of the time) little to no distractions. This is something very few can experience in their own home with a built-in home theater system. Another reason is because of the social experience and cultural relevance the theater-going experience gives viewers. Most people between the above ages meet to hang out with friends. Later, they engage in a type of social media that backs up their liking for a belonging in popular culture.

     For these reasons, I believe the extinction of movie theaters is not possible in the future. I remember (forgot who) that someone said the extinction of movie theaters was a possibility, but I must say that I disagree with that, as one can see above. 

     Ever since the projection was first invented and developed, the movie theater has been a social and cultural experience for friends and families of all ages. From the release of the Wizard of Oz in technicolor in 1939 around the beginning of WWII to Wreck-It Ralph and The Hunger Games in 2012, movies have been a social and cultural experience that have become traditions in the heart of American pop culture, and, arguably, other core countries' pop culture.

     Even in the future, if, per say, movie companies start using broad brand streaming to stream new movies before or at the same time they are released in theaters on television at home, I still would argue that theaters would not go "out of style." It's similar to the feeling of waiting in line for a Black Friday sale, or hauling an evergreen Christmas tree home tied to the top of a small car. I think that it is the feeling the brain feels, like it's been rewarded in some way for working so hard, that makes a certain person react to such harsh conditions they would usually not agree with, like getting up at one A.M. after an extremely huge dinner and about two hours of sleep, or driving through harsh winds for fifty miles at a time with a ten foot long tree haphazardly tied to the top of a questionable car (Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, anyone?). These stimuli are caused by the brain's pleasure center, a part of the brain that provides the reward, a feeling of euphoria emanating from the brain down to the tip of the spine.

     The brain does not feel the same pleasurable experience with an at home movie. The most rewarded movement was getting up to make popcorn in a microwave oven in pajamas, or maybe driving to a drugstore to buy a liter of a favored soda.

     For all of these reasons, I believe that the movie theater will be a lasting experience that even grandchildren of this generation will be familiar with. Humans may develop and change over time, but the nuclei in the pleasurable center of the brain will always be there, as it has always been since the beginning of time.

Check out more about the brain here: http://neuroscience.mssm.edu/nestler/brainRewardpathways.html