Christmas Is All Around Us

Movies have always been a big part of my life. As a child I had my favorite animated films from which I can still recite entire scenes by memory. Also as a child, we’d often gather around the tv with a big roasting pan full of popcorn and some classic war movies. Some of my most vivid memories include perusing the VHS stock at the local video store (they gave out free popcorn and had a sign that read “park in rear,” which I thought was funny).

Movie marathons were a big part of my adolescent years. My sisters and I would raid Blockbuster every other night for an entire summer, bringing home three or four movies at a time and staying up all night to watch them. While living with my best friend’s family during high school, we would find devious ways to get our fill of all the movies that were forbidden to us (which was anything harder than a PG, and even some PGs too). There was always that need to see, and hear, and experience those other worlds. And sometimes there was that need to experience it for 6-8 hours in a row.

In order to have a successful movie marathon, you need to plan to watch at least three movies. Otherwise it’s just a plain old Movie Night. To keep things interesting, it’s important to mix your genres. As young girls, we’d typically choose a drama, an animated flick, and a romantic comedy of some sort. Sometimes we’d throw in some action or a war movie for variety. It’s important to watch a serious movie first, so that it can be followed by something upbeat. Half way through the third movie, it’s okay to start nodding off. Especially if it’s a romantic comedy.

These days I still have the energy and attention span for the occasional movie marathon. Things have changed, though. Instead of drama, Disney, chick flick, I end up with something more like documentary, foreign film, indie flick. And instead of the tactile experience of stocking up at the video store, I just watch whatever came in a little red envelope in the mail that day, or whatever is streaming online. And as an adult I get more excited about eating junk food for a few hours than the actual movie watching (oddly enough). No, movie marathons won’t ever be quite what they used to be.

But they are still fun, even if I do end up falling asleep before 10.