See, nights like tonight are why it's great to live in a small town. We just got in from the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2 and though I am only a casual fan, the experience was really a hoot.
First you have to get a feel for our quaint little two-screen theater. It's old--not Maddie Pryce's Orpheus old, more like seventies old. There is dark wood panelling, huge chandeliers, closet-sized one-at-a-time bathrooms: in short, it reminds you of the meeting room used by the Rotarians and Kiwanis at the old downtown cafeteria. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Who needs 3-D and surround sound when you have nice, clean ambiance and 150 middle school and high school kids on the edges of their seats?
I cannot recall being that wrapped up in a set of characters, but these poor kids were laughing, crying, cheering, and screaming alternately, as if we were in the audience of an old West olio where we boo the villain and cheer the hero. They were invested.
My own kids were pretty well wrapped up as well, though at their young ages they haven't grown up with the movies as many of those in attendance obviously had. And while I have to admit to my amusement at the goings-on, I was also quite happy for these kids, for the high level at which they allowed themselves to "feel" in public. This was their way of saying goodbye, not just to the story and the characters and the hallowed settings, but also to their own childhoods. That may sound overblown, but you could really feel it in the room.
As a writer, I would've killed more people and not had "both" predictable endings. As a viewer, I might have preferred to come to my own conclusions without the emotional eruptions of the crowd around me. But most importantly, as a mother, I might have been snickering to myself, but down deep I was so happy to see these sweet, vulnerable kids filling up the cool dark night with their muffled sobs and satisfied smiles.
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