Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.
When I was little, my parents used to take me to see whichever new Bollywood film that was coming out. Be it Don 2 or Happy New Year, we would go without fail, and even now, I still have my little binder with all my saved AMC ticket stubs, some weathered from age.
Nicole Kidman and her pre-theater checklist were a huge part of my childhood, but in the years since, our moviegoing has stopped. It feels like movie theater culture is slowly dying. In all these years, the art of going to a movie theater and picking up some popcorn and a drink seems to have died in favor of cracking open a laptop to stream a movie.
The University of Maryland can help revitalize the movie scene by creating a new campus-wide film festival, in addition to smaller ventures such as partnerships for student discounts at local theaters and a new bus route to them.
Of course, it’s certainly easier to just stream something on your laptop or your phone. With services charging you anywhere from $2 per month to more than $100 per month, you can access all the available movies you want with the click of a button.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, streaming services picked up even more steam and were the safest possible way to engage with movies and film. But even after we’ve supposedly bounced back from that, the movie theater industry has not. Some people have stopped heading out to watch movies on the big screen in favor of sitting at home to do the same. While I understand that streaming is much more convenient and can be cheaper than going out, it simply is not the same experience.
Not only has streaming changed the magic of movies, but for me, it has also promoted a new type of culture divorced from an appreciation of the art. Instead of enjoying myself and just watching the movie, I’m usually doing something else such as homework, checking my phone and just generally not paying attention to the film the way I would in a movie theater. Convenient or not, streaming feels like yet another way for me to multitask instead of actually taking a break to enjoy a movie.
I’m not the only person who feels like movie theater culture has taken a hit. It may not be dead yet, but it certainly feels like it’s on the way there.
We have several movie theaters in or near College Park already. Many are just a short Metro, bus ride or drive away. If these theaters were to enter into a partnership with this university, or with an organization that represents it — such as Student Entertainment Events, which regularly shows movies in the Hoff Theater in Stamp Student Union – we could potentially get student discounts, a bus route that drops you off at the theater and better access to a movie theater.
We have the opportunity to reinvigorate moviegoing just by returning to seeing movies in theaters. There are several schools that have discount programs with theaters near their campuses, such as New York University’s movie pass program and Cornell Cinema, which streams movies and offers a movie pass for students. There is an opportunity for this university to reinvest in movie theaters and not only help change the culture of film appreciation but also help students find new ways to explore College Park, enjoy themselves and renew their interests in cinema and film.
Most critically, we can recreate movie magic by developing a film festival at this university. We could host a festival outside on McKeldin Mall with stalls similar to Maryland Day and have a variety of booths for several films being screened at local theaters. Be it new releases or old movies being re-released in theaters, such as Revenge of the Sith and Pride & Prejudice most recently, students can take a bus to a local theater and watch a newly released movie at a discounted rate, effectively getting to watch its premiere. Then, students could come back to campus, vote on awards — just like at the Cannes Film Festival — and get the chance to bring movie magic back into their lives. This would help boost interest in movie theater culture again and ensure that we are doing our part to keep it alive.
We are part of a generation that has unintentionally fallen prey to furthering the death of movie culture. Now is the time for us to fix that. Getting student discounts at local theaters, adding a bus route to go to those local theaters and finding a better way to explore cinema beyond our tiny laptop screens by bringing cinema to College Park is where we start.
Jahnavi Kirkire is a senior government and politics and public policy major. She can be reached at jkirkire@umd.edu.
