7.13.2007

Movie Night



We went to an outdoor screening of To Kill a Mockingbird last night. Such a good film. (Not technically a film, I know--it was a DVD.) As people biked or walked past the park, they almost invariably stopped to watch when they figured out what movie it was. There was such a nice small-town atmosphere about, parents and kids and students and dogs all sitting on blankets enjoying the warm evening air. I love that feeling, and it was the first time I'd experienced it here in the city.

I read To Kill A Mockingbird in a high school English class, and I remember our teacher telling us that she cried the first time she finished the book because she didn't want it to be over. She also said she had a crush on Atticus. I mean, who wouldn't? Especially when he's played by Gregory Peck.

I had forgotten what a good movie that was. I liked Dill better this time around than I did when I saw it in high school. And I'm relieved to finally know where that line comes from--"ladies bathed before noon, after their three o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft tea-cakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum"--because it's been running through my head all summer and I just couldn't place it.

I often think of that line in the summer because one of my strategies for getting through humid eighty-degree days is to douse myself with baby powder in the morning. It used to drive my mom crazy because I'd leave a fine layer of dust wherever I went. Now it drives Stephen mad, too. But at least it smells nice.

The night before, we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. I'm really going to miss the HP phenomenon when it's over. When was the last time that there was so much collective excitement about a single book-and-movie series? And will it ever happen again? My favorite HPmania story is from two summers ago, right after the sixth book came out. Everyone knew that a major character dies at the end of the book, but most people hadn't found out who yet. Some pranksters in England hung a banner over a bridge that many commuters cross on their way to work that said "[So-and-so] dies." A highway crew came to take it down, but the crew members didn't want the surprise spoiled for them, either, so they had to shield their eyes to avoid reading it. Newspaper reports about the incident respectfully refrained from revealing the character's name.

There was a ton of excitement in the theater on Wednesday night. People applauded when the movie started. The women behind us had lightning bolt scars drawn on their foreheads. When Harry and Cho kissed, people giggled nervously and yelled "Woohoo!" at the screen. I think that's a testament to how close the audience feels to the story. People reacted like they were watching their brother or a friend get their first kiss than rather than a fictional character have a scripted moment that we'd all read about months or years in advance.

By the way, did you know that Harry Potter was born (uh, "born") in 1980? That's what Wikipedia says. (And wow, people have done a lot of research on this stuff.) That seems really weird to me, 'cause it puts Harry is in his mid-to-late twenties right now. That is, if he survived the seventh book. He's not really gonna die, is he? (Is he? I think not, but I also had myself convinced for a while that Dumbledore was going to come back. Like the phoenix, yeah? But...maybe not so much. Boo.)