We can go to movie theaters again!
I’m not going to movie theaters again.
Not yet, anyway. Oh, I want to. I really want to. Movies, for years, have played an integral part in my life.
But I won’t, and the basic reason is simple: I don’t think it’s safe enough yet.
Like most simple things, however, it's complicated.
Most movie theater chains have announced plans to reopen their Arizona locations, as COVID-19 numbers gradually decline.
I get it. I understand the desire to see a movie in a theater again. Like going to a baseball game or taking a trip to the beach, going to movies is a return to normal.
Remind me what “normal” is again?
I'm dying to see 'Tenet,' but I won't risk dying to see it
I love movies. A lot of people do. I have spent more time than most in theaters. I’ve been a movie critic, among other things, for years. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie-review aggregator, I’ve reviewed more than 1,900 films.
That’s a lot of time sitting in the dark with popcorn. And I want to get back.
I’m dying to see “Tenet.” But I’m not going to risk dying to see it.
Hyperbole? At last count, more than 181,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19. And nearly 5,000 of them have been in Arizona.
I understand why theaters feel like they have to open. Like so many industries, the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to the movie business. In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey closed theaters on March 20, as cases began to rise. He let the stay-at-home order expire on May 15, which meant theaters technically could open.
Most didn’t. And there weren’t any new movies to show audiences, anyway. On Aug. 10, the state issued a complex set of guidelines for reopening in which officials consider the number of cases per 100,000 people, the percentage of positive test results and the percentage of hospital visits due to COVID-19-like illness.
I trust the theaters, but not the theatergoers
Now theaters are reopening.
Limiting capacity, enforcing social distancing, requiring protective masks, daily health checks for employees and much more — all of these steps are essential. I trust the chains to do what they can to make going back as safe as possible.
Ultimately, painfully, it comes down to this: I just don’t trust other people.
We’ve seen what has happened, particularly in Arizona, when bars reopened the first time. Well, I didn't — at least not personally. And I’m not willing to risk sitting in the same room with some self-styled patriot who might be wearing a mask at the moment but spent the last night without one, cavorting with like-minded friends crowded around a table while they toasted their freedom from oppression or whatever.
Don’t get me wrong — if you feel safe, have at it. These are personal decisions. These are tough decisions. And, of course, whether to buy a movie ticket is not the most important one most people face. It’s not even the most important one I face. Like other parents, I’m trying to decide whether it’s safe for my son to go to play football, or my daughter to play volleyball.
So far? No. And that’s really difficult. It’s easy to feel like the world is leaving us behind.
In truth, I could probably go back to theaters in a safer fashion than most people. I typically see movies before they come out, either by myself or with a small group of other critics. But not always. Sometimes it means sitting in a big crowd. Until the pandemic, unless the person beside me was sneezing constantly or something, I never really thought about the relative health of everyone else, and what it might mean to me.
Now I think of little else.
What I said at the start isn’t entirely true. I will go back to movie theaters. Someday, I hope, someday soon. I want to say I can’t wait.
But I can. And I have to.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.
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