The DU Lounge

The documentary follows the progression from the nickelodeons, with their rows of machines that played short reels, to the streaming of movies in one's own home or on a phone anywhere. The history and images of the movie houses in their former glory, filled to capacity with people, were a joy to view.

The clips of demolitions and photos of magnificent movie palaces in decay were poignant. While saddening, they might also drum up support for renovation and preservation projects.

Along with the architectural losses, there is also the loss of the theaters as gathering places for local communities. The great theaters were spaces where people literally rubbed elbows, and talked, and laughed and cried together. The social fabric is being shredded for the privilege and convenience of not having to put up with other people.

There are ads, mostly brief NFL public service messages, but also two by the gambling website Fanduel. I mention the ads only because one of Fanduel's brought home the decay of proximity human interaction. Fanduel's message is that Winning is the the #1 good feeling human's can experience (even though the house always wins). One of the other "good feelings" in the ads is "the feeling you get after succesfully avoiding your neighbor," which features a young woman who's avoided having to talk to her elderly neighbor. The ad left me with some very bad feelings about what we've become, with so many of us identified with our devices and screens, alone even when in a crowd.

Thanks, AllaN01Bear, for posting the link to this thoughtful and thought-provoking documentary.