Trading One for Another

It was with great joy and anticipation of some time together that my wife and I headed out of town for a weekend of dinner, a movie, some shopping, and book scouting. After the delicious meal of salad, steak, dinner rolls, and a dessert, we headed the 1/4 mile down the road to the theater. Without any kind of outward expression, I sensed we were both slightly concerned about seeing a movie, since we rarely can find agreement as to taste or style. She tends to like light comedies, whereas I, in contrast, prefer darker more thought-provoking material. Yet, while we have difficulty agreeing to what we both like, it is somehow easier to agree with what we both dislike.

Now I like to think of myself as being a somewhat modern man, a critical thinker, an analyzer of people, things, situations, a curious person with a creative spark, of artistically liberal bent, conservative moral spirit, and a political moderate. After a strong recommendation from several students, we elected to see the current hit, "Watchmen," a super-hero story of guardians protecting the universe. Okay, we were a tad late and rather full from the dinner, and it took us a minute or two to find what we considered to be ideal seats. Neither of us like to be too close to the screen and prefer a nice location near the back and not quite in the center. We got settled and I smiled at my wife and proceeded to watch the movie.

The opening scene, which apparently was further into the movie than we thought, showed some kicking, fighting, and space travel followed immediately by the removal of clothes and a moment of unrestrained and uninhibited physical sharing. Not necessarily a prude, especially happy that people love each other, and continually thankful for life's procreation, I nevertheless become uncomfortable with personal invasion of a couple's intimacy. This particular scene hid very little and quickly became quite intense. My wife and I looked at each other, frowning and wondering what kind of movie we were experiencing.

Very soon, the scene shifted to a jail cell where an unattractive but fit man was incarcerated. Outside of the cell stood a large and again unattractive man sneering at the prisoner. But as he reached inside, I suppose to add insult to injury, the man in the cell quickly tied his hands. At this point, a small man began to laugh and produced a circular saw. He then proceeded to cut off the man's arms which resulted in a massive amount of blood flying everywhere.

This crossed my personal line, which was already pretty close by this time, and we got up to request a change of movie. The management politely complied with our request and we found ourselves watching "He's just not that into you" a movie primarily about finding and developing relationships. While we did avoid blood and nudity, I was unable to mask my own lack of interest in the subject matter. Of particular concern to me was when the husband admitted his poor commitment to fidelity which was subsequently forgiven by his wife. Later when she determined he had lied about his smoking habit, she divorced him based on the missing honesty. Not being entirely sure I understood the moral position, I left the movie feeling disappointed and maybe slightly confused at modern philosophical and moral issues. So it was either sex and blood or weak value systems, all of which left me rather empty and regretting the experience.

All in all, an unrewarding movie experience made bearable by having my wife with me. Such was our date. Maybe going to movies is something we should avoid at least for awhile. Maybe the future is dinner and a walk in the park!