Got Fruit ?

“Thank you Lord for kids, specifically mine.”  OK, before you start “Awing and Oohing” understand that my thanks for my kids is selfishly motivated.  See, being single, I have my hang-ups about dining alone; by dinging I mean eating in at Burger King vs blazing through the drive through for a #3.  “Super-size ? No thank you.”  My other hang-up would be going to certain movies by myself.  Yeah this coming from the guy that has no issue with buying the discounted pseudo-Fathead Spiderman vinyl poster at Wal-Mart (Hey it was only 3 bucks!), not caring if the checker is thinking (Looser!).  Yet going to movies labeled as “for kids” by myself just seems to say “Creepy guy on the seventh row from the back, someone notify security.”  So thank God for my kids which, because of them’ I was able to go see Wall-E a few weeks ago; blending in as just another dad out with his kids and not looking like the creepy guy wearing the Whooper stained Spider-Man T-shirt.

In addition to Wall-E, the kids and I took in Kung-Fu Panda earlier, so….. in the the past 2 to 2 1/2 weeks I’ve managed to spend my fair share of what would equate to 1 1/4 fill ups for the ‘ole Yota on movie fare.  By tomorrow morning that estimation may be reduced to half of a tank.

Movie going has become one of those past activities that’s taken a hit the past few years.  Not exclusively because of my walk with Christ, though it does play well into what I’ll even consider to see, which may or may not really be saying much as I’d probably be labeled “liberal” based on my collection of DVDs.  The exercise in restraint from making a trip to one of the local theaters regularly is more of a financial consideration, with what I view as Christian principles in mind.  The principle being of stewardship and responsibility of what I’ve been blessed with, but that’s a discussion for perhaps another time.  What’s really on my mind centers around the near half hour long bombardment of advertisements, specifically the 7 minutes + mini-movie(s) by Verizon for the V Cast cell phone leading up to seeing the movie.

Before I go any further, I’ll agree that the simple answer to this situation is to simply not go to the movies.  The question?  Why must the movie goer have to be inundated with all of these advertisements?  The question is rhetorical.

Soooo… the kids and I make it to the theater early enough to where we’re able to locate good seats for watching the movie, we settled in for the previews; all the while cramming $10 pop corn & $5  soft drinks down our necks as we anticipated (OK, I anticipated) the show.  Twenty minutes of sitting through teasers,and eating greasy fake buttered pop corn passes by when the mini-saga from Verizon debuts.

If you haven’t been to the theaters in a while you may not have an idea of what I’m about to describe, so I’ll do my best with a quick overview.  The V Cast mini-movie(s) first  opens up with a young lady that has this song in her head.  She’s so obsessed with the song that she seems to be having problems functioning.  The lady is seen moving about through town, doing her daily routine, until a little ditty from the song is heard, at which point she goes back into OC mode, in an attempt to locate the title of the song.  After a few minutes of having the point driven into our skull, Verizon announces that they can save us from such peril, IF… you have a V CAST.

The second spot features several young hip people that are being “entertained” by their cell phones.  These folk are on the streets of some large city blissfully being entertained by music, movies, or games  while walking to meet their date,friend or just waiting for public transportation (assumed).  The message I received?  Wanna be happy?  Be entertained.  Wanna Be entertained?  Get a VCAST!

WALL-E SPOILER ALERT!!!

The irony or at least humor in all of this is that the movie WALL-E which these ads precede is about a robot left on earth to clean up the the mess we’ve made, the mess is environmental in nature but is a result at least partially, of an insatiable consumer attitude that we’ve been trained to buy into.  Things have become so terrible on the planet environmentally that earth’s inhabitants must board a spaceship (ark?), and leave earth to survive.  All the while Wall-E is left behind to clean up the wasteland that earth has become.  As we enter the story several hundreds of years have actually passed since humans departed the planet and, toward the mid to latter part, the movie goer is treated to a montage of past generations stuck on this ship.  The montage shows the graduated physical decline of humanity due to reduced physical activity (life’s one big vacation cruise where your constantly buying, catered to, and invited to buy even more junk 24/7).  The mental decline of humanity is hinted at as well once Wall-E makes it on-board the mother ship, a result of peoples minds being slyly tricked into passively living and thinking, the trade off for a constant dose of instant gratification for the urge to have material possessions.

END OF WALL-E SPOILER ALERT

Wall-E is the kid’s equivalent of Idiocracy (RATED R), a Mike Judge film (Office Space) that also looks at humanity’s decline through consumerism (the dumbing down of man).  From what I gathered of a brief discussion after viewing, my two oldest got the point fairly easy.  Like most Pixar movies that I’ve seen, Wall-E is a hit, and the entire family can enjoy watching this movie together.

Grace and peace be with you.