The Night Teenagers Killed a Classic

One of my least favorite movie nights.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

One of the earliest articles I wrote for this newsletter, detailed a movie night I hosted for a bunch of high schoolers. My futile attempts to encourage them to leave their smartphones off during the movie, fell on deaf ears.

I could have been stronger in my stance, but I thought my firmness might have impacted their viewing experience in a negative way. Turns out my leniency had the same effect.

To add to the frustration of this movie night, these high schoolers began mocking the movie we were watching. They laughed at the dialogue, were bored with the action and belittled the story - even though they were only half paying attention (half is actually being pretty generous…it was probably more like 17%).

I sat silently in the back of my living room, longing for the night to be over. Even though I spoke up a few times asking people to be quiet and put phones away, I eventually admitted defeat and longed for the end credits. I considered turning the movie off, but I didn’t want to create a scene, so I just sulked in the back like any mature, grown man would do.

I was frustrated by several things…

• the lack of respect for me….

• the fact that these are my guests (and students) who lacked the decency to give my movie selection a chance…

• the reality that something fun like this can’t capture the attention of teens anymore…

• the size of my television screen…

• frustration over my entitled heart thinking I deserve a bigger television screen…

However, the frustrations toward myself went to a deeper level. I was frustrated by my lack of leadership in this situation. More specifically, my cowardice to not speak up and remain silent. This came from a place of fear for how these students would view me - I wanted them to like me as much as I like me.

Perhaps the greatest frustration was due to the movie we were watching: The Matrix. If you haven’t heard of it, please leave this newsletter and don’t come back.

For those who have, you know it’s one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. A truly groundbreaking film. It was a film that deserves any viewer’s respect, instead it was mocked and ignored.

This timeless classic was no match for the ‘snaps’ and ‘reels’ of Snapchat and Instagram being viewed that night.

It’s the End of the World as We Know It

When The Matrix is a bore to its viewers, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the world of cinema is pretty much dead.

In their defense, these teens have grown up in a CGI-saturated world of Marvel movies. What they were seeing in The Matrix (whenever they were actually looking up from their phones) was nothing new. They had already seen more intense action sequences by the time they were 10 years-old. What was groundbreaking to me in 1999, was laughable on this terrible movie night.

In all reality, the “special effects” they were seeing as they scrolled on their phones were probably just as captivating. In fact, many of them had probably already created their own special effects, which rivaled those found in The Matrix, through a free app they downloaded from the App Store.

This is the world we now inhabit. A world in which teens are carrying around something in their pocket that’s more enthralling than the allure of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Parents of old lamented the “sense of wonder” that was lost from the beauty of the outside world, as children were enthralled by the glow from the television. Today, parents lament the inability of any spectacle from the silver screen to capture a teen’s attention for more than a few minutes…seconds?

I could be way off on this and am open to correction, but I think we’re living in a time where God is giving us exactly what we want. Now, I know there’s a sense in which that’s a daily reality and God turns us over to our desires throughout every age, so let me explain.

At some point during the Covid shut-down, I had this thought, The Lord is giving us exactly what we want - screens.

The defining characteristic of our world is screens. I’m not saying I’m a prophet or have any ‘word from the Lord’ to share. In my finite, sinful, limited, mind, I wonder if the Lord is saying, You like screens? You want to bow down to the god of screens? Here. Sit at home and stare at screens.

As a global culture we’ve never had access to more screens, more streaming services, more movies, more shows, more videos, more reels, more spectacle, more images, more…and more…and more.

I do wonder if we’re getting close to a saturation point. I have hope that we are.

I’m sure many more have written about this from a more researched and eloquent perspective, but I wonder if the entertainment industry is at a point where spectacle is in a bit of a death-rattle. A point when all the CGI-allure has lost its wonder and story is going to be what captures us.

I know this is already the case in many ways. Great movies and shows with a solid story are capturing viewers. It’s encouraging to know this is happening and to have confidence that it will. After all, humans are created for stories. Let’s just hope the next generation will have some attention span remaining to appreciate them.