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Revenge of the Sith
Sunday, May 22, 2005-11:26 AM
Hope was fading for my bright idea. I suggested we watch the new "Star Wars" movie, "Revenge of the Sith", at a movie theatre near our apartment. But when Natasha found out how expensive the tickets were, she thought it was a stupid way to spend money.
The tickets cost 60 renminbi each, a little more than $7. Natasha pointed out that for 120 renminbi we could buy ten copies of the movie on the street.
Actually, we probably could have bought over twenty copies, but I still wasn't persuaded. What do you get when you buy movies on the street?
If you're lucky, a crisp, clear copy with the words "Do Not Duplicate" or "Property of..." embedded over the picture.
If you're not lucky, a copy filmed in a cinema, with a murky picture, barely audible sound, and other audience member's heads obscuring the picture. Or you could end up, as anyone who bought one of the initial Chinese releases of "Sin City" can atest to, with the French version.
And forget about subtitles. No matter what kind of copy you get, consider yourself lucky if you get movies with subtitles for the same movie you're watching.
At a movie theatre, you don't have to worry about any of that stuff. You can actually enjoy a movie like you're supposed to.
Moreover, you're not laden with whatever guilt you might feel if you do purchase a pirated copy. I kind of believe in Intellectual Property Rights and look forward to the day they get a foothold in China.
We were at the theatre but hadn't bought tickets yet. The movie was going to start in less than fifteen minutes. I didn't like the position I was in. I tried to tell Natasha there were six movies and this was the last one and how important seeing it in the theatres was.
But I got sidetracked when I had to explain how, yes, there were six movies and, yes, this was the last one to be released, but it was actually the third movie in the series of six.
While I was explaining something I heard George Lucas say about how he wrote all six parts at once and decided to shoot the fourth one first because it could be shot for the smallest budget, I could feel the likelihood of seeing this movie in the theatres dwindling.
Natasha reminded me how, the week before, I wasn't even able to finish "Attack of the Clones".
Yes, I did get bored watching "Attack of the Clones" and still don't think I've seen it in it's entirety, but I'd heard better things about "Revenge of the Sith". I desperately wanted to see this movie.
Finally, I did something I'm not sure was the right thing. Maybe it was a little manipulative, but I felt desperate.
Without Natasha's consent, I bought two tickets.
I had no idea what kind of reception I was gonna receive when I let her know that I actually followed through with my devious plot. At first, I couldn't even find her. She had walked away to some hidden corner of the multiplex.
She wasn't a happy camper. As the few minutes before the start of the movie dwindled, I still hadn't gotten her into the theatre.
Eventually, she made her way into the theatre. Still upset about spending so much money for such a stupid movie.
The theatre was nearly empty. It was 6:20 on a Saturday Evening, the second day "Revenge of the Sith" was in theatres, and there were fewer than ten people in the theatre, which looked like it could hold two hundred.
There was one other foreigner in the theatre who made some sarcastic remark about finding a seat.
We sat through the commercials and previews, a few more people filtered in, and then the movie started.
I'd say about ten minutes into the movie, Natasha had come around. I think she enjoyed the movie.
I'm not too well-versed in "Star Wars" mythology, but I do know a few things. I knew the basic structure of the Skywalker family. So during those key moments at the end of the movie when you could see the story making its way back to the original movie in 1977 (released before I was born), I wanted to share the excitement with Natasha.
Unfortunately, she couldn't tell a Wookie from an Ewok, so I had to keep all my excitement to myself.
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