And thus speaks my inner prude
At the Sunday matinee screening of Blade Runner that I attended, kids attended, too. As in pre-teens and tweens, getting settled in the theater balcony.
Wanting to avoid getting annoyed by this, I moved downstairs, to an area without kids.
NOT a kids' film. A classic film, yes, an influential film, definitely, but NOT a kids' film, and I wonder if the parents who brought their tweens actually knew the content of the f'in movie. (By the way, right before this in the concession line, I overheard a patron and an employee talking about how Cinema 21's owner is considering getting a liquor license in order to sell beer and wine, which would be one way around that why'd-you-bring-the-kids? issue...) Were the kids ready for the film's relative quiet, or slower pace, or sexuality, or, uh, I dunno, DEPICTIONS OF GREVIOUS BODILY HARM? I doubt it. But I didn't say anything, and moved instead.
I will now expose my inner hypocrite and admit that I saw bits of Blade Runner at age 10.
I don't remember seeing any of the violent parts, but a neighbor friend and I -- this was back in Virginia Beach, probably in summer 1984 -- were able to sneak a peak at a videotape of the film at his house. Quick bits of it, and, um, one part with nudity. Yes, at that age I was starting to notice that women look nice with their clothes off (heh; I'm imagining Adam Sandler saying that).
Oh, and to change the subject abruptly, even by then the status of Blade Runner (a notable flop on first release) was already rising among film geeks. The thing is, a lot of the recent internet writing about the film (not to mention some of the lazier reviews I've read of "The Final Version") seem to claim that it wasn't until people saw the Blade Runner "work print" (sans narration) in 1989 that people started reassessing the movie. I call shenanigans on that. Yeah, my friend and I wanted to see boobies, but my friend's parents had a copy of the film in 1984 (probably a bootleg, considering how expensive videos-for-sale were) because they liked it. And they weren't the only fans, by a long shot.
Huh. Am I actually getting more worked up over inaccurate movie coverage than kids watching attempted death-by-thighs? Maybe. I'm a weird one.
Wanting to avoid getting annoyed by this, I moved downstairs, to an area without kids.
NOT a kids' film. A classic film, yes, an influential film, definitely, but NOT a kids' film, and I wonder if the parents who brought their tweens actually knew the content of the f'in movie. (By the way, right before this in the concession line, I overheard a patron and an employee talking about how Cinema 21's owner is considering getting a liquor license in order to sell beer and wine, which would be one way around that why'd-you-bring-the-kids? issue...) Were the kids ready for the film's relative quiet, or slower pace, or sexuality, or, uh, I dunno, DEPICTIONS OF GREVIOUS BODILY HARM? I doubt it. But I didn't say anything, and moved instead.
I will now expose my inner hypocrite and admit that I saw bits of Blade Runner at age 10.
I don't remember seeing any of the violent parts, but a neighbor friend and I -- this was back in Virginia Beach, probably in summer 1984 -- were able to sneak a peak at a videotape of the film at his house. Quick bits of it, and, um, one part with nudity. Yes, at that age I was starting to notice that women look nice with their clothes off (heh; I'm imagining Adam Sandler saying that).
Oh, and to change the subject abruptly, even by then the status of Blade Runner (a notable flop on first release) was already rising among film geeks. The thing is, a lot of the recent internet writing about the film (not to mention some of the lazier reviews I've read of "The Final Version") seem to claim that it wasn't until people saw the Blade Runner "work print" (sans narration) in 1989 that people started reassessing the movie. I call shenanigans on that. Yeah, my friend and I wanted to see boobies, but my friend's parents had a copy of the film in 1984 (probably a bootleg, considering how expensive videos-for-sale were) because they liked it. And they weren't the only fans, by a long shot.
Huh. Am I actually getting more worked up over inaccurate movie coverage than kids watching attempted death-by-thighs? Maybe. I'm a weird one.