Stranger Things

I saw Stranger Things in the theater on New Year’s Day. It was an interesting experience. To gain admission to the movie, you had to purchase a concession voucher, not an actual ticket. Because of that, the concession stand was absolutely full. To me, this works when you are just selling popcorn, but when you move into chicken nuggets, pizza, and mozzarella sticks, it led to quite a backup.

That experience made me think about the theater experience in general. People say the movie business is threatened by streaming. At the same time, people love going to the movies, and people also love watching at home. Those two things don’t actually seem to cancel each other out.

Sports doesn’t seem to worry about this. You never hear the NFL or any sports league say, “Well, TV is going to kill live sports.” People enjoy watching sports live, and people enjoy watching sports on TV. Both experiences exist at the same time, and both continue to thrive.

I watched Stranger Things on Netflix, and watching it in the theater was nice in a different way. People were cheering, laughing, screaming, and it was fun. The people who came were fans of the show. It didn’t replace the at-home experience—it added another layer to it.

There is room for both. I think there is more room for both than there is for scarcity.

Question for readers:

Where else in our lives are we being told there isn’t enough room—when the real story might be that abundance shows up in more than one form at the same time?