I am truly saddened and embarrassed tonight. I am ashamed. I am angry. I saw the film Selma at the Williamsport Cinema Center this evening. I caught the 7pm show. I sat in a 400 seat state-of-the-art theater with 4 other people. Four. Counting me makes five total. A white couple and a black couple and me. I am such a fool. Last week I contacted the Carmike theater chain’s home office in Atlanta Georgia and told them that the citizens of Williamsport wanted to see this important film. I was wrong. People don’t care. Black people don’t care about their own history. They don’t care that ticket sales of such films encourage filmmakers to make similar films. Buying a ticket is like voting. But rather vote for a story about a man of peace, my neighbors voted for a man of war, American Sniper. Guaranteed we will see more films of violence, of bloodshed and of war. Because that’s what the public wants. Biopics are boring so sayeth the American consumer. I am a fool. I thought that parents and grandparents would take their children to see the story of tremendous courage in the black community. I had hoped that busloads of high school students would pack the theater to see an amazing portrayal of Dr. King by David Oyelowo. The theater manager told me that when he saw the film with his wife last evening there were only 12 people in the audience. I bumped into friends who were exiting the theater. They had just watched the film at the 4pm show. They said that there were only 5 people in that vast room and all were white. With those kinds of numbers it won’t stay for another week. It is not earning enough money. Stupid me. I thought the people of Williamsport cared about such things. I was wrong. Tomorrow will be the MLK Holiday. Many people will have the day off. Will they go see the film? I wouldn’t bet on it. I learned my lesson. People don’t care about such things.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 03:00:32 +0000
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