Why Anyone Anywhere Thinks College Students
Have Money is Beyond Me
Ben Novotny, Union Staffer
This holiday season marked the first that I did not go to the movies. Sure there were movies that I wanted to see, like Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and the new Mission Impossible movie, but I saw no point in spending an additional $8 or $9 on top of the $13 I pay a month for Netflix. And that’s just to see the movie in regular format. In order to see a movie in 3-D you have to pony up an additional $3 just to wear the 3-D glasses and have the whole 3-D experience. $3 doesn’t seem that much, but in addition to the cost of a movie ticket, the price can go from $11 to as high as $13.
That is simply outrageous, considering that just a few years ago movie ticket prices were around $7 and college students such as myself could more easily afford them. It’s no wonder less and less young people are going to the movies these days. Hollywood thinks it has to do with the movies they make, and to some extent that’s true, but I sincerely believe that if the studios would simply cut their budgets and theatres would cut their prices, then more people would come. One of the main things theatres should do is offer 3-D tickets at the same price as a regular movie ticket. It may not be profitable overnight, but it might be in the long run because people wouldn’t have to pay more to have the 3-D movie experience, thus leading more people to buy tickets.
But it’s not just the high ticket prices that made me decide not to go to the movies during winter break. When I’m at home watching a Netflix movie on my DVD player or watching something online, I feel that I have total control because I can pause whatever I’m watching if I have to go to the bathroom or do something else [Editor’s Note: Or beat off.] and I can fast forward the boring parts to get to the good parts. But when I’m watching a movie in theatres I don’t have any of that control. If I go to the restroom for just a few minutes and miss a major part of the story, tough luck, because I can’t pause and rewind. Watching a movie in theatres is sort of like life itself. It keeps going on no matter what you do and there’s no way you can pause, rewind, or fast forward.
And then there’s the ten or fifteen minutes of previews before the movie starts. So guess what? If a movie is supposed to start at 12:30, it really won’t start until 12:40 or 12:45 because of all the freaking previews that have to run before it. Now when I was a kid I used to love watching the previews before the movie would start. But in this day and age when I can just watch a movie trailer on my home computer, watching movie trailers in theatres seems like a total waste of time.
Hollywood should spend less time focusing on adapting the latest comic book or working on the sequel to last year’s blockbuster motion picture and more time focusing on how to make prices more affordable for the average consumer. Maybe they should stop living in their fantasy land for a day and spend it in our shoes, where $13 is a lot of money and you can’t even rewind.
I will begin this piece by first offering a disclaimer. DISCLAIMER: I am not a whiny bitch. I’m really not. I’ll admit to being a little jaded about relationships right now, but I won’t resort to whining. And now, I will begin my rant.
Dating and relationships and love and all that stuff sucks. Like really, really sucks. I always like guys who don’t like me. I used to go for the good guys. The big, soft teddy bear-types. Those guys happened to be my best boyfriends. Unfortunately, since then, with the super “cool” guys I’ve dated... things haven’t worked out. Like at all.
What I take away from all of this is that no one is necessarily “cooler” or “better” than anyone else. The so-called “cool” guys I’ve dated have ended up being pretty big douche bags. And being a douche isn’t cool. It sounds dumb, but I take every relationship as a learning experience. I put the pieces back together a little differently after each break-up and think about what I liked and didn’t like about that relationship. And I learn to not repeat any of the same stupid mistakes.
Everyone deserves to be appreciated for their strengths and quirks; eventually, you’ll find that person. But for right now, if something doesn’t feel right, don’t date someone just to date someone. I’ve fallen into that trap and it sucks for both parties involved. It’s okay to be single and take a step back to evaluate yourself. Sometimes you need a little time and space to figure out what you really want and more importantly, what you don’t want. My big problem is having a long grocery list of standards and chucking it out the window shortly after making it.
Every person has admirable qualities that will make him or her appealing to someone. From now on, I want to banish the use of words that suggest superiority among people. I am guilty of thinking I’m the lame one in a relationship when it’s not true. I forget about my own accomplishments and personality traits, and fixate on the accomplishments of the other person, effectively putting him on a pedestal. But no one is perfect or better or “cooler”.
As of the last few months, the guys that have been interested in me just don’t offer me the satisfaction of having a really good conversation. These guys have been genuinely nice and sweet guys, but sometimes they’re too afraid to say the wrong thing that they will just nod or politely agree with whatever I’m saying. I’m nervous on first dates too, but that doesn’t stop me from being myself. I can guarantee you that I’ll be interested in what you have to say and listen carefully. I absolutely love small talk; however, it does have to be open, two-sided communication where both parties involved express their point of view. I don’t want you to pretend to like the same crap I like.
All I want is a guy that I can talk to extensively about generic college stuff, the weather, how much I look like Elle Fanning, and various other superficial-ish topics. But I also expect him to contribute to a conversation with me about politics and Franny and Zooey and other more intellectual items. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
