I listened to a story on NPR about the new owners of the Playtime Drive-in. The property had been sold to a church, and the story made a big deal about the theater’s “bad old days” as a XXX movie theater. The church was having a grand film-burning of all the movies left in the theater, treating it like a festival, with children playing and throwing movies on the fire.
The story made me uncomfortable, but I wasn’t sure why.
Today, I looked up a story about the theater’s closing. In the story, theater-goers and projectionists talked about the 60 years the theater was open, both as X-rated and family-oriented. They talked about how kids ran around the parking lot, met their friends, fell asleep in their parents’ cars, and were conceived in the backseat. I compare that to the image of children frolicking around a celluloid bonfire.
I know which image makes me want to celebrate.
Closing of the Playtime Drive-in
