First the record stores closed. Then the bookstores. Now we are losing our movie theaters.
South Lake Tahoe’s only movie theater, the three-screen Heavenly Village Cinemas, shuttered its doors on Sept. 20. A new theater will not take its place. Instead, the Shops at Heavenly Village announced it will repurpose the space. In Reno, the Cinemark Century Riverside 12 closed last year. The space sold to a church, which wants to turn it into a multi-use development, but no theater.
The United States has lost around 5,000 movie screens since the pandemic, when streaming surged in popularity as everybody stayed home. Habits changed. Access to movies changed. I get it. But this deeply saddens me, and not just because I am a movie theater owner myself (my husband and I own the Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema in Tahoe City). It distresses me because I worry that we are losing our community gathering places at the exact same time that we are becoming more divided as a society. We are losing the very places that can bring us together right when we need them the most.
This is, of course, because of technology. Instead of being forced to leave your home and go into the world to peruse books in your local bookstore, you can sit on your couch and download a new book on your Kindle. Same with music. Same with movies. Why leave your house when you can listen to new tunes on Spotify or Apple Music on your phone or stream countless movies straight to your TV from a million different streaming platforms? (Does anyone even watch Pluto TV or Tubi?)
But we lose something when we stay home. We lose something when we access culture through screens, big or small, in our living rooms. What we lose is interaction with other human beings. What we lose is conversation and exposure to people with different ideas. What we lose is a healthy society.
Humans are social creatures. In-person engagement with others makes us more empathetic — we can see and hear how someone is reacting and feel their emotions. When we interact with people who are different than us — whether by race, class, religion, politics, or in any other way — we learn to walk a mile in someone’s shoes. If we never leave our house or only interact with people in our bubbles, it’s difficult to understand the challenges or needs of the “other.” (Have you ever noticed in sci-fi movies that the bad guys are always homogenous? Think Orcs in Lord of the Rings or stormtroopers in Star Wars. And there are no aliens in the Imperial Army.)
With the advent of AI, we might even lose workplaces as a gathering space. Amazon recently announced that it is laying off 14,000 corporate workers as it leans more toward AI.
Of course, community gathering places are not completely dead. We are fortunate in Tahoe/Truckee that we bond over our love of outdoor spaces. Skiing at Palisades on a power day is a social experience, one where you connect with friends or meet new ones on the chair or in lift lines. At the Tahoe Art Haus, some of our best nights of the year are when we show ski movies, when it feels like half the town comes out to celebrate the coming of winter and commune with like-minded people. And concerts are still going strong.
Some might argue that movie theaters are not a space for conversation since we sit in the dark and don’t talk to our neighbor during the movie. I disagree. There is something special about laughing or crying or jumping in surprise along with a hundred other people. It’s a shared experience. And that’s what I worry technology is replacing.
I happened to be listening to a podcast a few weeks ago where an independent filmmaker, Kelly Reichardt, was interviewed. When she was asked why she insists on her movies being shown in theaters as opposed to streaming on TV, she responded:
“I want some things to survive this world. And I want movie theaters to survive. I want the post office to survive. I like people going out and interacting in some way with each other… I am afraid of people being too shut off in their houses.”
So put down your phone or your remote. Step away from your computer. Go somewhere where you can meet people you don’t know. And talk, face to face.
We need our public gathering spaces to survive.
One of the best gathering places in the area is the Truckee Roundhouse (ie Burning Man West). With wood, metal, ceramic, textile and electronics shops and multiple classes for beginners and for active makers to learn new skills the Roundhouse is an excellent place to meet people as well as to discover your inner maker. (Unfortunately there’s a waiting list for membership but things will open up when the current expansion of the space is complete.) BTW–the KT lift line on a powder day may be a place to meet people, but maybe more people than you care to meet all at once.