A Night at the Movies

I find Spain’s movie industry very interesting. According to what we discussed in class, the Spanish government actually helps fund the production of Spanish movies. The movies are seen as an art form that must be protected. The government helps fund these movies and actually requires a quota; a certain percentage of Spanish movies to be played in theaters. In America movies have historically been more for entertainment. Of course there is a very successful but smaller independent film movement in the United States; however the more popular American movies are funded by private producers. Americans would probably be outraged if their tax dollars went towards the creation of a movie, this would be a foreign concept to us. I was interested to learn that many Spanish movie theaters offer 'dia del Espectador' discounts. At these theaters each Wednesday is ‘dia del Espectador, when the theaters offer reduced entry prices. Last weekend a group of friends and I went to a theater in Plaza de Sol to enjoy a movie night. There was a long line to buy our tickets for the movie, but the theater itself wasn’t full. Although in the past Spain’s culture was somewhat ethnocentric and rejected anything from the U.S, with increased globalization they have increasingly adopted aspects of the American culture such as our movies. We chose to see The Karate Kid. It was a great night at the movies! That night with my friends there were several American movies playing at the theater, evidence of this Americanization of their film industry. When talking to my senora I was interested to learn that she doesn’t like Spanish movies. She finds them boring and according to her many other Spaniards also prefer American movies over the more traditional and artistic Spanish films. It was very interesting to visit a Spanish movie theater and to also receive an insider’s point of view.