Home Cinema Guilt, or My First Blog posted by Paul at 10:57 AM

This is the first time I have ever "blogged" and it seems fitting that, in a post that is largely meant to test this new (to me) technology, I comment on the thing that got me here -- DVD home cinema.

This week, I found myself in possession of a video projector for a couple of days. (I had borrowed it from UT for a screening of youth video projects at the public library.) I've used video projectors countless times, but never in my own home. So, inspired by my first experience of Darren's home cinema system, Ashley and I decided to set up a makeshift home cinema of our own. We moved the couch so we could the living room's largest wall could be our "screen”, used a chair and a Rubbermaid container full of camping supplies as our projector stand, ran cables across the floor wherever they needed to go. It was great.

We chose to watch A Personal Journey Through American Movies with Martin Scorsese. If you haven't seen it, do. It’s a fantastic parade of clips from Hollywood B-films with Scorsese giving a master class in why he loves and what he sees in movies. Its running time of almost four hours made all the rearranging we did seem worth it.

The next day I read an article in The New York Times that reminded me of the times in Philadelphia when I walked down to my neighborhood park to watch things like The Third Man screen out of the back of moving van. I showed the article to Ashley and told her I was thinking of buying a video projector – so I could screen at home, but also so I could screen stuff outdoors. Halfway through the article, she turned to me and said, “Do it.” Within hours I was online shopping for a video projector. It should arrive this week.

I’ve long valued the importance of seeing a movie projected as large as possible and hearing it through good speakers, but viewing Spirit of the Beehive on Darren’s home cinema, and then the more-modest experience in my own home this week, made me realize I’m no longer content to settle for watching cinema, even at home, on a screen that is 1/100th the size it’s supposed to be. Somehow, 1/20th seems a lot better.

As I write those words, I realize that this is exactly how the Home Theater manufacturers want me to think. One hallmark of American luxury (or at least middle-class American luxury consumption) is the notion that “I’ve been settling for less. And why should I settle for less?” Indeed, this is how and why we keep up with the Joneses (in my case, the Hugheses). So I’m aware I can be accused of conspicuous consumption (and blogging about this gives special emphasis to the first word in that phrase).

Of course, the other hallmark of middle-class American luxury consumption is earnest self-justification and, accordingly, a part of me wants to plead: “I’m a filmmaker! I need this for my work! I'll really use this!” Or, “Like Darren, I plan on sharing this with others, instead of showing it off as something for others to covet.” Or, “The men and women that made these films would endorse my decision. Movies were meant to be seen BIG.” Or, “C’mon, it’s not like I just bought a Hummer.” And so on.

But then another part of me reads an article like Jonathan Rosenbaum’s column this week (which reminds me of a very fine talk given by Darren) and thinks, “Stop feeling guilty. This is going to be fun.” Consider yourself invited.