2008 Woodie Awards
Where have all the movies gone?
By: Grace Geiger
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Opinion
It all started with a vision. Well, an idea anyway. I've always been a big movie geek and I spent most of high school dating other just as geeky movie buffs (we would be so into the movies we forgot to make-out). Anyway, when I first came to Macalester, I was excited to encounter other film geeks like myself. However, I was very disappointed to find Mac Cinema only showed movies about once or twice a month and the theme seemed to be anything from Mean Girls to Jesus Camp. I thought it would be cool to start my own club where we would watch a movie once a week, usually an independent, classic, or documentary, talk about it, then maybe go on some field trips to see some film festivals or cool theatre.
So I attacked the project with a go-get-'em spirit! Me and two other girls wrote up a charter, explored all copyright issues, met with professors, and came up with a pretty cool club. However, at the student government meeting, the club was denied because there was already something too similar, Mac Cinema, and they didn't think it would last or was necessary. Well, I obviously disagreed. Essentially they told me I should try again after I had already put together an un-chartered club and made that successful. In all honesty, I was pretty crushed and felt a bit defeated.
It seems to me, even though I've been fairly unsuccessful thus far, that there is still a serious need for a showing of good, educational, and interesting movies at least once a week as a fun activity for the students here on campus. I'm having a hard time re-calling the last time anything was shown down in JBD as a part of Mac Cinema. It's possible I do not know all the details; maybe they don't have enough money to buy the rights. But whatever the case, it seems like a basic aspect of any good liberal arts college to have movie screenings for their converse-wearing, politically engaged, coffee-drinking student population. Maybe Mac Film Geeks (genius name, I know) will never bud and flourish, inspiring colleges all over the country, but I still think this issue should be addressed in one way or another. Hopefully others feel the same.
Contact Grace Geiger '10 at ggeiger@macalester.edu.
So I attacked the project with a go-get-'em spirit! Me and two other girls wrote up a charter, explored all copyright issues, met with professors, and came up with a pretty cool club. However, at the student government meeting, the club was denied because there was already something too similar, Mac Cinema, and they didn't think it would last or was necessary. Well, I obviously disagreed. Essentially they told me I should try again after I had already put together an un-chartered club and made that successful. In all honesty, I was pretty crushed and felt a bit defeated.
It seems to me, even though I've been fairly unsuccessful thus far, that there is still a serious need for a showing of good, educational, and interesting movies at least once a week as a fun activity for the students here on campus. I'm having a hard time re-calling the last time anything was shown down in JBD as a part of Mac Cinema. It's possible I do not know all the details; maybe they don't have enough money to buy the rights. But whatever the case, it seems like a basic aspect of any good liberal arts college to have movie screenings for their converse-wearing, politically engaged, coffee-drinking student population. Maybe Mac Film Geeks (genius name, I know) will never bud and flourish, inspiring colleges all over the country, but I still think this issue should be addressed in one way or another. Hopefully others feel the same.
Contact Grace Geiger '10 at ggeiger@macalester.edu.
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