As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been watching movies…

There I was, a long time ago in the magical year 1998. I was five years old and hanging onto my parents’ hands, outside our seaside town’s grand old cinema, (a repurposed Victorian theatre, now refurbished as a Wetherspoons), waiting to walk into the crowded foyer. Did I have any idea what a cinema really was at that point in my life? No, probably not. Did I know the process one goes through before sitting down to watch a movie with dozens of other people? Definitely not. I hadn’t had popcorn before, so how was I to know there was a whole counter dedicated to this mysterious sweet or salty snack? Yet still, I was excited.

I’ve always been watching movies, the same as every one else of course, but for me, I have very strong memories of my first movie experiences. I can’t recall a point when I hadn’t seen Star Wars; for me they have always been around, and I will make sure any children I have, see Star Wars from a young age, and before anything else. I was never that much into Disney movies, either because my parents didn’t show me that many and I just adopted their tastes, or I simply didn’t take them in as much as action or sci-fi films (Ironically now, of course with Disney owning Star Wars, I can join in with every one else and say I was brought up on Disney movies). However, the most vivid early memory of film for me is my first cinema experience.

So, back to that crowded foyer: I can’t remember that part vividly enough to say, but I’m sure I was jostled about by all the older people getting their tickets as mum held tightly onto my hand; I’m sure I marveled at the size of the drinks and snacks; I’m certain that I would have found it fascinating walking into that darkened room (the only one in this old building, no multiplexes in our town back then) and seeing that colossal screen stretching from floor to ceiling. I can’t remember it a ll too well…. until the point the movie started, and I was in awe from start to finish at Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla!

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“Two things that should never go together: The phrase “Best experience ever” and 1998’s Godzilla”

Now you’re thinking: “One of your fondest memories of film is that god awful Matthew Broderick Godzilla flick!? Next you’ll be singing the praises of the Transformers movies!” But just wait there a second! We’re talking about the perspective of a child here. A child who had already seen a couple of movies at a young age, and would go on to watch tonnes more, but an innocent child nonetheless. A child whose parents were treating this event as if you were going to visit Santa; like, the real f**king Santa! A child innocent and gullible enough and so distracted by shiny things that something like Godzilla could become one of the best experiences of his life at that point. Now I know two things that should never go together are: The phrase “Best experience ever” and 1998’s Godzilla, but I’ll tell you why it works and why that movie is still special to me to this day.

I would never call myself a critic, but I’ve always considered myself to be critical of movies. Well… not always. My five-year old self, sitting there watching Godzilla, was in no way aware that you could find movie anything other than an amazing spectacle. I was simply in awe that someone could craft something like that. No, beyond that, I was mesmerised by what was unfolding before my eyes and the fact that it looked so real! I can remember the tension building up to the point where the humongous lizard is first revealed; fearing for the life of the bumbling Matthew Broderick; laughing at Jean Reno’s character, who would undoubtedly be criticised as being Francophobic nowadays (I remember my first time watching Leon in my early teens and shouting “That’s the Godzilla guy!”).

And it’s that laughter and amazement that makes it what it is, because when you go to a packed screening, you know that many people there are having the same reactions as you. I still get satisfaction nowadays when other people in the screen laugh, shout, cry or applaud at the same time as me. The shared experience of going to the cinema is a quality that attracted me to it in the first place, though of course I didn’t realise it until later. However, I don’t remember if anyone else reacted the same way as I did to the giant beast’s death, but I certainly remember wailing at that point. Maybe there was another 5 or 6 year old in that audience who cried at the same time…

“The shared experience of going to the cinema is a quality that attracted me to it in the first place”

This must show just how  movies, and other art forms are at a young age. Sharing emotional experiences with others at that age is integral to development. Now, Godzilla is no masterpiece, by a long stretch, and I’m not going to credit it with having some important message about the meaning of life. However, it did teach an impressionable young me a little bit about loss and, more importantly that, in monster movies, humans are always biggest baddest monsters.

Perhaps I’m bigging this movie up a little too much. Maybe I’ve gone off on a tangent and am in danger of admitting it’s the greatest movie ever made and that Roland Emmerich deserves a few more golden statues in his house. Maybe it’s just hindsight that has made my first cinema experience more important than it actually was at the time. But really, I did get a thrill from the experience and it did teach me to look out for emotional moments in movies; my second cinema experience was Phantom Menace, where I wailed at Qui Gon Jinn’s death like a baby (see Connor’s post about his first viewing of that movie, coincidentally also his second cinema experience).

So, Godzilla: not perfect by any means (in fact, most people would tell you it’s awful) but the immersive nature of cinema for an innocent and impressionable me, meant that it became one of my most treasured memories. There have been a few movie firsts over the years: my introduction to surround sound at home (Independence Day on VHS); my first glimpse of nudity in a movie (Titanic – thank you James Cameron); and my first time walking out of the cinema (John Carter – urghh); but 1998’s Godzilla will always be the first. And you know what they say: the first time might not be so special, it might even be terrible – but you’ll always remember it.

S