Septembre Russell

As you read, this transport yourself to the place in your memory where entertainment lives. Relax and let your mind slip backward through time all the way to your first movie memories.
That’s too far. Let’s ease forward a bit. Do you remember going to see movies in the theater when you were younger? Keep reading and as your eyes roll across each character, smell the popcorn, see the people. Talk and laugh, and try not to eat all your snacks before the movie starts. Are you there?
Good, now come back to me. Realize that by far, not a lot has changed since.
The film industry is still buoyant in the face of the country’s economic downturn. In fact, last weekend “Fast and Furious” earned $70.9 million and “Monsters vs. Aliens” earned $32.6 million.
It amazes me that a portion of the population contributes to increases in film budgets and inflating the already fulsome actors’ paychecks as another portion is simultaneously losing jobs and homes. It alarms me an egregious amount that such torturous irony is in such blatant existence. If only there were some way we could hide the fact that concert and movie ticket sales are unfazed in the same ways as collective cash flow. Sure, that will work out nicely.
We drain our money to remain entertained. That is understandable in the sense that one may no longer have the funds to use for specific things, so finding the harm in buying a few tracks from iTunes, that new DVD release or making a trip to the movie theater is difficult. Aside from a lack of deterrence from those activities, the added bonus is that the entertainment we indulge in distracts us from the realities of our starving wallets and purses.
Box office gross highlights the adage that every little bit counts. Dollars, like snowflakes, are never identical and can collectively amount to a downpouring atop the heads of many. Only now, said downpouring is analogous to a blizzard, and instead of snow falling, money does.
Social learning theory introduces a concept titled “locus of control.” It refers to one’s belief or disbelief that outcomes in life are determined by fate. A person is said to have an internal locus of control if he or she believes that fate is established by his or her actions, whereas a person who has an external locus of control believes he or she is powerless as to what outcomes occur in life.
I think that it is time to shift our loci. The economy isn’t acting on us like a menacing creature from a low-budget horror film. We have to think positively and operate under the belief that better choices will help us prevail through dire circumstances. It’s either that, or we will have to start siphoning money from strategically chosen movie theaters. Or maybe one day Hannah Montana will donate some of the proceeds from her concert sales to families who cannot afford to pay their mortgages or put food on the table.