I was slightly concerned about the line. When I arrived at the "megastore" earlier that evening, I encountered hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting in line for the 8:15 showing at the Union Square theater.
I arrived at about 7:00 and already there were hundreds upon hundreds of people in line.
These were the people in front of me:
I was excited, because one of the people in front of me was Shandi from America's Next Top Model. You might remember Shandi as the girl who cheated on her boyfriend with a hot male model in Milan and who then experienced all sorts of televised drama that scandalized the entire world:
I was dejected when I first arrived, because I thought "Man, I am at the end of the line. I should have arrived here like four hours ago." The line wasn't a line so much as it was a mob of people in a semi-organized state.
The overall vibe was good, though, and people were excited.
D couldn't take standing anymore and was the only person who sat down:
He was hoping to start a movement that all would follow. I had hope, too, as I wanted to sit down. But I didn't want for us to be the only ones. He kept saying things like "Standing, unlike walking, has no health benefit at all. The only thing it does is help you get better at standing, and, really, who wants to do that?"
After another hour in line, I didn't feel so bad because there were a lot of people behind us:
I overheard someone in the ladies' room say that The Ziegfeld holds 1900 people or something. It's an old, classic theater with velvet seats.
Getting into the theater wasn't as dramatic as I'd feared. It took about 5 minutes to get everyone inside, and it flowed quickly.
We ran up the stairs and decided to head straight for the balcony.
We got seats in the fifth row and couldn't contain our excitement.
I am annoyed because my camera died during my attempt to stealthly take pictures of Shandi, so I don't have any photos of the chaos in the theater.
The vibe was amazing. I said "D, it is so important to do this, because whether or not you want to admit it, we are part of this group."
He laughed and said "Yes. Yes yes."
D had been soliloquizing in the line about identifying oneself with a group - either by ethnicity or hometown etc. and the philosophical assumptions that this self-identification carries and how people will take the good but not the bad assumptions associated with the group they're mentioning blah blah - and I was like "Yes, dear, yes, but can I just watch the people and be excited about Star Wars?"
I admit it. I am a nerd. I am a huge Star Wars nerd and I was proud to be amongst my people.
There were a bunch of Jedi in the audience and two kids that staged a light saber duel at the front of the theater.
It was electric.
I decided to use the ladies' room, and it was awesome because the line for the ladies' room was about 1/10 the size of the line for the men's room. Justice!
The gender ratio was about 10:1 male:female in the line, and I know all the nerd-boys were like "Dude, we can't miss one second of this movie!"
They showed the previews and people were rowdy. I love a rowdy audience. I love digital projection. I love the way the 20th Century Fox drums sound when you know Star Wars is to follow. I love knowing you are about to have a religious experience.
I love that people starting screaming when the Lucasfilm logo appeared and I love the dude behind me who yelled "Wait for it... wait for it...."
And then: REVENGE OF THE SITH.
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