The Trials Of A Family Film Afternoon

Yesterday we had a family film afternoon. We watched the original Star Wars. We did this partly as a trip down memory lane for Mummy and Daddy so that we could see it again after all these years but also it was a way we could conduct a bit of investigative research. We wanted to see if the boys would sit through the whole film. The idea was, if they really were interested in it and it held their attention through the entire thing then we would all go to see the new Star Wars film together at the cinema. If not then it would be a Mummy and Daddy only excursion.

It didn’t start too well. As the iconic opening words began to flow up the screen, Henry got a bit lost. “There are too many words for me to read, Mummy! I won’t know what is going on!” But as it turned out, that was the least of the obstacles to his understanding. Much more of a problem for Henry, and the rest of us, was his continual commentary and questions concerning all of the movie events and all of the characters. Add to that his obsession with recounting the troubling (for him) situation of the unequal number of Kinder eggs that he and his brother had left from their Christmas chocolate stash and I think you will see how it could all be rather distracting.

To my way of thinking there are two sorts of film watchers in the world. There are those who, like myself, can sit and watch a film quietly without the need to excessively comment on what’s going on or to ask continual questions. Then there are the other type. This type can’t sit quietly at all during a film and they have to comment on everything to do with the film as well as many other things not to do with the film at all.

It turns out Henry is one of the latter types.

To give you an idea of what watching Star Wars with Henry was like, please imagine being forced to listen to the following phrases and questions, at volume and on a repeated shuffle program on an iPod that gets frequently stuck, repeating certain random phrases again and again until it hears an answer.
“Mummy, who’s that?”
“Mummy, why did he do that?”
“Mummy, is that another Darth Vader?”
“Mummy, what is he doing?”
“Mummy, I have had 2 of my chocolate eggs and Sam has only had 1 chocolate egg and I only have 4 chocolate eggs left and Sam has 5 chocolate eggs left and that’s not fair, so if I have 1 chocolate egg now and Sam has 2 chocolate eggs now then we will have the same number of chocolate eggs, Mummy, can we do that Mummy? Can I have 1 chocolate egg and Sam have 2 chocolate eggs so we have the same number of chocolate eggs?”
“Mummy, what’s his name?”
“Mummy, is he a good one or a bad one?”
“Mummy, Darth Vader is Luke’s daddy. I know that.”
“Mummy, where are the robots?”
“Mummy, did he get died?”
“Mummy, what happened to him?”
“Mummy, is that his new daddy now?”
“Mummy, has that blowed up? Are they all died?”

And then, as the end credits rolled, Henry chattered away happily about the film. “Has the film finished, Mummy? I liked that film. I liked the ones who joined them, the ones who tried hard, I liked three-three-p-o and R2 and the one with the nose, who was the one with the nose, Mummy? I liked the girl one, and I liked Shoe-bacca, I liked three-three-p-o, he was funny, and I liked Darth Vader and I liked the stormtroopers, I didn’t like the sand people, Mummy can I have a chocolate egg? Why not, Mummy? I liked that film, Mummy, they helped him didn’t they, Mummy? Mummy, who was the one with the big nose? I liked him, I don’t know his name, do you know his name? Gonzalo knows his name, he told me his name but I can’t remember it, and the girl one, I liked three-three-p-o and R2 and the one with the nose…”

And so ended our family film afternoon, our last film afternoon of the year for today is New Year’s Eve and we will be going out into town later to watch the fireworks and see in 2016. Who knows what the coming year will bring? More travels? More family adventures and exploits?

One thing I’m sure it will bring, a Mummy and Daddy only trip to the cinema to see the new Star Wars. This family isn’t quite ready for a repeat performance just yet!

Happy New Year!