A Sports Bar Conversation on the Movies
I recently struck up a conversation with a gentlemen sitting next to me at a sports bar. We talked about a variety of topics, eventually landing on movies. This gentlemen was in his mid-50s, and often went to the movies with friends. Eventually, I inquired whether he had watched the Barbie movie. He responded:
“I don’t have a wife or girlfriend”
I feigned ignorance and asked why that prevented him from seeing one of the biggest movies of the year. He stated:
“I’m not with a woman, and not currently dating a woman, so why would I see it?”
This confused me, as he had seen Sound of Freedom and didn’t state that he was a victim of child trafficking. He had also seen Oppenheimer, and didn’t mention he was in the field of nuclear testing.
However, he had earlier mentioned he had a teenage daughter, so I inquired why he didn’t see it due to that fact. He stated that his daughter did not want to see movies with her dad. I clarified that I did not mean seeing it with his daughter, but rather he could watch the movie to better understand her lived experience. His response:
“Why would I need to do that?”
