The screen at an old Drive-In Movie Theater on Route 66 near Sapulpa, Oklahoma. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As a child of the 90s, I never hung out around the drive in theatre. If my friends and I wanted to see a movie, we would head to the local multiplex, showing all the latest Hollywood offerings in a comfortable environment.
So what is it about the decline of the drive in cinema that tugs at my heartstrings?
Nostalgia
Maybe it’s because so many of the movies of my youth feature drive in movie theatres. To my mind the drive in movie theatre is true Americana: it symbolises our country in the same way that only baseball and apple pie can. Would Grease be the same without Danny’s lament at the drive in, with the images on the screen behind him?
The Rise…
It’s baffling to discover that following the war there were over 4000 drive-in cinemas across the states. Teenagers of my parents and grandparents generation would hang out there on the weekends: in the privacy of your own car you don’t have to worry about the guy sitting behind you talking constantly, or the couple in front putting on a public display of affection. Your only real worry would be the auto glass steaming up and disrupting your view.
…And the Fall
Now there are under 400 drive-in cinemas left. Pop culture theorists have given a number of reasons for this, from the increase in land prices to the adoption of daylight savings time. The theory that makes most sense to me is the unreliability of drive-in theatres: if it started to rain, the show would be cancelled.
People were happy to make do: until all-weather multiplexes started appearing, and people could buy colour televisions and VCRs to watch movies at home. Then, heading out to a show that may or may not be cancelled due to inclement weather just didn’t seem like such a bright idea.
Uncertain Future
Current advances in technology mean even more bad news; most drive-ins still use 35mm film, while Hollywood is making a move towards digital. In a few years, it’s unlikely that 35mm prints will still be used, and if the remaining drive-ins don’t have access to the latest hits, the small amount of business they are getting may fade away entirely.
Revival?
Perhaps I’m not the only one who’s feeling a bit bummed by the decline of the drive in cinema. Over the past ten years there has been a rise in guerrilla drive-ins, from the vacant lots of California to the non-profit community funded Hull’s Drive-in Virginia. During the 1990s, a number of drive-ins added extra screens and 40 more opened across America, so it’s not all bad news.
It’s unclear what the future of the drive in is: but one thing’s for sure. Even if technology does make them obsolete, they’ll hold a place in the heart of generations of Americans for years to come.
Catherine Halsey writes for a digital marketing agency on a range of topics. This article links back to http://www.safelite.com/.
