Ben Winters finds ticket queuing the ultimate summer experience
It would be so easy to make fun of these people. The teeming hordes of them, the ragged line winding its way in uneven clumps from the doors of the Loews Cineplex McClurg Court theater, past the Holiday Inn and around the block. We normal people expect folks like this to live up to their geeky stereotypes: We want them clutching weathered copies of the "Dungeon Master's Guide" and trading Dr. Who trivia questions as they wait to purchase their tickets - a week in advance - for the new "Star Wars" epic.
But of the 300-plus diehards patiently awaiting two o'clock, when the first Chicago-area ticket will go on sale for "The Phantom Menace," only a handful radiate that aura of social ineptitude that screams out for noogies and 'kick-me' signs. No rousing games of Magic are in evidence, no one is dressed as a stormtrooper or Wookie, and if there are any lightsabers on hand they're safely sheathed.
Once the stereotypes dissolve, a different sense emerges. If summer is the season of the inner child, of taking a vacation from the workaday world and the phantom menace that is adult life, than perhaps these earnest fans - first in line for the biggest summer blockbuster of them all - represent the very spirit of the season.
"It's 'Star Wars.' It's about your childhood," says fan number ninety-nine, who has occupied his space since 11pm Tuesday. "It's about reconnecting with that which is good in our culture - it's about the classic struggle, good versus evil, doing the right thing, taking responsibility for your fellow man.
"It's 'Episode One.' It's on film," he concludes simply. "If you don't get it from that, you'll never get it."
"It's kind of like our folk tale, like an American folk tale," explains a fan who has been in line since Monday. "'Star Wars' is a modern-day fairy tale."
One of the very first people in line is a clean-cut hipster in a Fugazi T-shirt, who reminisces about seeing the first installment as a little kid at the old Chinese Theater. "'Star Wars' has always been a part of my life, since I was five years old. I've always been a fan, I grew up as a fan, my parents were fans. So, definitely, it provides a sense of security."
There are the things that slip away from us as we grow older: All this faith in fairy tales, belief in good guys, enthusiasm untainted by cynical self-censure. That's what's really for sale today. Each "Episode One" ticket is like the one little Charlie found in his Willy Wonka Bar, a tiny slip of paper allowing access to a world of childhood wonder. And hell, it's a chance to be the first at a time-honored tradition of summer - the movie EVENT.
After watching the first couple of people buy their tickets - one wearing a black leather KMFDM jacket, the other a Jedi Knight robe - I overhear a couple of suits on Michigan Avenue scoffing at the rabble. "These people have been here for three days. Jesus, it's just a movie."
It's "Episode One," and it's on film. Don't you people get it?
JULY EVENTS
JULY MUSIC
JULY FILM
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.