Editor’s note: What activities and practices have gotten us through the pandemic? What have we learned about ourselves during this dismal time? Baltimore Watchdog reporters wrote personal essays and interviewed people on this topic. Here’s what they found.
By Jade Fadrowski
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the movie theater a memory of the recent past. Chase D’Eugenio, an avid movie watcher, misses the theater. Pre-pandemic, he and his roommates, Mike and Max, would go to the movies once or twice a month.
“There’s nothing like going to the movies,” D’Eugenio said. “Where else in the world do you get together with people, eat food and no one talks for two hours? It’s so great.”
D’Eugenio misses the movie-going experience so much that he and his roommates decided to do their best to recreate it at home. Every Friday they meet in D’Eugenio’s room on the third floor of their small home in East Nashville. The makeshift theater seating consists of two theater recliners and a queen bed facing a 70-inch television with a Samsung soundbar that improves sound quality. D’Eugenio bought one theater recliner at the beginning of the pandemic and was gifted another for Christmas. His roommates typically sit in the recliners while D’Eugenio sits in his bed against the headboard. The three of them are in a band called The Plants. The living room is filled with recording equipment and instruments, so they decided D’Eugenio’s room was the best option for their home theater.
Movies that would normally be released in theaters are released every week on HBO Max. D’Eugenio and his roommates have a list of movies they have yet to see and pick one depending on the mood they’re in. If one disagrees, majority rules. Before the movie starts, D’Eugenio always makes sure he has a large cherry Coke, hot popcorn and watermelon Sour Patch Kids just like he would have at the theater.
Before playing the movie, they watch trailers for upcoming movies on YouTube. D’Eugenio has a smart lamp and slowly dims the lights from his phone. Once the trailers are over he turns the lights off, which symbolizes the movie is about to start. When the movie is done playing they take turns sharing their thoughts and opinions. They rate the movie on a scale from 1-10 based on how much they enjoyed it.
Fridays are the only days D’Eugenio watches new movies with his roommates. Throughout the week during his free time, D’Eugenio will re-watch his favorite old movies by himself. He considers Forrest Gump to be the greatest movie of all time and has seen My Cousin Vinny more times than he can count. D’Eugenio watches movies for a variety of reasons including entertainment, to pass the time and gain inspiration.
“Movies fill in the space that was taken up by going out and seeing people. It makes me feel normal like it’s not hell on earth outside,” D’Eugenio said. “After I watch a good movie I want to be really good at what I do because someone could be that good at making a movie.”
There’s a social aspect to going to the movie theater, but watching movies habitually with his roommates allows D’Eugenio to have a social experience similar to one he would have had pre-pandemic. Re-watching movies in stressful and uncertain times can bring up feelings of comfort and memories of happier times. Movies allow the audience to escape their current reality and transcend into an imaginary world of their choosing.
Once things go back to normal, D’Eugenio plans to continue watching new movie releases at home unless it’s a movie he’s looking forward to and thinks the theater atmosphere would add to his overall experience.
“I’m sad that I don’t have the true theater experience, but for now I’m glad that I’ve come up with my own cheaper way to embody it,” D’Eugenio said. “If I couldn’t watch movies during this time I think I would lose my mind.”
By Madison Disney
COVID-19 temporarily shut down movie theaters across the country. Destiny Varnedoe and her friends at Towson University regularly went to the Cinemark Towson to see new movies that sparked their interest on “Student Discount Tuesday.” They often caught the newest thriller while taking advantage of the $6 tickets. Spending her Tuesday nights in a packed theater immersed in the smell of nachos and buttered popcorn was an experience Varnedoe never realized she looked forward to until she couldn’t do it anymore.
She began to miss the excitement of sharing her thoughts and experiences with her friends, and anxiously waiting for the newest installments of some of her favorite horror series such as “Insidious” or “The Conjuring” to hit the big screen.
Once stay-at-home orders kept her from catching new movies in the theater, Destiny started to check Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Amazon Prime to see how she could keep the streak of seeing a new movie almost every week alive at home. Thriller and horror movies were starting to space out their release dates, and she often found herself disappointed with newer movies. The story lines were dull, and as an avid horror movie lover, Destiny found that these new releases were trying so hard to be different that the movie was often confusing or strange, and left her feeling underwhelmed.
She had seen a few movies that she enjoyed the thrill of, but nothing could compare to her favorite horror series of all time, the “Saw” movies.
“The story is unlike anything I had ever seen in a horror movie, and it’s so unique,” Varnedoe said. “The traps, the plot twists, how real it felt, everything about it is just unmatched to me.”
Luckily, her Twitter followers were on the same page. They were missing the scares in the theater, too. So they began sharing movies with Varnedoe that were subtly scary, with psychological mind twists and obscure story lines.
While scrolling through her feed, she found a chart of 72 horror movies, old and new, with a caption questioning which three you would save if you had the chance. She straightened up from her slouched position on the couch and proposed a question to her roommates, slumped on the couch across the room.
“We can’t really answer this question until we watch every movie and decide which ones are the best,” Varnedoe said. “So what if we do that to get our weekly dose of new movies in?”
Varnedoe and her friends only ever talked about their opinions when they saw a new movie, so rating them in specific categories was a whole new ballgame for them. They decided right then and there that the summer was the perfect time to start this experiment. So Destiny and her roommates broke out a new black gel pen, found two sheets of printer paper and started listing each movie by hand, leaving a space for three different categories for them to score. The films would be rated on their scare factor, the overall plot and how entertaining it was.
“Every time we went to the movies, we would walk away talking about those three things without even realizing it and figured out that this is what determined for us whether we thought the movie was worth it or not,” she said.
When the first weekend in June rolled around, the girls decided to kick off the list with the first movie, “Hereditary,” one of the only films that one of the three horror fanatics had seen. Varnedoe microwaved a bag of movie theater butter popcorn, her roommate concocted a celebratory strawberry lemonade and rose drink, and they all piled into their living room burying themselves under a heaping pile of fleece blankets on their recliner sofa. The only light on was bouncing from their flat screen TV and reflecting on their glasses.
Varnedoe usually doesn’t flinch at some of the scariest moments in movies. Usually, those moments are accompanied by a remark like, “Oh, well that can’t be good,” but she did not expect to be as disturbed as she was while watching this film.
“One of the scenes I remember we all verbally reacted to was when the mom was literally sawing off her own head in the attic,” Varnedoe said. “I know for sure that was one of the moments where I was completely sold on that movie.”
After the movie, one of the three girls asked, “So what did we think?”, and everyone gave general commentary for how they felt afterwards, and then gave an individual score out of 10 for each category.
“Hereditary” got a 5/10 overall after averaging all three scores together. Destiny immediately let out a heavy “What?! How?!” after her roommate revealed the score. Then, the debate started.
“Usually, we all agree on how we feel about new movies when we see them together,” Varnedoe said. “Either they suck or we like it enough to at least see it one other time. But for some reason Elaina [one of Varnedoe’s roommates] wasn’t super into it, but either way I called for a recount.”
Now, every week, sometimes more than once, Varnedoe and her friends break out the list and follow up with the next movie. It’s always a surprise of whether the movie is from 2019, 2005, 1980, etc. Either way, the experience is always unique. Even though it is not the same experience as going to the movies, it gave Varnedoe a reason to be excited every week, and now that seeing a new movie is almost always free, and in the comfort of their own home, she hasn’t really missed the theater as much as she thought.
“Of course, I miss going into public and seeing people and doing the movie theater experience, and I’m sure I will go back once COVID is over, but this little experiment has been so much fun I want to keep doing it for other movies too,” she said.
Lounging in a recliner, drizzling salt and butter on her go-to movie snack and sipping on a fruity drink while seeing a new movie with friends seemed to only be possible at the movie theater. But Destiny and her roommates figured out just how easy it can be to make a former public activity just as fun at home. Although the pandemic robbed a sense of normalcy from her, being able to bring former activities home has given Varnedoe something to look forward to again and has helped her remember that even if something isn’t the same, it can be just as enjoyable.
By Kayla Hunt
Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ have become my companions since COVID-19 hit last March. The genre that has particularly piqued my interest the most: documentaries.
When quarantine began, my daily routine changed drastically. I was a full-time student taking five classes, and I also had an on-campus job along with a part-time off-campus job. I was working as an office assistant at one of the residential buildings on Towson University’s campus and I worked part-time as a print and marketing associate at Staples.
My schedule would look something like this: working as an office assistant from 9 a.m. to noon, going to classes from noon to 4 p.m., and going to work at Staples from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. My days were always busy, but I liked it that way. I enjoyed always doing something.
But things changed quickly. All my classes were being held virtually and I lost both of my jobs due to the pandemic. Staying home every day was peculiar to me, and I didn’t know what to do with the sudden extra time on my hands.
I slowly realized that my definition of productivity was all wrong. Just because my calendar is booked doesn’t necessarily mean I’m being productive. I also started to realize that I needed more mental stimulation. I enjoy constantly learning something.
With extra time on my hands, I began to binge-watch shows that I always wanted to watch but never had the time to finish. However, even that started to become boring. It wasn’t until I tried out documentaries that I became more mentally stimulated.
When choosing a documentary to watch, I would read the descriptions provided and watch the previews. After watching a documentary, I would head straight to the Internet. I had lots of questions, and I wanted answers. And I wanted to see if what other people thought of what I just watched. I would read opinion articles on the topic to see what other viewpoints are out there. I would search for more background information on the person being profiled. I would look for answers to any remaining questions I had and also to confirm what I just learned.
There is one documentary that I vividly remember watching: American Murder: The Family Next Door. The documentary is about how a man killed his wife and children in Colorado. Watching this story unfold was horrific. But I couldn’t stop watching. I think I was simply just intrigued in how any human being could possibly perform such an act.
After watching this documentary, I opened a new tab on my laptop and went to old, reliable Google. I searched for more information on who this man was, who the family was, and more details on the trial and the case. Nothing that I searched for or found eased my mind. The details of this documentary followed me into my sleep.
Even though this documentary was nightmarish, I liked that the story had an impact on me. What happened to that family was terrible, but their story mattered.
I believe that my newfound interest in documentaries has been beneficial to my interest in the career of journalism. I keep in mind the questions that ponder in my mind after watching a documentary when writing because I want to answer these questions for my readers.
Nowadays, I am always searching for a new story to hear, a story that makes me sit back and think, “Huh…”.
By Corday Gaskins
Every night after a long day of Zoom classes and delivering pizzas for Seasons Pizza, Devin Curtis comes home, sits in his gaming chair and watches films from recent decades.
Curtis is an electronic media and film major at Towson University. Throughout the pandemic, Curtis has been adjusting to remote learning and social distancing at his job. His job implemented a new form of delivery that was tough for him to grasp. It’s no contact, which required him to leave food in a specific area for customers. A lot of the customers were not following the rules and weren’t wearing masks. Curtis lives with family members who are at high risk. His main concern was to stay safe and not put his family at risk. His work hours were also cut.
When COVID-19 hit in March, there was a lot of stress and uncertainty, and people were finding ways to cope. Curtis found his escape through watching old movies. Since the start of the lockdown in Maryland, he started watching movies in his basement. He estimates that he’s watched more than 95 films, or roughly three to four per week.
“I was just bored,” he said. “I was tired of playing my PlayStation 4 so I decided to re-watch the “Harry Potter” series. Then it started to become a nightly routine. I love movies. That’s probably why I am an EMF major.”
Out of all the films that he re-watched, the ones that stood out to him were “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Hunger Games” and “Batman Begins.” But his favorite movie that he watched was “Apocalypto,” an adventure/action movie that was released in 2006. Curtis was intrigued by the film’s plot. It’s about a Mayan kingdom, and people there believed they needed to build more temples and sacrifice more people or their crops and citizens would die. Curtis loved the character development of the main character.
“The dude Jaguar Paw went crazy in that movie — the way he escaped and made it back to his family was amazing. The director really had me emotionally invested in the movie,” he said.
Curtis said as a film major, he appreciated watching the camera angles that were used in the film. Apocalypto used shots such as the bird’s eye view, point of view, Dutch angle and high angle. Curtis is shooting these shots for his current classes.
Watching movies gave him comfort. It took him back to a safe place in his young adult years when he saw the movies. The pandemic has been tough on him mentally. Working in the food industry during a pandemic was scary for him because people believed everything was scarce. During this time period stores were selling out water, toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
“Watching these movies took me back to a good time period in my life. It was a good way for me to escape reality for a little while during the pandemic,” he said.
Curtis is now able to have some normalcy as vaccines role out and people begin getting back to their lives. He has gotten back all his work hours. Now that he’s working more he has less time to watch films. He plans on keeping the movie tradition going. He plans on watching two movies per week.
By Rashard Davis
COVID-19 has made for a difficult year. I’ve done a variety of things to stay active and engaged. I’ve been walking with my dad — and sometimes other family members — to stay active during this troubling time. It helps me get out of the house on Sundays and pick up supplies for when I need them the most.
I’ve been working again since August after taking time off to keep my grandmother from getting sick.
But the thing that’s most helped me through the past year is watching movies. I’ve been seeing movies from the 1980s and 1990s that I may have heard of before but never before watched. One example is Gandhi, which was released in 1982 and won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director for Richard Attenborough, Best Actor for Ben Kingsley and Best Original Screenplay for John Briley. It follows the life of Mahatma Gandhi, played by Kingsley, from his time as a lawyer in apartheid-era South Africa to him fighting for Indian independence to his assassination by a Hindu extremist who was angry at Gandhi’s call for secularism.
I also watched a few Black-led films such as Just Mercy, Selma and Malcolm X. These movies are about Black people dealing with discrimination and adversity in varying degrees: Just Mercy is about how a lawyer helped free an innocent man on death row, Selma deals with MLK as he’s rallying with people to help fully implement the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and Malcolm X deals with the activist and spiritual leader’s life and death in an epic, biographical fashion with an electric performance from Denzel Washington. And, besides Gandhi, I’ve been seeing a few Best Picture Academy Award winners I have never seen before, like Gladiator, Terms of Endearment, Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, A Beautiful Mind, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Hurt Locker, No Country for Old Men and The King’s Speech.