Breaking My AMC Sobriety To Do a Wicked/Gladiator II Double Feature
By Mirna Benavente | Photo by Lizzy Morearty
September 1st, 2024. That was the last time I set foot in an AMC. The movie? Alien: Romulus. I didn’t even get to say goodbye as I believed I would be back just like any other week. After all, the 3 movies a week resets every Friday so you can–
I haven’t given that spiel in 85, no, 86 days. After almost two years of AMC A-List Membership, after giving them more than 500 dollars worth of membership fees, I had escaped. The voices stopped, and the need to bring up AMC into every conversation dwindled from a screech to a whisper until finally, nothing at all. Therapy, aka being a Psych major’s final project, really helped me overcome the brainwashing AMC had me under. I knew I was in too deep when I willingly watched Argylle in Laser IMAX because that fit into my triple feature schedule.
Yet here I am. November 26th, 2024. A Wicked/Gladiator II double feature. Glicked, if you will (but you shouldn’t. If someone asks you if you want to do Glicked with them, take that as a threat and call a trusting adult). I had escaped only to be pulled out of retirement by a pretty face – fuck you, Pedro Pascal (call me if you take that literally). And while I may not be a theater kid, current or former, I was still gay and NEEDED to hold space and see, hear, feel Defying Gravity in order to experience the power in it.
I watched the seconds tick by on the little icon for my clock app. I time it perfectly to avoid all the previews and trailers. Sorry Maria Menounos, I wasn’t ready to face you again just yet. Recovery is one step at a time.
The people in my life have told me AMC is a company, so they don’t care that I stopped being an A-List member. I was just one of millions to them. And they made sense. I know I’m worthless to them. They don’t long for my loyalty–
There was a red carpet rolled out, as if waiting for me to step on it. Yet, that’s an absurd thought. I need to stop thinking I’m worth anything to them.
Popcorn is ordered, and I look around to see if the workers recognize me, the shell of one of their previous lackeys having returned to the colony. I give one of the popcorn kernels a taste and pause. It was the fluffiest the popcorn had ever tasted. Or maybe I forgot what food made with love tasted like…
No, this is what they want. They want me to doubt. I’m just hungry and I happen to have made the popcorn my only meal of the day. AMC is a company, they don’t love me. I walk towards my theater and make the walk of shame to my seat.
Everything was normal. Nicole Kidman – I can’t call her just Nicole, because we’re not really friends and she doesn’t really know who I am – was giving her usual speech about coming being magical or something. I relax. I’m just a normal movie goer, a person who can simply come and go to the movies whenever she pleases. I even deem the soda to taste flat as Nicole goes to give her usual closing line: “AMC Theaters. We make movies better.” However, instead of that, she ends it with
“Welcome home, Mirna.”
I smile, because it's true. I am home. And because I was doing a double feature, the membership basically paid for itself after my second trip! You should try it :)