In case the title is a bit vague, I’m a massive film guy. I’m not super knowledgeable and sadly can’t major in everything that I love, but movies have been a part of me ever since childhood. I saw Fight Club way too young and fell in love with it. This past week was a long one in terms of work. Two presentations and a paper were stressful to say the least, but it all got done and even went pretty well. But, the weekend arrived and I was looking for a little bit of self-care for sure. A fellow film fan here at DIS had the awesome initiative to start a group chat and see Black Panther this weekend, so I signed up! DIS let us know that we were both interested in film and pointed us in the right direction. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the movie that was taking over the nation. This post is going to focus on the trip to the Theater and how perfectly Swedish it was. (There won’t be many pictures this time around, I wasn’t thinking and arrived a little late to the theater.)
The theater itself made me feel right at home. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with the same popcorn smell and concessions area that I see in the States. Being a bit out of breathe, I got on line and made some conversation with the people I was watching the movie with. One of them, Emma, is in my class studying Television in society and the other, Bret, I got to meet through mutual circles. It was a lot of fun talking about our mutual experiences with movies back home and why it was important for us to get a taste here. We talked about favorite concessions, the movie theater business, and movies in the MCU (or Marvel Cinematic Universe for those wondering). It was a great way to kill the time before movie time, but we needed to prepare for the actual film. We were missing one thing: the snacks! But there were plenty of options on display for us to choose.
We didn’t stray away from popcorn on our first outing but there is plenty of room for exploration. For candy, they had a cup serving system that really excites me. You would pick up a cup plus a lid and fill it up with as much candy as you could fit. Charging by the cup, you can tailor the snacking experience to your preference. If you’re a real movie stickler, they also had the classic boxes of candy too. Besides candy, as any true Swedish establishment does there was plenty of hot dogs to choose from too. It was so comforting to have that kind of sensory experience. Going to the movies is already a nostalgic activity to do, so having the familiarity of sugary treats, yellow popcorn, and cinema comfort foods was such a welcome sight. There was however one thing missing. Butter! I am not a fan, so I didn’t mind in the slightest but the group as a whole wasn’t the happiest. Pro-tip! Bring your own melted butter if you end up going to the movies in Sweden. What they did have was extra packets of salt if you wanted. I am quite ashamed to admit, I did, and it was delicious.
It turned out that the timing was almost as amazing as the movie. We got in, found our seats, used the restroom, and it started after a few coming attractions. The film was completely awesome! I would say one of my top Marvel movies. It had a bit of everything (action movie, spy thriller, sci-fi, romance, comedy, and even a strong drama about father figures). You could really tell the filmmakers weren’t afraid of taking stances on some serious topics about government intervention and the racial dynamics going on. But to talk about the movie going experience itself, one thing rained supreme. It was in English! Well, most of it. Nothing was dubbed in Swedish so we had original performances with Swedish subtitles, which was bomb. The only time that became a problem was when characters spoke Xhosa (the language used by the fictional African State, Wakanda, which Black Panther calls home). Those moments were still in Swedish subtitles, surprisingly enough. It would have been nice to know, but wasn’t that big of a deal at all. We were extremely happy with the experience and with our choice in movie. I think we would all highly recommend the Cinema scene if you are ever in Sweden yourself. Just look at our happy faces. (Sorry about the low quality, I was a bit shaky from the extra salt and we were anxiously awaiting the after-credit scene.)
