[author's note: This was originally posted on my personal blog, as it was a bit long to be a response to Dino's post. I've added a couple things since then though, based on discussions that I've had with some of you fine folks and Mr. Rob Mentzer]
This started as a response to Dino’s Wausau Has No Movie Theaters. Sadly it’s ballooned into a whole post. All the same, I was happy to see that Dino got folks back on track, as the big “Wausau without boarders” debate really missed the point of what he was trying to get across:
The death of a cultural landmark in any community is a sad thing.
Now, far be it from me to talk about the merits of Crossroads Cinema. That place was a pile of crap in terms of facilities. I went to Cedar Creek more often than not, but some of my best Wausau cinematic experiences came at little ol’ Crossroads. Punch Drunk Love, The Fountain and other smaller releases that Marcus barely found the strength to touch with a ten foot pole. The death of Crossroads is the death of the only place that one could regularly (I have been told that on occasion Malarkey’s will show a film on their video projector, so check that out) see limited release films on the big screen, in celluloid and not in your own house in the greater Wausau area, that’s the sadness.
And I should point out those qualifiers. While home video has made indie and other alternate voices in cinema easier to find I would counter with two points: watching video on a TV at home and watching celluloid projected on screen are two very different experiences. For some this might negligible, but for many it’s not. From “going out” to see the film (getting out of the house) to the different (albeit similar) mediums. And the second point I would make is that video rental has been around for almost three decades now, this isn’t some new, amazing phenom. While the internet has opened up amazing avenues for some filmmakers, for the most part, truly quality, artistic cinema will find a way to get even a small publishing/distribution deal. I don’t think this is “a sign of the times” because it’s been this era for almost two generations, it’s a sign of the culture.
And it goes to the heart of what Dino was talking about: the brain drain in Wisconsin in general. Wausau just serves as a (pardon the following shameless self-promotion) microcosm of that. I’m just case number 655321 (kudos to those that get the reference) of this in action every day. And while no doubt it comes from the lack of job opportunities, there’s more to it than that.
It’s a trend of Millennials, for which I am just one of many.
Young professionals are sick of franchise cities, and that’s exactly what Wausau has become; and really almost every city in Wisconsin. No matter where I live I’ll be able to see the big releases, I’ll be able to go to the big name band stadium tours, etc. This is not the current generation’s idea of a great time. We don’t want to shop at Wal-Mart, we don’t want to plan out months in advance to go to the Green Day concert. We don’t have kids, we want to go out on random nights and find new things. We want to be able to go out on a random night and discover an awesome electronica group from Ireland. We want to shop at an open merchant market place.
Don’t get me wrong, I was in the multiplex for Wolverine and I’ll still stop by Target to pick up toilet paper.
But it seems the previous generation, no doubt left over from their massive consumerism in the 80’s, now wants a name they can trust and scoffs at adventure. It’s understandable, when one has the 2.5 kids and high responsibility management positions that sap all of your energy for the day (as opposed to an entry level, leave everything at work position), one doesn’t want to see if a place called the Black Cat Cafe has a good black bean burger. One wants McDonalds because it’s safe, known and reliable. Fair enough, that’s your call. But we’re fresh out of college where we were taught and learned to embrace the off beat and different. We’ve had the internet almost all of our lives and we want what we get there: a huge variety of niche offerings that fit us better.
So how does this all tie back to the Crossroads? It’s one less option. There’s now a monopoly of locations to see films regularly (there already was in terms of companies, but like I said, Marcus would occasionally stick some limited release stuff in Crossroads). This is the antithesis of what my generation wants. Where I live now, there are nine movie theaters within a twenty miles radius; two of them are art houses, one shows first run Bollywood films. The Fillmor, while most of the blame for its downfall (in my opinion) falls on the management, even well managed would probably not be able to stay in business and offer what we want:
New, fresh, different, exciting.
Because that doesn’t sell in the Wausau area. Despite getting media coverage from Citizen Wausau, The City Pages, WSAW and The Wausau Daily Herald, I couldn’t get people to show up and watch the film I shot of their city with an admission price of free. Because it wasn’t made by a studio, and didn’t have an army of publicists getting the word out to convince them it was a safe bet for a good night. And who knows, maybe those fine folks that did come out that night thought it sucked. But hey, they gave something a shot that didn’t have ads on during the latest reality show.
Crossroads closing is Wausau speaking, yet again. They don’t want what a culture that grows and, more importantly, keeps folks like myself around. A community that supports a wide variety of art, expression and culture cultivates industry to support it and produce it, a following to take it in and creates a new generation of bohemians. Wausau’s embrace of the mainstream, the franchise, cultivates a bored youth culture that can’t wait to leave.
I’m not saying people should have gone to Crossroads to see films they didn’t like at a venue with subpar facilities; what I am saying is that Wausau continues to use it’s most powerful voice, the almighty dollar, to vote out everything but the franchises. And this is fine, when I’m road tripping I’m not going to hunt down the mom and pop burrito place when Taco Bell is right off the freeway. There’s something to be said for the safety of the brand name.
But it’s not going to cultivate a culture of art, expression and new ideas.
I am mostly preaching to the choir on Citizen Wausau, a vast majority of the folks here hit up Downtown Grocery, buy their albums from Innersleeve and generally keep a variety of options open for my generation to discover and partake of if we do end up in Wausau. As I said in my quasi-farewell post on my personal blog: you are working to someday make Wausau the type of town I needed it to be now.
But for the rest of Wausau, it’s just sad to see the Visigoths are winning.
Barry Liss
9:00 am on May 21st
Bottom line Erik, the metropolis seems where you should be these days…but wait til you have a family, the beat will change and Wausau won’t look so stale…
…don’t count the Athenians out…especially in hard economic times the arts emerge as sacred because people need some form of escapist utopia…comedy and tragedy not just as metaphors but as lived experience…when money destabilizes as a criterion for identity (pay cuts, furloughs, layoffs, etc) the arts emerge as a realm of esteem and character: discipline, sensitivity, creativity become preferred social values…that’s what happened in the Great Depression and in many ways it was a time of social integration as people suffered together…
Erik Cieslewicz
9:45 am on May 21st
I think you’re very close to what I’m saying, Barry. Like I said, the 2.5 kids, the high stress job… it leads to wanting the rest of your life to be more simple, more predictable, whatever you want to call it.
But, much like Rob, you’ve put the spotlight too much on me. And it’s true, I am using myself as example 1. But I’m just one of many, many members of my generation; and I know of many peers of mine that grew up in the Wausau area that have left or are leaving. We wait longer to have children and get married, many of us are doing neither. I think it’s very short sighted to just look at me as this crazy fringe element that won’t really effect the future of Wausau and other towns like it.
Erik Cieslewicz
9:50 am on May 21st
Addendum: I should point out that the City of Wausau, as in the government body, was extremely supportive of my film. I honestly don’t know how their patronage and cooperation with the arts goes beyond that, but it was great to actually meet with the mayor, to have give and take and cooperation in terms of shooting permits for the streets and other such things.
But the culture was very unforgiving. We had to shoot a scene in Stevens Point because we could not find an eatery to let us shoot a scene in it. We asked many restaurants and grocery stores for a deal on food or even donations to help us feed the cast and there was not a single taker. And part of that, again, goes back to franchise culture. In order to get a donation from Taco Bell I can’t just go to the place and talk to the guy running it, I have to contact the corporate office and all that baloney. It’s very easy, as a low budget production, to be entirely ignored by these multi-national companies. Them, and even most ‘mom and pop’ type places, had no interest in growing the film community or anything of that nature.
And I can tell you, right now, in Oshkosh we found many businesses willing to donate food or locations to productions. Where I am now, directing a television pilot, the producers were able to find almost half a dozen local and national companies to give us the time of day and support the arts.
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Brad Schjoth
3:41 pm on June 18th
The simple fact that Cedar Creek is only showing “Up” in 3-D really, I felt, was detrimental to this city’s moviegoing experience as well.
The price tag to see the film in the 3-D format ridiculously high, especially considering where the economy sits and it being a family film that typically draws groups of 4-5 at a time. Whether or not you feel the 3-D format is good for cinema, is almost beside the point. Personally, as it stands right now, I feel like it is just a hokey device to get people in the seats, which is why I waited until I took a trip to Green Bay to see the movie in its 2-D format.
Honestly, $11.75 to see a 96-minute movie, with no other options? Yeah, I think you just lost my business.
John H. Fischer
7:40 am on June 19th
holy crap.. seriously?
I was going to go see it this weekend… do they give you a price break if you brink your own funky glasses?
Matthew M
9:36 am on June 19th
You can always go to the Cosmo in Merrill to see UP, they have it and I guarantee that it will be a lot cheaper. I think their price is $4 for a matinee, and 5-6 for regular. Plus a large popcorn and a large soda are both $3 each, so for the same cost as 2 people going to cedar creek you can go to the Cosmo and get popcorn and soda as well.
Sherry L. de Alvarez
11:57 pm on June 19th
I think you are being too easily led to believe that growing older and having a family means you NEED to have a high-stress job which leads you to want to reside in Franchise USA where life is made easier through conformity. Statements such as “wait til you have family” are extremely arrogant and condescending and I think you (and/or other members of your generation) should have been (should be!) more offended by them…(so…I, a member of an older generation, will go ahead and be offended for you!) Neither the generation you belong to nor the fact that you do or do not have a family needs to box you in when it comes to your desires, aspirations, and pursuits…and if they do…then I think you need to make some seriously different choices in life. The US culture (more so than the generation someone belongs to) has basically brainwashed people into believing life has to look a certain way at certain stages. But, moving outside of that…whether that means outside of Wausau or any of the other of the thousands of towns around the country that look just like it…can help clear that picture up. I live surrounded by families (from the US and elsewhere)…far from any Target, Outback Steakhouse, Panera Bread, fill-in-the-blank name here; in one of the most dangerous countries in the world where we don’t even regularly have electricity or water on a regular basis…and guess what…people are doing what they want and are still happy, loving, satisfied, and full of adventure; and regularly exploring that which is different! So, Erik, don’t give up the fight and PLEASE don’t fall for the snow job that growing older means having to (or even that you should!) embrace the White Bread US American “Dream”!!! Your perspective and concern are legitimate regardless if you’ve been out of college for two years or twenty!
Brad Schjoth
7:48 pm on June 20th
@ John H. Fischer
I kid you not, my friend, I kid you not. You cannot see it in 2-D as the conglomerate multiplex that is Cedar Creek. My suggestion would be to see it in Merrill as Matt Mueller suggested, or wait until you are out of town and go see it then.
From what I understand, they still force you to pay the full ticket price even if you bring your own 3-D specs. But then again, I can’t know for certain as I didn’t attempt to see it there.