Brandy Danner is a librarian specializing in young adult services.
Whaddaya mean, Rosebud’s a sled?
Tonight is Teen Movie Night at the library! I’m very fortunate in that the library has a license to show actual movies, so each month there are three movie nights (kids, teens, and adults). Tonight is my first turn.
I’m showing Princess Mononoke, and I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of attendance. The movie is showing now (there’s a volunteer who runs it, and YES I’d love to be in there, but I’m stuck out on the desk tonight), with 5 kids in the room. 4 are girls, approximately 15-16 years old. The last is a boy of about 19 or 20. He seemed a bit disinterested in the girls, except insofar as they’re other people interested in the same movie he’s watching. I’m told he’s active in the D&D group when he’s off from college, and that he comes to most of the movie nights.
I should mention at this point that all the promotional material for this movie announced that it’s the popular Miyazaki animated film. All the flyers and postcards used cover art from the DVD.
Anyway. Flash-forward to a little before 7 pm. The movie has been on for 20 minutes. A woman, mid-30s, wanders in, looks around quickly, and asks where the movie is. We direct her down the hall. Less than a minute later, she’s back. “Are you looking for someone?” I asked, assuming that’s the only reason she’d peek in and leave again.
“No,” she said. “I came to see the movie. But I didn’t know it’s a cartoon. I’m not going to watch a cartoon.”
Sure is a good thing we didn’t pick this title for the adult movie night, then, isn’t it?
