Years before I’d be escorted out of the theater by security for trying to sneak into “Kill Bill Volume 2” because I was too young to buy a ticket, I was hanging out with a new friend from school to her birthday and we decided to go see a screening of “Titanic”. Wouldn’t have been too much of a problem except I had to be driven home around 8pm and we snuck in until a 9:30pm showing. My parents had no idea where their preteen was and were absolutely frantic. Meanwhile, I sat in the glow of Leo and Kate and that big blue diamond, shoving buttered popcorn into my mouth. This was before cell phones, mind you, so when I finally got back to my parents after midnight, I had problems I hadn’t encountered before.
“Titanic” is three hours and 14 minutes long, which is significantly longer than the kids movies I was used to, and somehow my brain had only taken in the fact of show up at home around 11:00, which seemed less terrible somehow. My terrified and furious parents kept a little tighter leash on me after that, and we ended up crossing the country trying to correct the direction my life was heading. (While I thought it was a serious overreaction at the time, as an adult I understand how scary it would be if your 11 year old came home around 1am, regardless of be the reasoning!) of trouble, and I felt bad for scaring my parents, but that night also made me see movies as a form of rebellion.
