The reported impending closure of The Globe tells its own tale about the changing scenes of life and tastes. But I believe that cinema does not need to fade into oblivion.
Today, people flock to cinemas not only because of special effects, three-dimensional movies and the like, but mainly because of the mall ambience, which makes the modern cinema a simultaneous hangout-movie-restaurant-shopping experience where an entire family can spend all day engaged in a range of activities catering to each member’s specific taste.
The Globe, however, ruled Roebuck Street and the city of Bridgetown in a totally different era.
In my teenaged years, The Globe was a virtual “annexe” of Combermere because of its proximity via Station Hill or the back of Headley’s Land, Bank Hall, and the popular movies of the day were mainly of the martial arts genre, as the latest in kung fu was to be found there, at The Empire and The Plaza.
Crowds descended on The Globe for weekend attractions like Roller Boogie during the skating craze that engulfed Barbados in the early 1980s, and its sole source of competition – if it could be so called – was the lone indoor cinema outside of The City at that time, The Vista, which today houses the Worthing branch of Cave Shepherd.
Weekend crowds now flock to Olympus and to The Globe’s sister entity and sole outdoor cinema, The Globe Drive-In, and soon they will also have two more cinemas at Limegrove on the West Coast.
But there are some basics common to them all: hotdogs, popcorn, soda, a large screen, amplified sound, and products of Hollywood. That’s why I believe The Globe still has something to offer.
The Globe should now use its prime position as the sole surviving traditional cinema in Barbados to show the classics which no other cinema may possess.
Instead of those classics being mere relics in some dusty cabinet, they could be advertised for weekend showings to mature audiences, at special prices and with a catered menu including wine.
In other words, it could be a celebration of the nostalgia of many Barbadians who would have enjoyed those vintage romance/Western/war/biblical films in their heady youthful days.
The Globe could also be a kind of museum, with equipment and movies available for research and general information. Such a feature could also find a tourism niche as one of the oldest surviving cinemas in the Caribbean.
And finally, The Globe could offer a $5 night starting around 6:30 p.m. at the end of a working day.
Two movies for $5 would be hard to refuse.
In all the above, though, The Globe would need to have supervised parking and proper security since that area of town is dark and desolate.
It does not need to be so, and The Globe doesn’t have to die and take away all that nostalgia.
*****
I spent a few days in a magistrates’ court last week and the experience reinforced my long-held view that the loyalty of a mother is perhaps second only to the love of God Himself.
Each day, at least three “rude boys” in deep trouble with the law and facing the prospect of lengthy jail time were accompanied by their mothers. In some instances, the young man was twice her size, but there she sat or stood: a veritable rock of devotion and encouragement for her son, when perhaps everyone else had given up on him.
Whether guilty or innocent, whether deemed a rogue or not, he is “a good boy”, “a quiet boy”, the apple of her eye. When girlfriends, wives, best friends and siblings have all given up, she remains solid.
And, quite incidentally, it was in that very environment of the law courts while covering criminal cases as a junior reporter over 25 years ago, that I was advised by a senior police officer to enjoy my remaining time under my mother’s roof.
He predicted that no one would ever sacrifice so much for me.
He didn’t even know my mother, but he knew that nothing would ever be too much of a challenge when her son needed help, and that no matter how old I got I would always be her “boy”.
And as I watched, a few days ago, the sad procession of young men, some handcuffed and shackled, I could not help but admire their mothers; for maybe these youths had grown up giving “mummy” endless trouble or believing her advice to be outdated.
But in the dock, as they looked around the courtroom at the intimidating faces of strangers, these angry young men found momentary relief and comfort from just seeing their mothers.
It is then that an observer like me realizes that these “thugs” are misguided boys who still need mummy’s support after rebellion, bad company and a false sense of independence have brought them to their lowest point.