Why I Won't Be Seeing Eternals Yet
Eternals is out in theaters today, but I won't be seeing it today, and probably won't see it until it comes out on Disney +. Which is disappointing, because as a Marvel fanfiction author I like to keep up with everything pertaining to the MCU as it comes out, even if the story I'm writing at the moment happens to take place ten years earlier in the storyline than any of the movies that are currently coming out and has already departed sharply from what's generally considered "cannon."
Now, I've been vaccinated for COVID-19 since April, and I just got a COVID booster and a flu shot this week, but I happen to live with someone who is immunocompromised, and even if you've been vaccinated, it's still possible to carry and transmit the corona virus (though it is less likely), plus there's the whole Delta variant thing.
I try not to get too political with my writing, which may be due to a lifetime of habit. I've spent my entire life living in places where people generally don't agree with me politically, and I've found that the smartest thing to do if you want to have any friends at all in that situation is to avoid the subject of politics altogether (unless someone takes it for granted that I'm going to agree with some vitriol they're spitting out; then I do have a tendency to correct them). When I do write about things that might seem "political" to some people, they're usually things that I feel shouldn't be up for debate. First and foremost, that we should all treat other human beings with respect, be they LBGTQ, female, of a different culture or race than our own, or suffering from a mental illness.
I also believe that science is real, which means that yes, I believe the pandemic is real, because guess what? The scientific community pretty much agrees on that one. Sadly, believing that the pandemic is real and acting accordingly feels like a dangerous political statement where I live. Just wearing a mask (other than in places where it's required, like medical clinics) feels a lot like running around wearing a t-shirt that says, "I'm clearly a communist who hates America and wants to destroy your way of life, so please run me over with your pick-up truck and/or spit on me." I'm not kidding. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've actually had someone try to intentionally cough or spit on me a couple of times, which is never really a classy thing to do, especially to someone who was just minding their business, attempting to run their errands while staying six feet away from you. (You know that scene in Eat, Pray, Loki where Loki coughs on Clint and he freaks out? Totally inspired by real life.)
So as much as I'd love to go see a movie in the theater again, there's just no way. Every time I drive by the movie theater, it's absolutely packed. Clearly, they're not doing any social distancing in there, and somehow, I doubt that even half of the people inside have been vaccinated, given that the prevailing wisdom around here seems to be that vaccines are a government conspiracy to inject tracking devices into your bloodstream and might actually make you sick, even though obviously, the corona virus doesn't exist.
At least I'll finally get to see Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings when it comes out on Disney+ next Friday. I do appreciate that Disney is making an effort to get these films to streaming in half the time that it usually takes, even if they're not doing premier access for them like they did for Black Widow. Not seeing it in the theater does save me money, plus I don't have to worry about not being able to see because someone's wearing a hat or having to listen to someone crunch popcorn in my ear for the first half of the movie. The floor in my living room is significantly less sticky than the typical movie theater floor. I can pause the movie all I want, which means that I won't end up missing five minutes in the middle of the film because I had to run to the restroom. (Hold on, what was so much fun about going to a movie theater again?)
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