The Great Family Escape
The Great Family Escape
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco [Video Troll]
Published in: The Manila Times, November 16, 1987
STEVEN Spielberg's weekly television series "AMAZING STORIES" has a nice standard intro to each 30-minute episode. I wonder if you've noticed it.
The opening shot is of a prehistoric family huddled together round a small campfire, the children all wide-eyed and mesmerized by their father spinning tall tales. The scene then dissolves into a modern-day setting where we find the same family gathered in the comfort of their own living room, watching television and sharing pretty much the same spirit of togetherness as before.
The message to this short cinematic composite is eloquent enough, even as it readily appeals to the sentiments. The hearth and the television screen are one and the same in principle: both potent focal points for families then and now.
I myself have vivid childhood memories of a time before the advent of television broadcasting in this country. My parents, elder siblings and I would gather in front of our old, tube-driven General Electric radio, basking in that very same feeling of closeness even more than in the early evening programming.
My mother would sit with her embroidery while my father sat lost in his thoughts, the children bunched together at their feet. Hardly anyone ever spoke, and each evening was invariably the same. Yet those precious moments spent as a family are among my fondest recollections. Even now, I find myself trying to re-live them again and again.
Experience has taught me that the equipment in use need not be fancy. For years, my wife and children derived enormous satisfaction from a 12-inch black-and-white TV that had seen better days. Our three children still remember those weekends spent together on our veranda in New Manila, munching freshly popped corn and following each interminable mini-series to its conclusion.
Much later, while on a travel grant abroad, I purchased our very first color television set with some money I had made from the sale of my paintings: a small Trinitron that has served us well through countless evenings. We have since added a Betamax SL-2300 to the system, which has run well over a thousand hours since we bought it on an easy-installment plan.
We have a small guest room at home that my wife has converted into an entertainment area. A ceiling fan, a set of homemade bean bags, a low-standing coffee table, and our trusty video system comprise all of the furnishings.
The "movie room", as my kids like to call it, evolved slowly by itself. With the passing of time, my wife and I discovered that our own viewing pleasure - as well as the kids' excitement - were greatly enhanced by simply taking the VCR out of the sala and giving it its own space. You'll be surprised at how much more absorbing your home movies can become when viewed as far as possible from pedestrian traffic and domestic clutter.
I've posted a small blackboard in the children's bedroom where I write out the titles to be screened each week - much like those commercial postings in theater lobbies. Saturdays are almost always red-letter days for the entire household, being "video night" from after supper until very late in the evening.
Regardless of what those well-meaning home-advisory articles say against it, we like to watch our movies in the dark. A tiny set looms as large as a roadshow screen when everything else is blacked-out. I guess we'll all just have to worry about myopia later on.
If you've never tried it yourself, this Christmas season is a good time to start. Plant your set in a spare room and schedule screenings for the kids. Whip up a small snack on the side, and whatever you do, try to find the time to join in the fun yourself. Your children's memories will be all the richer for your efforts. Believe me. The Video Troll speaks from experience.
(VIDEO TROLL resumes his regular reviews of current Betamax and VHS titles next Monday. For comments, questions and suggestions, address all correspondence through this section.)
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “The Great Family Escape” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, November 16, 1987
