3 ARTS
2 CULTURE
As Theaters Reopen, Film Culture Blossoms
How In-Person Experiences Continue Despite the Pandemic 4 OPINION
$15 Is Not Enough Especially in New York VOLUME LVI | ISSUE 2
MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2021
Securing the Coveted Vaccine: How NYU Fights Back After just over a year of the first confirmed COVID-19 death in New York City, vaccines are available, though access is limited. These are the stories of two fortunate NYU members who were able to secure the vaccine. By SARAH GIL Staff Writer Despite the recent FDA-approved emergency rollout of three coronavirus vaccines, New Yorkers still deal with eligibility and limited appointments, making large-scale vaccination seem like something far in the future. Fortunately for members of the New York University, NYU Langone Medical Center offers vaccination eligibility to some of its staff and students. They also assist them in scheduling and acquiring the vaccine. Liberal Studies sophomore Sophia Moore-Smith works as an office assistant at Greenwich Hall, where she boxes up used COVID-19 spit tests for shipping. Her close proximity to these tests made her eligible for the vaccine. “I was surprised because I didn’t think I would be.” Moore-Smith said in a phone interview to WSN. “I signed up immediately.” When Moore-Smith went to schedule an appointment, contrary to her expectation, she was met with a wide variety of options when it came to appointment times and availability. “I think there were more than 10 options I could have picked in all the boroughs,” she said. After scheduling an appointment, answering preliminary questions over the phone and confirming her eligibility through a New York State form, she was set to receive her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Feb. 11 — just three days after the initial notification of eligibility. However, Moore-Smith did not get vaccinated on Feb. 11. “I went through kind of an ordeal,” Moore-Smith said. When she arrived at Langone at Trinity, a nurse asked her if she had an outstanding coronavirus test with pending results, to which she answered yes. She was turned away. “I was very concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get another appointment, and I did cry,” Moore-Smith said with a laugh. “I cried. I felt like they were not very understanding of the situation even though I explained that I have to get a spit test every single week. And I was luckily thankfully able to reschedule for the next Tuesday, which was very soon after.” When Moore-Smith arrived home, she went through every email and notification NYU sent her concerning vacci-
QASHKA RULINO
Despite the recent FDA-approved rollout of three coronavirus vaccines, vaccines are still highly limited to many New Yorkers. NYU Langone Medical Center offers vaccination eligibility to a limited number of its staff and students.
nation appointments. “I didn’t see anywhere on there that they could not give a test, or they could not give a vaccine to someone who had an outstanding COVID test,” she said. Moore-Smith isn’t alone in this ordeal. Chelsia Rose Marcius, an NYU Journalism adjunct instructor and a reporter for the Daily News who was recently vaccinated, explained that she saw this issue occur with other patients at her vaccination appointment. “They asked me if I had had a COVID [test] where the results were pending. That’s the one thing I remembered, I didn’t.” Marcius said. “Other than that question, which seemed to trip up maybe a few people that were in there, it was very straightforward.” Marcius went on to explain that the nurse there said the reasoning behind this was they needed to be absolutely sure the patient was COVID-19 negative before vaccination. The only way to ensure someone is COVID-19 negative is through a COVID-19 negative test result. Therefore, patients with outstanding tests cannot be vaccinated. While Marcius had a relatively smooth experience at her vaccination appointment, Moore-Smith had a challenging time finding an appointment to begin with. Moore-Smith had to reschedule
the test for Feb. 16, delaying vaccination due to a policy she says she had no idea existed. “I mean I felt like there was obviously miscommunication between the departments,” Moore-Smith said. “I felt like I definitely had a negative experience, and I left feeling very confused and upset,” Moore said. “I feel like me having to not get it the first time I went was the opposite of efficient.” However, during her rescheduled appointment, Moore-Smith received her first dose rather quickly. “I did feel like it was safe and clean, even though I was originally kind of wigged out that there were four people in this tiny [vaccination] room, but I was only there for really less than five minutes,” Moore said. “It was super fast.” Moore-Smith received her second dose this past Tuesday. “I feel happy, and I feel relieved,” she said. Marcius also received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine. She was eligible for the vaccination because she teaches in-person classes on campus. Like Moore-Smith, Marcius was shocked at her eligibility. “When I got the notification for the vaccine I was a little bit surprised,” Marcius said. “So I figured, well I gotta take advantage of this, you know? I gotta sign up for it.”
Marcius had an easier time scheduling and getting her doses of the vaccination, but experienced symptoms after her second dose. She described having a 100-degree fever for 24 hours, cold, chills, nausea and overall flu-like symptoms. However, she stressed that she did not mind these symptoms if it meant increased immunity. “If that is the worst of it, it’s totally fine and doable.” Marcius said. “It’s totally fine for me to have flu-like symptoms for 24 hours rather than risk getting this strain of coronavirus.” Symptoms aside, she details an easy and quick procedure. “It was very straightforward and simple,” Marcius said. She sat in the waiting room for about 10 minutes, the administration of the vaccine took around five minutes, waited the required 15 minutes in the hall to ensure she didn’t have an adverse reaction and then left. Moore attested to this in her interview, mirroring similar circumstances and wait times. “I had to wait around 20 minutes to half an hour,” Moore said. “There was no uncertainty about whether I was going to get it.” Marcius explained that post-vaccination, she had a bittersweet feeling. “I don’t feel much different than I did
before. I still wear a mask when I go outside. I still feel vulnerable,” Marcius said. “I feel that this is one layer of protection that will help dramatically, and I feel very lucky to have gotten it as early as I did.” Marcius then paused and talked about her mother, who has had cancer multiple times making her high risk for catching COVID-19. Marcius said that her mother lives in Ohio and explained the stress of having an immunocompromised family member living so far away amidst an ongoing pandemic. “I’d rather have the people that I love in my life to have the vaccine before me, especially the older relatives that I have within my family,” Marcius said. “That being said, I know I feel very fortunate to have it, I don’t take it for granted.” Although widespread vaccination and immunity is not yet a possibility, this is a start. The emergency rollouts of the vaccines can offer a beacon of hope to New Yorkers ensuring that some progress is being made. “It’s almost a little bit surreal to have it, in a way,” Marcius said. “I feel again just very lucky to have had it as early as I did.” Marcius ended by saying, “If I could make everybody safer by getting a vaccination, I want to do that.” Email Sarah Gil at news@nyunews.com.
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MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2021
CULTURE
Edited by DANA SUN
How In-Person Experiences Continue Despite the Pandemic
QASHKA RULINO
NYU students and faculty attending in-person laboratories are required to wear personal protective equipment like gloves, goggles, and KN95 masks. While many classes and activities are held remotely this semester, NYU students and faculty appreciate the possibility of in-person experiences with appropriate safety precautions.
By ROSHNI RAJ Deputy News Editor Although many courses, seminars and lectures this semester are being held remotely, some classes, activities, clubs and labs continue in person or through a blend of in-person and online instruction. Many NYU faculty and students appreciate the physical face-to-face interactions the latter have to offer and look forward to a fully in-person Fall 2021 semester. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes in-person classes following proper safety measures — such as mask-wearing, regular disinfecting and socially distanced assigned seating — as settings with “some risk” or “medium risk” depending on the size of the class. To mitigate the spread of coronavirus via the classroom, office, art studio, or laboratory, NYU faculty and students must take weekly COVID-19 tests and complete the Daily Screener to gain access to these indoor spaces. Students and faculty attending labs are given standard personal protective equipment including KN95 masks, goggles and gloves to wear for the fourhour sessions, according to John Henssler, a clinical associate professor and director of the Undergraduate Organic Teaching Laboratories. To ensure social distancing, labs are operating at up to 50% capacity and students receive personal fume hoods and lockers. Students also disinfect their work areas.
“An inherent advantage of the Organic Chemistry Laboratory is the constant and significant exchange of inside air for outside air, resulting from the high density of fume hoods in the space,” Henssler wrote in an email to WSN. “These measures inside the laboratory and the extensive broader mitigation efforts by NYU, including the [COVID-19] Prevention [&] Response Team, have kept the case positivity rate low across campus and therefore allowed us to offer on-site laboratory experience to students continuously since the start of the Fall 2020 semester.” CAS sophomore Silvia Mumu has enjoyed her in-person laboratory. She expressed that the hands-on experience has made her more confident in her practical skills and techniques than an online class would have done. She noticed some of her peers who took an online lab in the fall semester struggling with the in-person techniques this semester. “It is harder, I’ll admit, but it’s going to help me a lot in the future when I get research positions or even take the MCAT,” Mumu said. “I don’t know how I would have learned it if I didn’t make the mistakes myself, but that’s good though, because you learn from mistakes. In the online, they don’t [physically] make mistakes.” Wanting a break from online learning, Tisch first-year Cassie Ren is taking an in-person writing class. “I wanted to force myself to get out
— getting ready, going to class,” Ren said. “It’s definitely been better for me to have one in-person class because it’s given me the chance to have more of a college experience, where some of my friends who are completely online just sit in their dorms all day for like two weeks and then they go out once every two weeks.” CAS first-year Maya Mohan, a self-proclaimed extrovert, feels similarly about her in-person Expressive Cultures class because she believes being around other people motivates her to do work. “It’s nice to get ready and have a good day, rather than just spending all day on my computer or even half the day just on my computer,” Mohan said. “I log on and then I just don’t really pay attention, or I just kind of sit there and I don’t really watch because it’s online and it’s hard to stay focused.” Small seminar classes at NYU typically gather around a table and engage in lengthy discussions. Ren believes the current classroom layout of spaced rows and columns, which is intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19, has made the learning experience more lecture-style than discussion-based. “I think that you really lose the connection you would get in a normal year,” Ren said. “Say, for example, you sit near a friend and say something under your breath. You don’t really even get to have the normal connection you would have with the professor.” Ren majors in Photography and
Imaging. Although many classes are online, Tisch students can reserve on-campus photography studios. Ren is grateful for safety measures that minimize the spread of the coronavirus on campus, but she feels it disrupts the art-making process. “It limits our photography because all of the models would have to wear masks, and as a result it creates limits [on] the extent our art can go,” Ren said. “It’s just upsetting because it feels like [COVID-19] has completely taken over art instead of just academics as well.” Mohan, a member of the Pulse Dance Project dance company, rehearses online with her fellow performers. Since the recent reopening of the dance studios at the Kimmel Center for University Life, she has been able to reserve a professional space and practice individually there. “We can’t do it with [Pulse],” Mohan said. “But it’s been really great because I’ve just been dancing kind of in my dorm room, which is obviously really hard because it’s much smaller than a studio and I don’t have mirrors or space. Obviously, I would wish I could do it with the rest of my friends.” Henssler believes the pandemic has taught instructors much with regards to the implementation of new teaching methods. He says the Organic Chemistry Labs have merged the best practices of in-person and online instructional modes to enhance student experiences as well as instructor training for future
iterations of the course. Overall, he believes that students’ in-person experiences this semester are similar to those of a pre-pandemic course. “Since the online format of the laboratory course does not provide the opportunity to physically carry out experiments, we have created alternative means aimed at achieving course objectives,” Henssler said. “For example, with regards to student progression toward research readiness, we have created significant video content that is used during synchronous sessions to critically analyze the importance of every step of an experiment. Mumu believes NYU must take caution as it returns to more in-person classes and activities for the fall semester, but she remains optimistic. “Going right back to [all in-person classes], it’s gonna be really hard to adjust, to be honest,” Mumu said. “But I do miss my friends and miss getting that college experience.” Henssler remains excited about the greater in-person opportunities the fall semester might provide for both faculty and students. “Face-to-face interactions between students and faculty on campus are so important, especially in the laboratories,” Henssler wrote. “I very much look forward to resuming, not ‘re-Zooming,’ those interactions with all students in the near future.” Email Roshni Raj at rraj@nyunews.com.
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ARTS
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Edited by SASHA COHEN and NICOLAS PEDRERO-SETZER
NYU Actors Living Abroad: The Show Must Go On
MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many NYU actors are completing their semester at home. NYU actors outside of the U.S. have found ways to adapt and stay positive, despite the lack of on-screen and on-stage productions.
By JENNIFER REN Performing Arts Editor Seren Jang was about to finish her first year in Tisch Drama at the Meisner Studio when COVID-19 moved her class to Zoom. Jang flew back home to New Zealand. Due to the lack of acting opportunities, she decided to move to Seoul, South Korea, where roles were more abundant.
Though many on-screen and onstage productions have halted in New York City, many acting students like Jang are reluctant to move back to their hometowns. She was fortunate enough to avoid her hometown and move to Seoul, where she takes in-person acting classes in addition to her online classes with NYU. She’s trying to be as productive as possible during the pandemic. “The main thing would
be just to keep practicing a lot of monologues and doing self-tapes,” she said. Many of these students, grappling with a lack of opportunities, have started to create their own opportunities through original, self-produced content. These overseas performers have stepped up their multi-tasking skills, acquiring handmade props, puppets and other accessories to bring their productions to life.
Tisch sophomore Danis Zhang is a part of NYU’s Playwrights Horizons Theater School. He returned to his hometown of Shenzhen, China for a short period of time, before traveling to other Chinese cities such as Hefei and Hangzhou in search of inspiration. Having directed several virtual plays since the pandemic hit, Zhang navigated a whole new world of virtual performance. “The best thing for artists to do during this pandemic is to always be open to experimentation, be fearless to step on this unknown journey,” says Zhang. “I’m always excited to innovate and work on theater on different platforms.” Zhang directed and performed “Fever Dream,” which is a parody of the well-known “Avenue Q.” The in-person production was shut down due to the pandemic. This play-within-a-play puppet show is based on his true stories from his home country. He included short films and live monologue outros in his satirical puppet show. Zhang used these forms of media to speak up for the LGBTQ+ community against censorship rules within the Chinese media industry. “Besides the visuals at the very beginning, I did everything by myself — set design, the editing, the renderings — all by myself,” Zhang says, adding that this accomplishment is something he would never have achieved if the pandemic didn’t happen. “I started the process during the most intense moment in this world, so I started wondering who am I making art for? I was trying to create a
piece that is not only for the audience but also for us artists.” Other NYU performers are making the best out of a bad situation by exploring new roles within the arts field. Catherine Cheng, a Tisch sophomore majoring in Performance Studies and minoring in Dance, works as a part-time actress and as an acting tutor for younger artists in Shanghai. “I just signed with a TikTok company but haven’t started acting yet,” says Cheng. Besides taking dance courses offered as part of the Go Local program at NYU Shanghai, Cheng is utilizing her other skills and talents to direct, produce and collaborate with friends from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Perhaps the best thing that the pandemic offers, according to these students, is the abundant time for contemplation. Yudun Wang, an alum of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, is optimistic about changing trends in the industry. He advises young actors who find themselves out of work to always be in the acting mode, since he believes that acting is a way of living. “I find strangers online, and I’m like, do you want to hear a play, I can read a play for you, which one do you want to hear? Romeo and Juliet? Fine! Julius Caesar? Fine,” says Wang. “[Acting] shouldn’t be outside of your life at any moment. Even just within five minutes, you can try out new songs, new ideas from your daily struggle with the pandemic.” Email Jennifer Ren at jren@nyunews.com.
As Theaters Reopen, Film Culture Blossoms By QUAN ZHANG Contributing Writer Last weekend, a new withdrawal appeared in my bank account: $23.95, the price of AMC’s A-List. This is approximately 1.3 times the monthly cost of a premium Netflix subscription, 1.6 times that of HBO Max, and nearly double the cost of an Amazon Prime membership. I made sure to make good use of it — since theaters reopened on March 5, I’ve watched six films at AMC. On top of spending nearly $100 on streaming per month, now I will have to add another $25 in order to get a theatrical experience.Why? What’s the point of going to a cineplex after a year of inactivity? Why go to a movie theater showcasing faded posters on stained windows when you’ve got the world at your disposal through a plethora of streaming services? To be honest, I don’t know yet. The one thing I do know is that returning to a New York City theater has been enlivening. COVID-era moviegoing is certainly not without its precautions. New York institutions such as Independent Film Center and Angelika Film Center are taking extensive measures to make sure their customers are safe, such as blocking off rows and limiting capacity to as few as nine people. Sacrificing ticket sales to enforce social
distancing guidelines is not an easy decision, especially for independently owned theaters that have generated close to zero revenue over the past year. The trade-off is greatly appreciated by New Yorkers everywhere, many of whom are excited to get back to the big screen. The cineplex experience is very different now. One year ago, it was hard to stretch your legs in a movie theater, but now, you can barely see the others in the theater and leisurely stretch out your legs. Theater attendance is no longer decisive when it comes to proving a film’s market appeal. This means that theaters have become a destination for few others beside cinephiles who yearn for the big-picture experience. “I was absolutely thrilled,” a moviegoer told WSN. “I think I’ve seen all of the films on Netflix at this point — I’m very happy. I have friends who don’t think it’s ok. I’m not really concerned about it. I think [theaters] are taking the necessary precautions. People are wearing masks, and there are a lot of people who have gotten the vaccine already.” Given cinephiles and moviegoers still revere the theatrical experience, it’s been interesting to see streaming giants assist independent theaters by lending titles to their marquees. This move fortifies Netflix’s relationship with the live theater experience, arguing that streaming services still value
the big-screen experience and will continue fighting to preserve it by playing titles like “Marriage Story,” “The Irishman” and “Roma” if the opportunity presents itself. The independent theater still holds a particular appeal among cinephiles, acting as an immersive extension to the network of choices streaming provides. Even with streaming giants supporting independent theaters and cinephiles rushing to the movies, concerns over theaters’ survival remains. The issue revolves around generating attraction. During my visit to the Angelika on March 7, I kept wondering if more people would come to the showroom. In the end, I found that my friend and I were the only two attending a screening of the war drama and New York Times Critic’s Pick “Quo Vadis, Aida?” As theaters were deserted, a sense of distance between cinephiles and the ever-evolving cinematic culture manifested itself. As a result, a lot of the titles independent theaters are advertising feel more obscure than ever before. “They shouldn’t have shut down for so long,” a moviegoer outside of Manhattan’s IFC told WSN. “People have lives they need to live. This is about people’s livelihood. Small businesses. People need to pay rent. I mean, the bank doesn’t stop to collect people’s money.” In an effort to get people reacquainted with the movie theater ex-
KAYLAH HAYE
Theaters like the Independent Film Center (IFC), located on 323 6th Avenue, have placed multiple safety measures to allow New Yorkers to experience film culture again. The precautions set to ensure their customers are safe result in lower ticket sales for independent theaters.
perience, independent outlets like Screen Slate, a website for cinephiles designed to highlight curated films and their showtimes in New York City, have begun acting as a resource for cinephiles looking to get back into the groove of moviegoing. The reopening of theaters has been witness to a convergence of cinephilic spaces, wherein the online and physical play off each other to arrive at a sustainable point of existence. With more and more theaters re-
opening, it will be interesting to observe how film culture returns after its disruption, if independent theaters will pave their own way by building upon their pandemic curations, or whether theaters will begin to act like conglomerates again, showing the same new titles everywhere as a means of establishing a reliable avenue toward generating money and keeping themselves alive. Email Quan Zhang at arts@nyunews.com.
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OPINION
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Edited by EMILY DAI and ASHLEY WU
CITY LIFE
CULTURE
$15 an Hour Is Not Enough Especially in New York
HBO Max Decision Harms Theaters for Profit
By SRISHTI BUNGLE Contributing Writer The f ight for the $15 minimum wage started in 2012. Adjusted for inflation, $15 in 2012 is worth $17.41 today. This January, Sen. Bernie Sander (I-VT) led the Democratic Party in re-introducing the Raise the Wage Act in January. This bill would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 — as an amendment to Biden’s new COVID-19 relief plan. The amendment failed 52-48 in a Senate vote earlier this month, and the f ight for a federal $15 minimum wage lost once again. Although this new minimum wage would help many, it’s time to critically look at what a livable wage means today, because $15 an hour just isn’t cutting it. For the most expensive cities in America, the cost of living is about 40% to 80% higher than the national average. For New Yorkers, who live in the second most expensive city in the United States, the establishment of the $15 an hour minimum wage in 2019 is still not enough to tackle the city’s affordability crisis. City Harvest, New York City’s largest supplier of food pantries, conducted a study that found that the $15 an hour minimum wage would be insuff icient. Despite the increase in the wage rate, two in f ive households would still lack the income to cover necessities. Furthermore, the minimum wage is unable to keep up with the cost of living in this city. If someone received $15 an hour and worked 40 hours each week, they would receive $31,200 anually. That’s before taxes are deducted. People cannot maintain a dignif ied standard of living in New York City on a yearly pre-tax income of $31,200 today — much less so in 2025. The 2020 median income for low-income families of four ranges from $56,850 to $90,960 in New York City. There are many factors that determine a living wage. The f irst, and most important, is the cost of housing. For a true living wage, it should not exceed 30% of income. According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s “Out of Reach” report, the necessary minimum wage to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in the U.S. is $23.96 an hour. To afford the average one-bedroom apartment, the minimum wage must be $19.56 an hour. In New York State, one needs to earn $32.53 an hour — or work 110 hours a week at the state’s minimum wage — to afford the average two-bedroom apartment.
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This discrepancy between what the minimum wage provides and the wage needed to live in New York City only grows when looking at the various New York City neighborhoods and boroughs. For example, affording a one-bedroom apartment in Chinatown would require a $35.38 per hour wage. In order to pay for a two-bedroom apartment in the same neighborhood, someone would have to earn $40.38 per hour. That’s more than double the $15 hourly minimum wage many low-income workers receive in New York City. Housing is not the only necesity that a livable wage needs to cover: food security, childcare and transportation must be affordable. If the average rent for a studio and one-bedroom apartment is greater than $2500, that leaves about $10,000 in pre-tax income per year for the rest of these needs. Groceries, on average, cost about $470 per month per person in New York City — that’s $5,640 per year. An unlimited subway pass costs $127 per month, or $1,524 a year. If you have a child too young for school, the average annual cost of childcare surpassed $16,000 in 2015. All together, it’s impossible to budget your needs into $31,200 a year, or $24,812 after taxes. Fighting for a minimum wage greater than $15 an hour is not only essential to full-time employees, but to college students as well. College is one of the most demanding times in a person’s life: students are expected to take full course loads, participate in extracurricular activities, have rich social lives and pursue internships — many of which are unpaid. A wage of $25-$35 an hour enables low-income students to pursue fewer work-hours and achieve f inancial stability. Working fewer hours gives students more time to dedicate to academics, extracurricular activities, their friends, their family and, most importantly, themselves. If $15 an hour was barely a living wage in 2012 — four years after the Great Recession — then why haven’t our demands for a living wage been adjusted for inflation? Why expect $15 an hour to maintain its value for four additional years? Fighting to give workers a livable wage is a necessity. We can no longer rally behind $15 an hour as a livable wage because it does not satisfy the necessities that most people need to survive, especially in an expensive city like New York. I worked a total of nearly 30 hours in the last two weeks, some of which could have been used to complete homework, attend Parliamentary Debate Union practice or engage in a hobby that I enjoy. Instead, I earn a sum of money that will last me for the next two weeks. Luckily, I don’t need to earn enough to pay rent or utility bills. I am responsible only for myself, food I need and occasional miscellaneous needs. How many of our peers have that luxury?
By SAM GRAY Contributing Writer Warner Brothers announced that their upcoming movies will be streamed on HBO Max in December. Since these f ilms will be released simultaneously in theaters, this decision has robbed promising blockbusters of an exclusive theatrical release. After New York City reopened movie theaters on March 5, audiences will get the chance to see long-awaited f ilms such as “Matrix 4,” “Dune” and “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” Only this time, many will have had the chance to watch them at home. As the pandemic shuttered cinemas across the country, theater chains endured massive third-quarter losses, with AMC revenue dropping 91%and Cinemark dropping 96%. New York City theaters are f inally open again, but the city has restricted capacity to 25%, meaning that public interest in moviegoing is still not enough to resuscitate an industry on its last leg. The HBO Max decision has only exacerbated the losses incurred during COVID-19. The AT&T executives who own Warner Brothers still believe the move is a step forward, with company chief John Stankey describing the movie decision as a “bold and aggressive swing.” For younger people who grew up with the convenience of modern technology, and for older people who appreciate being able to watch a movie from the comfort of their couch, theaters are non-essential. Most people watch enough content on their phones and laptops that the distinction begins to fade from their brains. The HBO Max decision is simply a company providing the most convenient entertainment experience for their customers. AT&T did not make this decision because they had any evidence to suggest that these
movies would do poorly in theaters. If that was their concern, they would follow the lead of other studios and delay their releases until the end of the pandemic. In May, AT&T made a big bet on HBO Max and the streaming market. December proved that this bet would lead to a major loss of revenue as exhibition stocks from AMC, the largest movie chain, fell nearly 22%. AT&T harbors a massive debt clocking in around $149 billion, leading to an accelerated release of blockbusters as a way to pad their losses and funnel more viewers to HBO Max. AT&T’s attempt to soften the f inancial blow means movie theaters may end up taking the brunt of their mistake. Theaters earn 90% of their theatrical revenue during the f irst month a f ilm is shown in theaters. If consumers decide to opt for the creature comforts of streaming new f ilms on HBO Max, then cinemas around the country will continue to close. The jobs of upper-level media management will be protected, but at what cost? If the United States manages to successfully curb the coronavirus pandemic soon, Americans will f ind that many of the cherished independent cinemas that used to animate our communities have disappeared while we were gone. We will need places where people can enjoy art together, open the lines of cultural discourse and immerse themselves in a nostalgic American tradition. Cinemas should not need to turn consistently high prof its to prove their artistic importance, particularly when a recession has already squeezed almost every sector of the American economy. Market forces are not laws of nature, and there is no reason we should allow a vicious cycle of cuts and rollbacks to destroy a vital piece of American culture. There is nothing inevitable about this. If Congress can afford to bail out hedge funds, they can afford to bail out movie theaters. If we allow theaters to disappear, it will be a completely preventable tragedy. The HBO Max decision is not the second, or even third punch in the gut that American cinemas have suffered this year. It looks more like the beginning of a knockout. Email Sam Gray at opinion@nyunews.com.
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