Glasgow City Council run a free film for children every Saturday morning at a couple of participating cinemas - the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Parkhead branch of Cineworld. Very often the film in question is an old classic or something that has recently come off distribution (recent ones have been Up, Coraline, Fantastic
Mr Fox and Where the Wild Things Are). Staying in the east, and with a baby in tow, I use the car so that makes it Parkhead.
This morning was left open in the schedules as a surprise - it turned out to be "CJ7", an amiable enough comedy from China. The minute the staff told people it was in Cantonese the queue halved in size, with phrases like "ach, rubbish" being thrown about. Good job it wasn't in black and white or there would have been a bloody riot.
Unless people have really young children - for whom the film wouldn't have been suitable anyway - I never understood this problem. Film's a very visual medium. It's MEANT to be. Subtitles didn't stop people watching Avatar or Passion of the Christ, did they?
The most chilling bit in all this, when the house lights went back on at the end, was the ethnic mix in the room. The people who turned their nose up at foreign muck were largely white, while those open-minded enough to at least give it a go largely weren't. Sometimes I need the east end of Glasgow like I need a hole in my head.
