Movie on the Quad

The Wetherell quad was graced with explosives, a man with tremendous strength, a shapeshifting woman, a girl who can turn invisible and a boy who can run faster than the speed of light last Saturday night. “The Incredibles,” a 2004 animated superhero film, was chosen for this year’s “Movie on the Quad,” hosted by Student Council’s (StuCo) Recreation Committee. The movie was projected on a large screen at the center of the quad, and more than 200 students came to watch, sitting on either the flat grassy portion of the quad or the hill behind it.

Earlier in the term, the committee heads, senior Lucy Weiler and uppers Jena Yun and Bella Edo presented a list of movie options to StuCo. After a discussion and two rounds of voting, “The Incredibles” was selected. “People felt like they got to decide a movie they actually wanted to see, and ‘The Incredibles’ won,” Weiler said. “I think the event went really well. It was the biggest turnout so far.”

"It was family friendly so even our dorm faculty was able to bring out their small children to enjoy it with everyone else.”

In addition to projecting the movie, the committee also provided attendees with free popcorn, Sunny D and Hugs fruit barrels. Lower Katherine Dolan thought that the snacks were “great” and explained that she “decided to go because my friends were going and there was free food.”

Upper Josh Hemintakoon considered the drink options “too sugary” and wished that as a member of StuCo, he could have voted on snack options in addition to the movie choice. “Maybe the Sunny D and Hugs were to add to the vibe of watching a pixar movie,” Hemintakoon suggested.

According to lower Abigail Waite, the movie provided something “fun to do” on a seemingly boring Saturday night. “‘The Incredibles’ was a great choice because everyone likes it,” Waite said.

Upper Bennett Levy explained that he and his friends were “walking around without anything to do” and saw the massive screen playing a movie. Once his friends realized it was “The Incredibles” and took note of the large crowd, they decided to stay at the event for the rest of the night. “I definitely think it should be a constant thing, like every Saturday night,” Levy said. “Also I liked the location because the hill offered pretty versatile seating options.”

Dolan agreed with Levy, saying “the location was great because the hill was handy so people in the back could see.” She pointed out that the movie choice was a clear success judging by the number of people in attendance, and the large crowd of students watching together contributed to the fun of the event. “I had fun because it felt nice to have a lot of the school watch a movie together,” Dolan said.

Lower Maria Lee agreed that the location made it accessible to everyone. She went to the event because she hadn’t seen the movie since she was in elementary school and wanted to watch it again. “I had a lot of fun.” she said. “This event was different from others we’ve had this year, and I liked the change. Also the weather was pretty nice that night, so that made the experience even better.”

Lower Katie Lee also felt that the location was ideal, though she was displeased by the presence of mosquitos. “I have a ton of mosquito bites now, but I also really like ‘The Incredibles,’” she said. “It was fun other than the mosquitoes.”

A group of boys from Abbot Hall attended the movie together and brought their own Stillwells ice cream at the beginning. “It was nice to enjoy the warm weather with my dorm mates,” lower and Abbot resident Aum Bhuva said.

His twin brother, lower Aash Bhuva, agreed that it was a great way to relax and spend time with friends before summer. He brought a blanket to sit on and stayed for the entire movie. He described the quad as the “perfect” distance from cars and other things that may have distracted from the movie. However, he pointed out that the volume of the movie could have kept the people trying to sleep in northside dorms awake. Nevertheless, he felt the movie “was something that most of us enjoyed as children and loved to see aging. It was family friendly so even our dorm faculty was able to bring out their small children to enjoy it with everyone else.”

Prep Niko Amber also noticed that the family-friendly movie choice allowed for faculty kids to attend. She said the movie was her favorite one while growing up. “The weather was great, and watching the movie was different from watching it in an over-air conditioned theater or your room,” Amber said. “‘The Incredibles’ is a lot of people’s favorite childhood movie so watching it lets people reminisce [on] their childhood. I had a lot of fun.”