Popcorn Mountain

Think about the amount of popcorn bought in cinemas across the World everyday, and then think about the amount actually eaten. Can there possibly be anything less efficient than popcorn? The Luddite went to the movies the other day (they have sound now you know) and couldn’t help seeing popcorn as one giant sweet (or salty) metaphor for the world we live in today.

We are obsessed with getting ‘value for money’, raised in a society where far more than we need equates to enough and big is better. No-one ever eats all the popcorn, most of it ends up in your lap or under the seat and even the smallest size available is roughly analogous to an oil tanker. The cinema however has to justify its inflated prices by offering inflated portion sizes knowing full well that they can simply empty the Hoover bag back into the dispenser the following day.
It’s time to call their bluff fellow luddites. Next time you go to the movies and there are ten or so people in front of you in the queue for confectionary do a quick straw poll to see who wants popcorn. Purchase a small container and divide it up amongst everyone there (you can use the paper cups from the mega sized soda dispenser) everyone will be perfectly satisfied with the amount (although it may be best to go for a mix of salt and sweet just to be on the safe side) and you will be making the first steps toward a better world.

Be aware I’m not trying to turn this into a coke commercial or make some hackneyed point about famine in Africa or whatever; this is about a society that doesn’t want to go large, doesn’t equate big with best and believes that enough is quite adequate thank you very much. We live in a world blighted by excess, littered with waste and unnecessary choice, popcorn is the thin end of the wedge. We are led to believe we are getting ‘value’ because we are given more than we can possibly consume which is nonsense. So let’s spread the love, save our fellow movie goers a few quid and annoy popcorn manufacturers everywhere.