Socialists may be celebrating the economic havoc caused by the Chinese virus, but if anything, it’s highlighting the failures of socialism and the robustness of capitalism.
In the first place, this pandemic is entirely the work of a repressive communist regime (I apologise for the tautology). The economic devastation around the world is the result of quasi-socialist, statist authoritarianism.
And, as they will, free enterprises are innovating to survive. Whether it’s a strip club turning to food home delivery, or restaurants turning themselves into drive-in theatres.
A few savvy restaurants, devoid of customers and looking for new ways to bring in business without putting people in danger, found the logical intersection of nostalgia, social distancing, and good eating: turning their parking lots into drive-in movie theaters[…]
The classic drive-in theater is having a moment during the pandemic, too (and the New York Times is on it), but with only around 300 facilities in the country, few people can take advantage of this prime way to watch movies on the big screen without sharing space with strangers. So restaurants, as they so often do, have stepped in to find a way to keep people entertained and well-fed.
In Omaha, The Corner Kick brought out about 35 cars to their parking lot earlier this month—some people in their cars, others perched in their trunk with the tailgate open, all watching The Three Amigos on three different screens on the side of the building, with the audio broadcast into cars via FM radio. After a successful first run, they’ve since made movie night a weekly event; this week will be their fourth.
This Saturday, Ajo Al’s, a group of Mexican restaurants in Arizona, took the concept for a test run, setting up inflatable screens in each location’s parking lot and showing the Pixar movie Coco to guests, with all cars parked six feet apart. It’s not exactly the blast from the past of 1950s drive-in theaters, where concession stands doubled as social hubs and people perched on mattresses in truck beds, but it’s a version that adapts an old tradition to the difficult modern circumstances—now with takeout tacos[…]
Houston restaurant The Butler House[…]have now evolved to offering “Vintage nights” that combine old movies with wine tastings. Servers deliver Malbec short ribs and the paired wines to the car, wine reps walk guests through the pours, and films like Some Like It Hot show on the big screen.
In fact, the drive-in as a haven from epidemic disease goes right back to its inception. When drive-ins opened in the 1930s, polio was a devastating disease with no vaccine. Drive-ins marketed themselves as entertainment that kept kids safe from exposure to flu and polio.
Meanwhile, some theatres are also innovating to survive.
Now that both of his theaters have temporarily gone dark due to the coronavirus crisis, [Mark] O’Meara is still doing what he does best: serving popcorn, and trying to ensure that his customers and his workers are taken care of. Cinema Arts is streaming the films that it would’ve been showing on its six screens—it gets half the money from the purchase of each in-home screening—and the University Mall Theatre is currently selling bags of large popcorn to go.
“Hey Everybody – to ‘stay afloat’ we are going to start a ‘curbside’ popcorn to go side business – JUST $3.00 for our LARGE popcorn (take out only) – if you call us, we will bring it out to your car for you!!!” the theater wrote on its Facebook page[…]
O’Meara has been working the curbside concessions stand too, because he’s worried about what will happen if he can’t pay his employees. “I have a lot of kids working here that make a living on a shoestring, and I can’t pay that well,” O’Meara told Variety. “They can’t afford to lose more than one or two shifts a week, and I don’t know what to do.”
Typical heartless capitalist, trying to make money however he can and keep paying his employees and providing for his customers.
A ‘compassionate’ and ’empathic’ socialist would have just shut everything down, thrown everyone out of work and made them rely on whatever rations the state deigns to hand out. It’s the ‘kind’ thing to do, apparently.
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