Masonic Movie Nights
Squared Circle
"Good Artists borrow from other artists.
Great Artists steal from them outright."
That quote, or versions of it, have been attributed to a large number of people. Steve Jobs attributed it to Picasso, who may or may not have said it. Igor Stravinsky expressed a similar statement, along with T.S. Elliot, Lionel Trilling, William Faulkener, etc.
Commentator C. E. M. Joad has my favorite variant:
"Whereas in Europe the height of originality is genius,
in America the height of originality is skill in concealing origins."
Well on this topic I won't be concealing any origins, simply giving correct attribution to the originator of the idea and boldly proclaiming that I stole it outright for my time in the East of Neponset Valley Royal Arch Chapter.
I can't be 100% sure when I first went with a Masonic group to watch a Marvel movie, but I know it was at least as far back as Captain America: Civil War. Since that time, it became a tradition to see every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie possible as a group.
True opening night had been the tradition(Thursday night of opening weekend), often going promptly after a lodge meeting because they often opened on 1st or 4th Thursdays(thus happening after Rural or Delta Lodges' regular meetings).
Having enjoyed this very much, and looking for a more regular enjoyable event to offer to Neponset Valley Chapter during my time in the East, I simply piggybacked onto this and also included some other movies of blockbuster-type quality.
Neither I, nor the brother that started the gatherings for the 8th Masonic District were ever the first to organize movie attendance as a Masonic activity, I would certainly encourage any Lodge WM or Brother looking to add a new-to-them Lodge/District Event to look into this.
The main difficulty is in getting side by side tickets(to facilitate going as a group and preferably get the best seats possible for the brethren). This is a secret I won't write about here, but you can reach out to me and I'll pass along that secret as it was to me.