Black Friday has lost its charm

Black Friday used to be something of a rite of passage. Children were once left alone as placeholders in line at Circuit City while parents shopped for newly released iPods and DVDs. College kids hauled generators to the local Best Buy and literally camped out overnight for a shot at one of about 15 Wii gaming consoles at 6 a.m.

It was a weird tradition, but it was an experience. Something about finding every season of “House” 50 percent off brought friends and families together. Plus, when else would you see the entire population of your town out and about before dawn?

Now, to put it bluntly, Black Friday shopping is lame. If anything, it puts a strain on families trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner together since it generally starts on Thursday at about 3pm.

Not only is it wrong for any unnecessary work to happen on a holiday, it’s not even worth it anymore. Black Friday deals used to be the Super Bowl commercials of shopping — for one magical day each year it wasn’t an annoyance, rather it was something to look forward to. Microwaves were free with every purchase. Stocking stuffers were just stacked in barrels around the local Target with a sign saying “Free if you can make it to the door without getting mugged.” It was awesome.

Now the poor cashiers at Walmart have to clock in Thursday night so you can buy your dumb ugly Christmas sweater and some cheap wrapping paper, when you should all be at home in a comfortable food coma.

You’ve probably seen a good amount of social media posts about how it’s bad that big mean corporations are forcing employees to work on holidays instead of just being patient and leaving Black Friday alone. While that’s certainly the most egregious aspect of Black Friday, the trend that bugs me somewhat irrationally is this idea that the experience can be reproduced without packing into the family van while it’s still dark outside and listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack on the way downtown.

Black Friday isn’t the only regular offender. Midnight showings for movies were inexplicably moved to like 7:30 p.m. a few years ago, as if that was supposed to be cool with everyone. It’s not.

The beauty of the true midnight showing was the hilarious, oft-intoxicated crowd that would show up and wait for hours in line just to see Pacific Rim before anyone else. The late showtime attracted a particular group of people who made the entire viewing experience fun — people who would laugh harder, cheer louder, throw more candy at the screen and so on.

I get that in the eyes of cinemas and shopping malls, trying to replicate these cool experiences for more customers is how they make their money. But you just can’t replicate what’s supposed to be a unique experience by making it more available to people. Black Friday has managed to hold onto everything that makes it terrible without any of the positives that used to give it charm.

— Logan Jones is a junior majoring in journalism. He’s pretty sure local theaters don’t even show movies later than like 10 p.m., which is just the weakest thing ever. Contact him at Logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu or on Twitter @Logantj.