Becky splashed into the couch’s cream colored pillows, its cushions threatened to swallow her whole. She kicked her feet rapidly and snatched the thin blanket to her chin, “Sara hurry, you’re going to love this movie!”
“Be there in a minute, I’m just grabbing the popcorn!” Sara yelled as she used her elbow to slam the microwave door shut. Kernels of popcorn bounced on the hardwood floor as she quickly shuffled to the living room. She flopped down next to Becky and offered her the bowl of popcorn.
Becky smiled, and clawed some popcorn. Her thumb compressed the triangle on the controller, “are you ready for this?” Bass erupted from the sound bar and Sara flinched, but they both settled down as the film progressed.
A quarter of the way through the movie Becky nudged Sara, “this is my favorite part”, she whispered. Sara’s eyes never left the screen, but she nodded. The motion picture’s scenes were rich with imagery, symbolism, and intrigue, and they stirred imperceptible, subconscious sentiments Sara wasn’t aware she was expressing or sharing.
A microscopic chip embedded deep into the television’s central processing unit whirred to life. Becky’s face twisted into a state of horror as her favorite scene in her favorite movie changed before her eyes. Becky was halfway to her room when she shouted, “Sara run!”; Sara didn’t even know Becky was gone, but she shot up at the sound of her voice and instinctively followed.
“What’s wrong!” Becky’s parents shouted as they barged through the bedroom door. Sara stood next to the bed confused as Becky squeezed her knees and rocked back and forth crying. Becky’s cotton sleeve slowly slid across her face, wiping tears away from her damp cheeks.
“Something happened, the movie… it changed.”
“Changed how?” her mother inquired.
Collecting herself, Becky took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “The movie scene, it started out normally and then the actors behaved in a new and completely different way, like their script changed mid shoot.”
Heather’s eyes narrowed on her husband of twenty years, she noticed his face, it wore the oh too familiar ‘oh yeah’ expression. “Jim, what’s this about…?”
The question snapped Jim’s reverie, he blinked a bit startled. “There was an inaugural sale for this new state of the art television…the deal was too good to pass up.
Slowly Heather’s arms crossed and her foot began tapping a measured and steady rhythm on the floor. “What’s so ‘state of the art’ about it?”
Jim cleared his throat and glanced down, “they said something about sentiment analysis…the TV responds in real time to what you’re feeling the moment you see a scene. I guess it changes what you’re watching in real time based on what the viewers are feeling”. Jim flashed a sheepish grin, “I thought it was a sale’s pitch. I’m sorry Becky and Sara, I should have mentioned it.”
Sara smiled, “I loved it, I didn’t know that’s what I wanted to see, until I was seeing it.”