I used to love going to the movies. But lately, a trip to the movie theater fills me with a sense of dread because I know it's going to be accompanied by a confrontation with someone over their lack of theater etiquette and complete and utter disregard for their fellow man. Going to the movies should make you feel excited, not anxious.
Lack of movie theater etiquette is not a new phenomenon. People have been complaining about loud snackers and talkers in movies for decades, and while those continue to be issues, smartphones and smartwatches have added a hellish new way for people to ruin movies for others in the 21st century. Somehow, I've managed to avoid people looking at their phones during movies until just recently. In fact, my unfortunate encounters with people with no movie theater etiquette is a relatively recent phenomenon, coinciding with the rise of box office profits in a post-COVID world. More "people" are going to the movies again, which is great, but spending years streaming everything at home has seemingly made them forget how to act in public.
Smartphones have been my personal biggest headache at the movies lately. People feel like they need to look at Snapchat during the movies. People feel like they need to read their text messages during the movies. I used to wait for someone to look at their phone a few times before I would get up and ask them, politely, to stop, but now as soon as I see a screen when the previews are over, I immediately go and ask them to put their phones away. Every time people seem absolutely astonished that they were perceived by someone else in public and completely flabbergasted that I would dare ask them to think about other people, but no one has ever said no. They just stare at me, slackjawed, wide-eyed, and afraid of the 5'8" mountain of a man that has reminded them that, yes, they exist in the real world and their actions impact those around them.
پێش ئەوەی کات تەواو بێت سیلۆیەتەکان بناسە.
Smartwatches are becoming a problem, too. I do not understand the smartwatch phenomenon, but if you absolutely need to have a screen tied to your wrist at all times, please utilize its theater mode settings. When I went to see Jackass: Best and Last, a dude's smartwatch lit up every single time he shoveled a handful of popcorn in his mouth, which was seemingly never-ending, like the bucket was made of the same cosmic material as Mary Poppins' purse. Eventually, I asked him if he could please turn his watch off. He fiddled with it for five minutes, couldn't figure out how to operate the device he paid way too much for, and ultimately took it off for the remainder of the movie.
Technology has definitely added new wrinkles to the lack of theater etiquette, but the old classics are still going strong. We had to leave one showing because of a group of kids who were clearly not interested in the movie at all and instead wanted to run around, jump on the seats, and shriek like banshees. At The End of Oak Street, some guy behind me wouldn't stop rattling off dinosaur facts every time one of them came on the screen. At Zach Cregger's excellent Resident Evil movie, some guy thought he'd impress his date by making a joke after every single scene. If we want your commentary, we'll buy the DVD.
Movie disruptors should be jailed, and their children removed by the state.
One of the most baffling situations I've ever seen, and this is perhaps the one time I experienced major disruption at a movie theater pre-COVID, my wife and I went to a showing of Annabelle: Creation. These two women brought a baby with them, and as one might imagine, the baby wouldn't stop crying during the showing of the loud demonic doll movie. They attempted to comfort it by walking up and down the aisles, bouncing it in their arms, shh-ing it. Eventually, one of them walked out of the theater with the baby in tow and came back five minutes later, without the baby.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/movie-theater-etiquette-is-dead/
