My Moviegoing Pet Peeves

The Flavorwire blog put up a list of what not to do when going to the movies. This came about after news about a patron who was kicked out of a movie theater for texting, even though she was warned repeatedly to stop. Well, that got the wheels in my brain turning. (Uh-oh, you must be saying now). So, here are a list of my moviegoing pet peeves.

Comments about the action/characters/plot during the movie
In December 2010, I took my nephew to see Tangled. In one scene Rapunzel’s boyfriend is mortally wounded by the evil stepmother. As he lay dying, one person in the theater blurred out, “He can’t die. This is Disney.” Yes, I was thinking that too, still that comment ruined the suspense. Of course, there are films where audience participation is a part of the experience (i.e. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, campy B-movies) and, I admit it, I blurted out “Do something!” during a key scene in Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader looked on as Luke Skywalker was being zapped by the Emperor. Still, loads of people worked very hard to make the film you are watching believeable. Also, loads of people gave up their hard earned cash for a few hours of escape from their troubles.  Don’t ruin it for both parties. During the movie, keep your comments to yourself. Loads of people will be very grateful.

Overpriced snacks
Yes, the movie theaters make their money on the concessions, not on the box office. Still, do they have to charge so much for a small tub of popcorn and a drink. Also, do they have to sell such big tubs of popcorn and buckets of soft drink? Consuming oversized portions is one reason why so many are obese in the U.S. So, theater companies, redo your product mix. Go easy on the portions and how about offering some healthy snacks for a change, such as granola, dried fruit, maybe even sushi would be nice.

Sticky Floors
This peeve is directed at both movie theater management and the moviegoer. To the moviegoer, if you must get the supersized soft drink and the humungous tub of popcorn special, please be careful. Some of us, present company included, like to get moderately dressed up for the movies (nice shirt, nice pair of jeans or khakis, nice shoes). We don’t like having to either wade through sticky and crunchy floors, or fall victim to someone else’s carelessness and mess up our nice shirt, jeans, khakis and shoes. To the movie theater management, please remind your staff on the importance of keeping the movie theater clean. Not only will doing that improve the moviegoing experience for the patron, but it could also reduce the risk of lawsuits from people who slip, fall and injure themselves on sticky and crunchy floors.

Well, those are my pet peeves. What about you, gentle reader? Do you have any pet peeves regarding the moviegoing experience that you would like to share? Leave a comment and if I get enough peeves, I’ll share them in a future entry.

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No Txtg @ Movies (No Texting at Movies)

Recently, I read an article about a theater chain in Arizona, Harkens Theaters, that started a campaign to stop texting while the movie is playing. The theater has posters placed throughout its lobbies requesting that patrons not send text messages during the movie. A moviegoer who was interviewed thought it is no big deal to text during a movie. Of course, management had another take on the issue, when the director of marketing for the chain stated that while many think by not talking they are being considerate, the glowing screen on a person’s mobile device can be a distraction to other moviegoers.

Well, that got me thinking. (Uh oh, you must be saying now.) Call me a crank, but what ever happened to going to see a movie and paying attention to what was going on the screen? Isn’t that the reason why people pay $8.00 and up for a movie ticket? Most people don’t have positions whereby they have to be in constant contact, so it won’t hurt to have the device set on silent or vibrate and not look at it during the feature presentation.

Multitasking may seem like an efficient way to do our daily tasks but quality both in terms of output and input suffers. In other words, that text you sent while watching the movie could end up being gibberish to the person who receives it, so you’ll have to call the person to explain what you just texted (much to the chagrin to your fellow moviegoers).

Research has shown that Americans see, hear or read 100,000 words a day. That means loads of information is being tossed at us and most of it is trivial. So how about paying attention to one thing at a time? Not only can a person make an intelligent choice as to whether the info is worth his or her time, but paying attention to one thing at a time is less stressful that paying attention to 20 things at once. You are less likely to forget something, waste time or get into an accident if you are focused one thing at a time. As we all know, forgetting things, wasting time and getting into accidents are very stressful.

After all, isn’t getting away from it all, at least for a few hours, one of the joys of going to see a movie in the first place? If so, why send a text during the movie’s good part?

Sources:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/campuschatter/2010/10/theaters-take-a-stand-against-texting.html

Read, Katy, “May I Have My Attention Please?” AARP Magazine July/August 2010, pgs 28-31.