The other night, I was up 'til 4:00 in the morning swapping work/war stories with my best friend. He manages an AMC movie theatre in Ahwatukee (though he previously managed the AMC in downtown Phoenix), and he expressively ranted about Dear John opening up this weekend. It had nothing to do with the movie necessarily, he said it wasn't a terrible movie when he screened it, but of course there was enormous potential for frustrating circumstances since this is the most scream-worthy movie that has come out since New Moon. Hundreds of young teenagers and Channing Tatum, all in the same movie theatre? I'm glad I stayed away. (Not from the Channing Tatum part, but that's getting off track.)
Anywho, Zak, my best friend, told me about how before one of the first showings of Dear John, he did that thing that managers do sometimes in movie theatres and got in front of the audience to review the rules: Keep your cell phone away, keep talking and disruptive behaviors to a minimum, etc. He had them repeating these back to him like they were young children, which I wish I could have seen, but the audience had a good reason to cooperate after Zak explained that if any one were breaking any of these simple rules he would kick them out without a refund. The tough part was over, he thought, since he hated public speaking, but as soon as the lights went down and the movie began, he saw at least 20 faces light up because they pulled out their cell phones. As he promised, he kicked them out. He left to take care of other business, but the movie wasn't halfway over when an adult came up to him and explained how many of the people in the theatre were being disruptive. Sure enough, Zak walked in and quite a few of the audience members were being rowdy and yelling at the screen, mocking the film. By the time he could get it sorted out, Zak had told nearly three rows of misbehaving kids to leave the theatre.
A half an hour after that, some middle-aged people walk up to him and start yelling at him, "Are you the manager?! Why did you kick out my kid? He is an honor role student at (insert prestigious school in a good part of town that costs a lot of money), he is on the Dean's List, he participates in sports... He would have done nothing wrong!" Of course, instead of listening and accepting the fact that their "perfect" kid was acting out and ruining two hundred other people's movie experience, they threatened to sue the theatre, to go over Zak's head.
So, as the title says, this was just another day at the movies for Zak.
Why I wanted to talk about this in my blog was so I could ponder why people behave the way they do in movie theatres. I'm not just talking about the kids causing a ruckus, but why do people walk in feeling superior to the employees and management that runs their entertainment hub and attempt to strike fear into the individual's livelihoods (I've lost track of how many times Zak has told me that people say that they will make sure he is fired, for silly reasons too)? Why do people enter dark theatres and play on their cell phones rather than watch the movie they paid nine dollars for? Why do teenagers think that the best way they can spend their Friday nights is finding the cheesiest chick flick and proceeding to mock and ruin it for others?
Perhaps a couple of you will have insights, or even better, personal experiences. Have you been the victim to rude moviegoers, or have you been the "fucking asshole"?
Hopefully, when I see Percy Jackson next week it will be a pleasant, asshole-less experience. I'll be crossing my fingers.
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It's funny, just last week I had a simmilar experience. While seeing Edge of Darkness a group of highschool students holding water bottles clearly full of vodka got in line ahead of me. I bet my boyfriend they were going to annoy the hell out of us. Sure enough they were shouting things at the screen ended up getting kicked out 20 mins into the movie. They then proceeded to stand at the side of the theater and yell at the manager that he was a loser working at a movie theater and didn't have the right to kick them out. I really think its a maturity factor. Its not too often you see a group of 30 year olds being kicked out for being disruptive :)
ReplyDeleteMy friends and I have been the assholes before but we've calmed down with age and really only say anything to each other if the movie really deserves it.
ReplyDeleteI do remember once when my friends and I were sitting quietly at the end of a row before the previews even started and a girl from the theater told us to quiet down because some high schoolers were making a ruckus in the middle of the same row. It's times like this when I can see the perspective of theater employees power tripping.
Regardless of whether or not the movie deserves it, do the other audience members deserve it?
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