Movie tickets are too expensive these days for anyone to have to put up with rudeness at the cineplex. Yet, it’s common to find men, women and teenagers acting a fool in theaters across North America.
Someone brought their screaming baby to a theater where the Sci-Fi action film Insurgent was playing. Miles away at another theater, one woman played video games with the volume turned up on her cell phone during a showing of Marvel’s The Avengers; as if other people in nearby seats didn’t get enough of her earlier antics including scene-by-scene commentary with another moviegoer about The Hulk’s size.
Then there are those folks who recorded the big screen using their smartphone (Um… Isn’t that illegal?) when the martial arts action adventure Falcon Rising was on the festival circuit. Just a few states away, someone pulled the fire alarm during an evening showing of the romantic comedy Couples Retreat. It was the type of foolishness that caused movie goers to be evacuated until firefighters could determine it was a false alarm. One guy at a theater where the comedy Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain was playing decided to catch up on his Zzzz and started snoring so loudly that you couldn’t tell if it was part of the jokes or not.
A is for AmericaThese real life occurrences of individuals who didn’t think to be considerate for others around them include instances of people deliberately disrupting everyone else’s movie going experience. Even in everyday activities, it’s the simple things that really matter in the difference between whether we hold being respectful toward others in high regard or not. The foolishness going on at movie theaters in America is a prime example of how our “civilized” nation still has a long way to go in being the model of what we collectively like to deem good behavior.
What's the most annoying incident YOU ever experienced or witnessed at a movie theater?