Silence is Golden

This past weekend my brother and I went to the movies after a long time. Our usual summer ritual was continued when we went for an afternoon show of "Spider-Man 3" hoping that seeing as how "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End" had just opened, the rush for "Spider-Man 3" would be less. Much to our delight the theatre was only half full so it was looking like it was going to be a near private showing; that's the t ype of show that we like! Neither my brother nor I ever mind when there are other people in the theatre, in some cases it's a lot more fun that way, but there are times when it can get annoying. In this case, what started out as fun turned a bit annoying after a while.

With a movie like "Spider-Man 3" you can expect there to be kids but I didn't realize just how many kids would be in attendance. There were about 4 kids strategically placed around the theatre and as kids are wont to do, during any scene where character exposition was occuring or there was no sign of Spider-Man, they would begin to talk and whine and stamp their feet and ask for food or ask to go potty. Now there's nothing wrong with that; I mean I would like it if the kid could go to the bathroom too. There's nothing worse than going to a movie and sitting in a wet seat and hoping it's someone's spilled soda and not someone's urine or vomit or something. But regardless, the fact that this was a PG-13 movie and the fact that all of the kids in the theatre had yet to hit the age of 7 had me surprised. What surprised me a bit more was that the parents of these kids didn't try to keep them quiet when they got loud and noisy.

Then again maybe they considered it payback for the person in our theatre who left her phone on despite several annoucements before the movie to please switch off phones. I can understand the need to keep it on if you're a doctor or James Bond but if you're talking with your girlfriend about the movie you're watching in the movie theatre, that's just a bit much. I remember when we went to see the original "Matrix" movie. The same thing; we had waited weeks to see the film and when we finally did, ten minutes into the movie, some idiot answers his cell phone and begins talking to his friend describing the scene over the phone. I guess some people reverse the phrase home theatre and make it theatre home when they're in public.

All these things can be annoying but Regal Cinemas is testing out a new feature which can help work on these issues. How? Well, the theatres will soon implement a pager-type-device which will allow patrons to alert theatre employees about problems and request their assistance. A pager will go off with the manager who will be able to respond to the request for assistance. No longer will moviegoers have to sacrifice part of their moviegoing experience to go and get help when the film is out of focus or some ruffians are causing a ruckus. Plus it will add an air of anonymity to the complaining process. I remember going to see a movie premiere and even before the film started, a group of people were being quite noisy and boisterous. A person seated a few seats away from me immediately got up and went to get the manager.

A few minutes later this fellow triumphantly returned with the manager and security guard. The manager proceeded to inform the people in the theatre that someone (gee... i wonder who?) had complained that some people (again... I wonder who?) were making noise and being rude. The manager stuck around for about ten minutes and the security guard sat facing backwards right in front of the troublemakers. Still, after the guard left the noisy kids began again and this time they also targeted some of their jibes at the guy who went to get the manager. At least now there will be another way to deal with the situation.

Some argue that this is overkill and not necessary; I argue that it is becoming necessary. Not being a parent I can't speak from experience about keeping kids quiet when they're antsy but when you have a kid kicking your seat or generally being a nuisance and the parents sit blissfully ignorant of it, it can be annoying. Same goes for people talking on the phone or making excessive noise during a movie. People argue that it is akin to having 'big brother' watching over your shoulder. Perhaps, but perhaps if people were a bit more considerate of other people then this wouldn't even be a consideration.