6 ms·

Movie-Theater Behavior Has Gone Off the Reels

34 points by lxm 3y ago

archo 3y ago
https://archive.is/h4Aug https://archive.is/h4Aug
paulgb 3y ago
Question for frequent movie-goers: is this a trend in general, or just an artifact of Barbenheimer being a social media phenomenon? (All of the anecdotes in the article come from the two movies) The evidence given that it is a trend, pre-show prods to turn off your phone, feels like it has been happening as long as personal cell phones were a thing.
- wfriesen 3y ago
  Those prods have existed since phones, but it was previously about not having a ringtone blare out. Now the backlash is against people scrolling tiktok/whatever during a movie. I haven't been to a movie theatre in a while so I can't say if it's a phenomenon but that would be infuriating
  - trubeliever 3y ago
    [dead]
- elthran 3y ago
  It's also not just movies - there's been lots of reporting and commentary about bad behavior in London's West End theatres this year too. https://theface.com/culture/why-are-theatre-audiences-getting-rowdier-than-ever-magic-mike-dirty-dancing-west-end-alcohol-classism-money https://theface.com/culture/why-are-theatre-audiences-gettin...
- nottorp 3y ago
  > Barbenheimer being a social media phenomenon On a tangent, those two are titles that i'll never see even if they stream on something i subscribe to, because the enormous hype has completely put me off.
- moonshinefe 3y ago
  It's been a problem since smartphones became widespread and people got addicted to them. And quite frankly the theater workers don't get paid enough to enforce the rules. Just one of many reasons going to movies isn't really worth it anymore, unless you're really in the mindset you want to go and having lights shining / jostling around in your peripheral vision won't annoy you.
  - sumtechguy 3y ago
    Yeah for any movies where that happened usually the people around them doing it corrected the behavior. One movie ages ago when cell was sort of new a dude just flipped the bad boy open and bragged about how he was at a movie and talking on the phone openly. The rain of popcorn and m&m's shut him down fairly quickly. 'dude turn it off' 'whatever' candy rain. Sort of sucked for me as I was a couple of rows in front of the guy and everyone's aim was not exact. That was almost 20 years ago.
- wirthjason 3y ago
  I’m trying to get my young daughter into the movies and have seen quite a few this year. We see movies a couple weeks after their release and go mid-week (a 7pm-ish show after I’m done with work). Often the theater is empty. When there have been people nobody used a cell phone or did behavior that was distracting. (BTW bringing a 4yr old to the movies usually means we are the annoying group, like when my daughter singing the songs in the Little Mermaid.) So my guess is that this behavior is likely limited to opening weekends at popular movies where telling someone you were there by posting a photo on social media is part of the experience for them.
- Tangurena2 3y ago
  It is just an artifact of the WSJ complaining about "kids these days". In the past, the WSJ has whined about the internet, television, rock & roll, radio and telephones.
  - joenot443 3y ago
    I read the WSJ "whining" as more of an observation about evolving social trends than anything else. The world changes, people notice, and journalists write about it - do you feel clever noting that the WSJ has, in the past, written about other evolving trends? Circling it all into just "kids these days" type discourse is pretty reductive and reddit-brained, I think.
- kevinmchugh 3y ago
  I went to the new mission Impossible on the Sunday that barbenheimer came out. Well behaved, mostly full audience. I saw a phone come out once, briefly
- BirAdam 3y ago
  I go to movies somewhat often and the issue is far more common than it used to be. Oddly, it isn’t constant. Sometimes, you see a film and everyone is well behaved. Other times, people are terrible. I’ve found little reason for it.
everdrive 3y ago
Could be all sorts of reasons: - Fewer people are going to movies, so the people which are left hold different preferences - Changing demographics - potentially just a youth culture thing. I don't know what young people are up to these days, but _more_ phone use in inappropriate situations certainly doesn't sound surprising
- rightbyte 3y ago
  It might be a self enforcing feedback loop. If people that are annoying think annoying behavoiur is OK to a greater extent (watch phones, talk to the screen or others etc), as the audience get more annoying, they are not driven away to the same degree and the problem gets worse.
  - WeylandYutani 3y ago
    Young people have always been loud and disruptive. I think it has something to do with their brain development. And put 20 of them together in a enclosed venue and there's chaos.
    - Nextgrid 3y ago
      The difference is that back in the day, harmful/disruptive behavior was merely "fun", where as nowadays it's actually profitable thanks to social media. Back in the day people would grow out of it, now they have no incentive to if they actually gain money (from ads) or notoriety from doing it.
    - rightbyte 3y ago
      I has gotten way worse since I was a kid or 20s. And don't quote Aristoteles on me. I wouldn't even say kids are the problem. Rather some self-identified low class culture.
- catchnear4321 3y ago
  youth culture is shifting a bit due to how early many kids get their first screen, or cellular modem. “acting out” is age “appropriate” and is nothing new, but social media has caused a form of escalation. where once you might have heard rumors of that brash young man that did the wild thing a few towns over, and happened to survive, now there are “celebrities” that have built entire careers off of their initial public stupidity, and droves of youths eager to follow in their footsteps. because it might be lucrative, or at least cool.
2-718-281-828 3y ago
it is annoying and has been for a while. wouldn't even consider visiting a movie during opening week or anything even remotely mainstream. but even then you can have bad luck. i'm super easily offended by disrespectful behavior. for a while i vaped some (very small amount of) weed. that would sedate me comfortably and i wouldn't care about the plebs. also made a lot of movies more interesting. same with concerts. it's unbelievably annoying to have a majority of the audience filming with screen on full brightness - many people don't even seem to know you can dim the display. but even with my sensitivities you can still go to the movies or concerts - but you have to be a bit more selective about when and where.
- trubeliever 3y ago
  [dead]
K0balt 3y ago
It’s not just movie theatres, it’s just what makes in noticeable. The sub-minute endorphin loops that the attention economy has created have created a subclass of dependent people that are incapable of feeling well without constant interaction with their devices. It’s addiction in its most classical presentation. We have effectively removed a huge slice of the population from the pool of potentially productive thought in favor of candy crush and ads. Unfortunately, those people, though they now contribute less than they otherwise would to a functioning society, still consume the same (or even more) resources. This is one of the many externalised costs of the attention economy and we are all poorer for it. We should consider the option to liquidate companies that derive their profits from the erosion of cultural resources and at the cost public well being. The health, societal, and socioeconomic implications of tight endorphin loops are well known, yet we continue to tolerate the pushers, saying it’s the parents or the individuals responsibility (it is, but still, should we tolerate companies that seek to do harm to people for profit?)
Mizoguchi 3y ago
I rather have phones in a movie than popcorn. Having people next to you stuffing their faces with smelly greasy popcorn is the most disgusting and annoying behavior in a theater. The smell, the sound of the bag, the chewing and the licking of the greasy fingers, nothing is better at ruining a movie than that.
- ilaksh 3y ago
  I agree on licking fingers because that's disgusting, and maybe chewing loudly, but popcorn is very traditional in movies. Interesting point though.
- mnw21cam 3y ago
  Last time I went to see a film there were only about ten people, and yet I had the twin delights of a phone screen on full brightness and sweet wrappers rustling constantly.
- theshrike79 3y ago
  You might have Misophonia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia I do agree that crinkly candy wrappers and noisy chips in a movie are annoying, but not extremely so. But I do get irrationally angry when people talk during movies - to a degree that makes it impossible for me to watch MST3k[0] at all. I like the premise, the jokes are funny etc - but I just can't tolerate people talking over a movie :D [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000
  - Mizoguchi 3y ago
    Nah, I think I just dislike humans behaving like pigs. There must be some strong correlation between buying large buttery bags of popcorn and manners on the table. I would also be annoyed if I was sitting next to people like that in a restaurant talking and chewing with their mouth full, eating with their hands or dropping utensils on the plate, but the proximity in the theater and the length of the movie makes it so much worse (those XL bags and large sodas can last two hours). I rarely go to the theaters in the US anymore for that reason, people in general are just gross, perhaps in other countries is different.
daggersandscars 3y ago
Tips for avoiding this that have worked for me: Go early in the morning. The 10:00 am Sunday showing of Oppenheimer is likely full of movie buffs. Go midweek. An emptier theater reduces the impact of phone screens if someone uses one. Go to nicer theaters with higher numbers of staff. Go to niche theaters. The non-profit place with the weird snacks is likely filled with movie buffs. Go to classic movies you missed the first time around.
- vladvasiliu 3y ago
  > Go to niche theaters. The non-profit place with the weird snacks is likely filled with movie buffs. > Go to classic movies you missed the first time around. YMMV. I did this in a nice little theater with a single room. They didn't even sell any kind of snack, just drinks, if that. Went to see an older movie, but a fairly long one (children of paradise). It was a nicer day, too, so not one where people didn't have much else to do. Cue a bunch of insufferable twats eating a truckload of chips during the whole show, complete with the noisy bags and everything.
- theshrike79 3y ago
  I pay extra for a theatre that serves alcohol you can bring to the movie with you. That drops out everyone under 18 right at the door and helps a lot.
  - citizenkeen 3y ago
    Yeah, 21 and over in my country, and I almost exclusively go to alcohol theaters because it self selects into an older crowd willing to pay a premium.
  - scruple 3y ago
    ArcLight in SoCal was the best movie viewing experience I've ever had. My wife and I, when we were dating, would go to opening nights probably a dozen times a year for different movies. It was 18+, reserved seating, and they had strict policies about disturbing the movie and would enforce them very quickly, with employees standing in the theater for the duration of the movie. Sadly, they went out of business (the pandemic crushed them) and I am not sure that anything has really replaced them. Actually, it looks like the one in Sherman Oaks has survived relatively tact under new management (now known as The Culver Theater) but I haven't been so cant comment on the experience.
theshrike79 3y ago
I loved going to the movies during COVID when they were finally allowed to open. Two empty seats to both sides, one empty row in front and back. Zero groups of teenagers or loud people, just movie buffs or people who want to watch a movie in peace.
lameyes 3y ago
Vibrant theater-goers?
acheron 3y ago
That’s why you should see movies at Alamo.
- aquaticsunset 3y ago
  I fully agree with this. I don't love their skyrocketing food prices, but I'll still choose to go there for any movie I care about. I know for certain people there won't be disruptive.
  - thechao 3y ago
    Which is weird, because the original Alamo, down by 6th street, was pretty notorious for the roughhousing of its patrons — although, this was in the late 90s. We still go to the Slaughter & Lamar locations, and it really is a different crowd.
- dabluecaboose 3y ago
  I saw Oppenheimer at Alamo with movie-talkers and cell-users next to me, and they still put the entirety of the onus on the customer to report the bad actors. I don't know how I thought they'd do it, but I was sufficiently put off by the prospect of considering myself a Karen that I didn't (also the latent fear that the server would take my ticket, read it, and immediately turn to the people next to me and tell them I reported them)
robertlagrant 3y ago
I wrote a Tweet[0] once to cover this as well. Didn't quite get the reach the wsj has, but at least I felt better. [0] https://twitter.com/robertlagrant/status/609373147310256128 https://twitter.com/robertlagrant/status/609373147310256128
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
purpleblue 3y ago
This is why I have stopped going to theaters and wait to either pirate the movie or buy it on iTunes.
imchillyb 3y ago
> “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” -Socrates This isn’t a new problem. Every generation believes the next generation is shite.
- keiferski 3y ago
  Socrates never said this and the quote is spurious. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehave/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehave/
- fennecfoxy 3y ago
  That doesn't make for a valid argument in this context.
galleywest200 3y ago
I have found a theater near me that disallows entry to anybody under 21. It was quieter, do recommend checking one out.
js8 3y ago
I don't think it's a problem with young people, I think it's caused by the customer-first mentality (and also reducing labor), which makes theaters reluctant to throw out misbehaving people, and also allow them to bring food. In other words, it's done for profit, so it's something WSJ should celebrate.
fennecfoxy 3y ago
Sounds like partial blame can be assigned to head empty smooth brain tiktok clout-seekers who don't _usually_ go to the movies, but are going en masse because TT, same thing with the grimace shake BS. Gen z doesn't understand how fucking easy it is to market to them - all Macca's had to do is seed a tiktok meme where you drink a grimace shake and then something terrible happens and BAM, tens of thousands of sales or more just bc these people want to post "their version" of the same damn thing to their TT. Let alone half of TT just seems to be "look this things looks cool buy it buy it". As the article points out things like this (at concerts etc too) have been on the rise but I would find it interesting to determine what the main source of it is. I think it's the same poison as Vine (on which people also did stupid "prank" stuff for clout) but TT seems to have a much larger audience than Vine ever did. But I think TT is just magnifying a larger, more human problem: there are some on TT that denounce the bad behaviour, but the majority of people seem to be like "ha ha is funi" when watching a video of some TT'er walking up to someone and assaulting them "it's just a prank bro". Ugh.
- andybak 3y ago
  (TT=TikTok)
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > But I think TT is just magnifying a larger, more human problem: there are some on TT that denounce the bad behaviour, but the majority of people seem to be like "ha ha is funi" when watching a video of some TT'er walking up to someone and assaulting them "it's just a prank bro". Ugh. The biggest problem is that TT is controlled by China - a nation that's classified in Western countries as anything between dangerous to outright enemy, depending on whom you ask. China has no incentive to invest into moderation more than absolutely required by laws (e.g. German NetzDG), but a political incentive to have Western nations fractured - and promoting antisocial behaviour is a pretty good way to do that.
  - PhillyPhuture 3y ago
    Oh, they moderate in China... https://www.deseret.com/2022/11/24/23467181/difference-between-tik-tok-in-china-and-the-us https://www.deseret.com/2022/11/24/23467181/difference-betwe...
aaron695 3y ago
[dead]
RajT88 3y ago
https://www.thesignaljammer.com/ https://www.thesignaljammer.com/
coliveira 3y ago
If you go to youth oriented movies in the release day, you're just asking for this kind of experience.
Balgair 3y ago
I think I'm the odd one out here. I like it a lot more when the rest of the audience is interacting with the movie, heckling, shouting, laughing, etc. Yeah, sitting on your loud phone and not watching the movie is just strange, of course. But when everyone else is engaged with the movie, it's a better experience to me.

34 points by lxm 3y ago

https://archive.is/h4Aug https://archive.is/h4Aug

Question for frequent movie-goers: is this a trend in general, or just an artifact of Barbenheimer being a social media phenomenon? (All of the anecdotes in the article come from the two movies) The evidence given that it is a trend, pre-show prods to turn off your phone, feels like it has been happening as long as personal cell phones were a thing.

wfriesen 3y ago
Those prods have existed since phones, but it was previously about not having a ringtone blare out. Now the backlash is against people scrolling tiktok/whatever during a movie. I haven't been to a movie theatre in a while so I can't say if it's a phenomenon but that would be infuriating
- trubeliever 3y ago
  [dead]
elthran 3y ago
It's also not just movies - there's been lots of reporting and commentary about bad behavior in London's West End theatres this year too. https://theface.com/culture/why-are-theatre-audiences-getting-rowdier-than-ever-magic-mike-dirty-dancing-west-end-alcohol-classism-money https://theface.com/culture/why-are-theatre-audiences-gettin...
nottorp 3y ago
> Barbenheimer being a social media phenomenon On a tangent, those two are titles that i'll never see even if they stream on something i subscribe to, because the enormous hype has completely put me off.
moonshinefe 3y ago
It's been a problem since smartphones became widespread and people got addicted to them. And quite frankly the theater workers don't get paid enough to enforce the rules. Just one of many reasons going to movies isn't really worth it anymore, unless you're really in the mindset you want to go and having lights shining / jostling around in your peripheral vision won't annoy you.
- sumtechguy 3y ago
  Yeah for any movies where that happened usually the people around them doing it corrected the behavior. One movie ages ago when cell was sort of new a dude just flipped the bad boy open and bragged about how he was at a movie and talking on the phone openly. The rain of popcorn and m&m's shut him down fairly quickly. 'dude turn it off' 'whatever' candy rain. Sort of sucked for me as I was a couple of rows in front of the guy and everyone's aim was not exact. That was almost 20 years ago.
wirthjason 3y ago
I’m trying to get my young daughter into the movies and have seen quite a few this year. We see movies a couple weeks after their release and go mid-week (a 7pm-ish show after I’m done with work). Often the theater is empty. When there have been people nobody used a cell phone or did behavior that was distracting. (BTW bringing a 4yr old to the movies usually means we are the annoying group, like when my daughter singing the songs in the Little Mermaid.) So my guess is that this behavior is likely limited to opening weekends at popular movies where telling someone you were there by posting a photo on social media is part of the experience for them.
Tangurena2 3y ago
It is just an artifact of the WSJ complaining about "kids these days". In the past, the WSJ has whined about the internet, television, rock & roll, radio and telephones.
- joenot443 3y ago
  I read the WSJ "whining" as more of an observation about evolving social trends than anything else. The world changes, people notice, and journalists write about it - do you feel clever noting that the WSJ has, in the past, written about other evolving trends? Circling it all into just "kids these days" type discourse is pretty reductive and reddit-brained, I think.
kevinmchugh 3y ago
I went to the new mission Impossible on the Sunday that barbenheimer came out. Well behaved, mostly full audience. I saw a phone come out once, briefly
BirAdam 3y ago
I go to movies somewhat often and the issue is far more common than it used to be. Oddly, it isn’t constant. Sometimes, you see a film and everyone is well behaved. Other times, people are terrible. I’ve found little reason for it.

everdrive 3y ago

Could be all sorts of reasons: - Fewer people are going to movies, so the people which are left hold different preferences - Changing demographics - potentially just a youth culture thing. I don't know what young people are up to these days, but _more_ phone use in inappropriate situations certainly doesn't sound surprising

rightbyte 3y ago
It might be a self enforcing feedback loop. If people that are annoying think annoying behavoiur is OK to a greater extent (watch phones, talk to the screen or others etc), as the audience get more annoying, they are not driven away to the same degree and the problem gets worse.
- WeylandYutani 3y ago
  Young people have always been loud and disruptive. I think it has something to do with their brain development. And put 20 of them together in a enclosed venue and there's chaos.
  - Nextgrid 3y ago
    The difference is that back in the day, harmful/disruptive behavior was merely "fun", where as nowadays it's actually profitable thanks to social media. Back in the day people would grow out of it, now they have no incentive to if they actually gain money (from ads) or notoriety from doing it.
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    I has gotten way worse since I was a kid or 20s. And don't quote Aristoteles on me. I wouldn't even say kids are the problem. Rather some self-identified low class culture.
catchnear4321 3y ago
youth culture is shifting a bit due to how early many kids get their first screen, or cellular modem. “acting out” is age “appropriate” and is nothing new, but social media has caused a form of escalation. where once you might have heard rumors of that brash young man that did the wild thing a few towns over, and happened to survive, now there are “celebrities” that have built entire careers off of their initial public stupidity, and droves of youths eager to follow in their footsteps. because it might be lucrative, or at least cool.

2-718-281-828 3y ago

it is annoying and has been for a while. wouldn't even consider visiting a movie during opening week or anything even remotely mainstream. but even then you can have bad luck. i'm super easily offended by disrespectful behavior. for a while i vaped some (very small amount of) weed. that would sedate me comfortably and i wouldn't care about the plebs. also made a lot of movies more interesting. same with concerts. it's unbelievably annoying to have a majority of the audience filming with screen on full brightness - many people don't even seem to know you can dim the display. but even with my sensitivities you can still go to the movies or concerts - but you have to be a bit more selective about when and where.

trubeliever 3y ago
[dead]

K0balt 3y ago

It’s not just movie theatres, it’s just what makes in noticeable. The sub-minute endorphin loops that the attention economy has created have created a subclass of dependent people that are incapable of feeling well without constant interaction with their devices. It’s addiction in its most classical presentation. We have effectively removed a huge slice of the population from the pool of potentially productive thought in favor of candy crush and ads. Unfortunately, those people, though they now contribute less than they otherwise would to a functioning society, still consume the same (or even more) resources. This is one of the many externalised costs of the attention economy and we are all poorer for it. We should consider the option to liquidate companies that derive their profits from the erosion of cultural resources and at the cost public well being. The health, societal, and socioeconomic implications of tight endorphin loops are well known, yet we continue to tolerate the pushers, saying it’s the parents or the individuals responsibility (it is, but still, should we tolerate companies that seek to do harm to people for profit?)

Mizoguchi 3y ago

I rather have phones in a movie than popcorn. Having people next to you stuffing their faces with smelly greasy popcorn is the most disgusting and annoying behavior in a theater. The smell, the sound of the bag, the chewing and the licking of the greasy fingers, nothing is better at ruining a movie than that.

ilaksh 3y ago
I agree on licking fingers because that's disgusting, and maybe chewing loudly, but popcorn is very traditional in movies. Interesting point though.
mnw21cam 3y ago
Last time I went to see a film there were only about ten people, and yet I had the twin delights of a phone screen on full brightness and sweet wrappers rustling constantly.
theshrike79 3y ago
You might have Misophonia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia I do agree that crinkly candy wrappers and noisy chips in a movie are annoying, but not extremely so. But I do get irrationally angry when people talk during movies - to a degree that makes it impossible for me to watch MST3k[0] at all. I like the premise, the jokes are funny etc - but I just can't tolerate people talking over a movie :D [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000
- Mizoguchi 3y ago
  Nah, I think I just dislike humans behaving like pigs. There must be some strong correlation between buying large buttery bags of popcorn and manners on the table. I would also be annoyed if I was sitting next to people like that in a restaurant talking and chewing with their mouth full, eating with their hands or dropping utensils on the plate, but the proximity in the theater and the length of the movie makes it so much worse (those XL bags and large sodas can last two hours). I rarely go to the theaters in the US anymore for that reason, people in general are just gross, perhaps in other countries is different.

daggersandscars 3y ago

Tips for avoiding this that have worked for me: Go early in the morning. The 10:00 am Sunday showing of Oppenheimer is likely full of movie buffs. Go midweek. An emptier theater reduces the impact of phone screens if someone uses one. Go to nicer theaters with higher numbers of staff. Go to niche theaters. The non-profit place with the weird snacks is likely filled with movie buffs. Go to classic movies you missed the first time around.

vladvasiliu 3y ago
> Go to niche theaters. The non-profit place with the weird snacks is likely filled with movie buffs. > Go to classic movies you missed the first time around. YMMV. I did this in a nice little theater with a single room. They didn't even sell any kind of snack, just drinks, if that. Went to see an older movie, but a fairly long one (children of paradise). It was a nicer day, too, so not one where people didn't have much else to do. Cue a bunch of insufferable twats eating a truckload of chips during the whole show, complete with the noisy bags and everything.
theshrike79 3y ago
I pay extra for a theatre that serves alcohol you can bring to the movie with you. That drops out everyone under 18 right at the door and helps a lot.
- citizenkeen 3y ago
  Yeah, 21 and over in my country, and I almost exclusively go to alcohol theaters because it self selects into an older crowd willing to pay a premium.
- scruple 3y ago
  ArcLight in SoCal was the best movie viewing experience I've ever had. My wife and I, when we were dating, would go to opening nights probably a dozen times a year for different movies. It was 18+, reserved seating, and they had strict policies about disturbing the movie and would enforce them very quickly, with employees standing in the theater for the duration of the movie. Sadly, they went out of business (the pandemic crushed them) and I am not sure that anything has really replaced them. Actually, it looks like the one in Sherman Oaks has survived relatively tact under new management (now known as The Culver Theater) but I haven't been so cant comment on the experience.

theshrike79 3y ago

I loved going to the movies during COVID when they were finally allowed to open. Two empty seats to both sides, one empty row in front and back. Zero groups of teenagers or loud people, just movie buffs or people who want to watch a movie in peace.

lameyes 3y ago

Vibrant theater-goers?

acheron 3y ago

That’s why you should see movies at Alamo.

aquaticsunset 3y ago
I fully agree with this. I don't love their skyrocketing food prices, but I'll still choose to go there for any movie I care about. I know for certain people there won't be disruptive.
- thechao 3y ago
  Which is weird, because the original Alamo, down by 6th street, was pretty notorious for the roughhousing of its patrons — although, this was in the late 90s. We still go to the Slaughter & Lamar locations, and it really is a different crowd.
dabluecaboose 3y ago
I saw Oppenheimer at Alamo with movie-talkers and cell-users next to me, and they still put the entirety of the onus on the customer to report the bad actors. I don't know how I thought they'd do it, but I was sufficiently put off by the prospect of considering myself a Karen that I didn't (also the latent fear that the server would take my ticket, read it, and immediately turn to the people next to me and tell them I reported them)

robertlagrant 3y ago

I wrote a Tweet[0] once to cover this as well. Didn't quite get the reach the wsj has, but at least I felt better. [0] https://twitter.com/robertlagrant/status/609373147310256128 https://twitter.com/robertlagrant/status/609373147310256128

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

purpleblue 3y ago

This is why I have stopped going to theaters and wait to either pirate the movie or buy it on iTunes.

imchillyb 3y ago

> “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” -Socrates This isn’t a new problem. Every generation believes the next generation is shite.

keiferski 3y ago
Socrates never said this and the quote is spurious. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehave/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehave/
fennecfoxy 3y ago
That doesn't make for a valid argument in this context.

galleywest200 3y ago

I have found a theater near me that disallows entry to anybody under 21. It was quieter, do recommend checking one out.

js8 3y ago

I don't think it's a problem with young people, I think it's caused by the customer-first mentality (and also reducing labor), which makes theaters reluctant to throw out misbehaving people, and also allow them to bring food. In other words, it's done for profit, so it's something WSJ should celebrate.

fennecfoxy 3y ago

Sounds like partial blame can be assigned to head empty smooth brain tiktok clout-seekers who don't _usually_ go to the movies, but are going en masse because TT, same thing with the grimace shake BS. Gen z doesn't understand how fucking easy it is to market to them - all Macca's had to do is seed a tiktok meme where you drink a grimace shake and then something terrible happens and BAM, tens of thousands of sales or more just bc these people want to post "their version" of the same damn thing to their TT. Let alone half of TT just seems to be "look this things looks cool buy it buy it". As the article points out things like this (at concerts etc too) have been on the rise but I would find it interesting to determine what the main source of it is. I think it's the same poison as Vine (on which people also did stupid "prank" stuff for clout) but TT seems to have a much larger audience than Vine ever did. But I think TT is just magnifying a larger, more human problem: there are some on TT that denounce the bad behaviour, but the majority of people seem to be like "ha ha is funi" when watching a video of some TT'er walking up to someone and assaulting them "it's just a prank bro". Ugh.

andybak 3y ago
(TT=TikTok)
mschuster91 3y ago
> But I think TT is just magnifying a larger, more human problem: there are some on TT that denounce the bad behaviour, but the majority of people seem to be like "ha ha is funi" when watching a video of some TT'er walking up to someone and assaulting them "it's just a prank bro". Ugh. The biggest problem is that TT is controlled by China - a nation that's classified in Western countries as anything between dangerous to outright enemy, depending on whom you ask. China has no incentive to invest into moderation more than absolutely required by laws (e.g. German NetzDG), but a political incentive to have Western nations fractured - and promoting antisocial behaviour is a pretty good way to do that.
- PhillyPhuture 3y ago
  Oh, they moderate in China... https://www.deseret.com/2022/11/24/23467181/difference-between-tik-tok-in-china-and-the-us https://www.deseret.com/2022/11/24/23467181/difference-betwe...

aaron695 3y ago

[dead]

RajT88 3y ago

https://www.thesignaljammer.com/ https://www.thesignaljammer.com/

coliveira 3y ago

If you go to youth oriented movies in the release day, you're just asking for this kind of experience.

Balgair 3y ago

I think I'm the odd one out here. I like it a lot more when the rest of the audience is interacting with the movie, heckling, shouting, laughing, etc. Yeah, sitting on your loud phone and not watching the movie is just strange, of course. But when everyone else is engaged with the movie, it's a better experience to me.