"My friend and I were chatting as we took our seats, but once the trailers began, we stopped to watch them. The people directly in front of us? Not so much. Instead, they carried on with their conversation if anything a little louder, so they could be heard over the Dolby surround sound. My friend performed the internationally recognised double-open-palm gesture for: What's with these guys, huh?"
"I shrugged, as if to say: Yeah, but whadda ya gonna do? Soon, we were gesticulating back and forth so fast and furiously that, if we'd been holding sticks instead of popcorn, we could have started a fire. Is it acceptable to talk during the trailers? My friend is unequivocally of the view that being able to stream movies at home has turned us all into animals, with etiquette amnesia. I, on the other (waggling) hand, think that as long as everyone shuts up"
"when the film starts, it's OK. In the unlikely event that the previews were the crucial deciding factor in booking your tickets, you can always Google and see them again the second you leave. It's fine. Admittedly, my bar is low here. Years ago, I was watching a film when, behind me, at a really pivotal and tense moment, a phone started ringing. Not even vibrating ringing. I cringed for the poor, unfortunate individual who'd forgotten to put it on silent."
Friendship can be demonstrated by partners silently miming arguments in the dark, allowing private gestural exchanges. At the cinema, some patrons continue loud conversations through trailers, prompting shared, exaggerated gestures of annoyance. One view holds that streaming at home has eroded public etiquette; another accepts pre-film chatter provided the movie itself remains undisturbed. A memorable disruption occurred when a phone rang during a tense scene and the owner answered, delivering a prolonged, loud conversation. The audience's tutting made no impression on the caller. The narrator heard every word and concluded the call was neither urgent nor interesting, and the interruption ruined part of the viewing.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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