Some might argue that streaming movies at home has given us all etiquette amnesia. But when it comes to disrupting a screening, I think the rules have some nuance
T
he true mark of friendship is understanding each other well enough to successfully mime an argument in the dark. This isn’t a metaphor, but a fact I discovered last weekend at the cinema. 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.
