Cinema Etiquette: Is There Such a Thing?

Cinema etiquette… is there even such a thing?

When we go to the cinemas, it’s already a given that other people will be watching the same movie as us. Sometimes, there will be a lot of people in the cinema you’re watching in (hello, weekends!); and other times, you might be the only ones there. Either way, growing up, I was taught to sort of just live with it: the noise, the jeers, all of the annoying people who frequented the movie house. I was told it was part of the experience and comes with watching a movie in public.

However, now that we’re older and spending our own money (and can we please acknowledge that movie tickets are no longer as cheap as they used to be?), the annoying things in the cinema seem to really add up. Two people on my Timeline alone expressed annoyance at their experience while trying to watch ‘The Nun’ in the cinemas.

Bob Jbeili, for one, said that ‘The Nun‘ would’ve been okay if only the people in the cinemas weren’t so loud. “The amount of noisy inconsiderate people in the cinemas is piling up,” he rants. “I’m not a buzzkill or a killjoy. I mean, I get the screaming in unison, especially if you’re really scared. You scream and then you all laugh because you all screamed at the same time. Sometimes, you even clap. That’s fun. I scream, too. What I don’t get is the people who have conversations all around you as if the movie has a Filipino narration.

This one girl behind me kept going ‘luh luh luh luh luh’ in almost every scene. Why? It’s fine if you’re the only ones watching or if you’re whispering or talking quietly, but no. They do it LOUDLY. Another one kept asking LOUDLY, ‘Is that the place? Is that her? Is she holding the thing?’ Girl, watch it so you’ll understand it. You probably don’t understand it because you’re so loud.”

Bob thinks everyone in the cinema should be respected because everyone paid the same amount of money to be there, to understand what is happening, and not to just hear you laugh. Read his full post here:

Gerd Perez didn’t even get to watch the movie anymore because of how annoyed he was prior to the movie starting. “Something went down a while ago that I never thought would happen: we walked out of the cinema,” he shares. “Not because we were scared shitless of this movie. No, we were darn excited, man! Reason: THE PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR INSIDE THE CINEMA WAS PLAIN UNACCEPTABLE.” Gerd shares that a lot of people were howling and screaming and laughing out loud, trying to make other people laugh to feel powerful.

“It was not cool!” he rants. “I totally get the part that they were just having fun, but, please, not to the extent where they disturb other people’s peace.” Gerd said it was supposed to be a fun night, but it was ruined because of how disrespectful most of the people were. “I hope next time, these people just keep their annoying sense of humor to themselves,” he says. Read his post here:

How do you feel about noisy people in the cinema? Sino dapat mag-adjust?