Thetheatercontinues to be an important part of our culture, and as Oscar Wilde put it, it’s the greatest of all art forms and the best way for people to share with others what it means to be a human being.
Part of maintaining this experience requires the audience to practice good etiquette, which some completelydisregard.
Likethis family, who, during intermission, approached seats with coats on them (a sign that they were already reserved), gathered them up, and dumped them on an empty chair in the front. But as we know, karma exists, and their impolite behavior didn’t go unnoticed.
Part of the theater experience requires the audience to practice good etiquette
Image credits:Yiran Ding / unsplash (not the actual photo)
This family completely disregarded this and stole other family’s reserved seats
Image credits:QUI NGUYEN / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Kilyan Sockalingum / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits:jdxink
Unassigned seating can cause quite a bit of confusion in theaters
Assigned and, at the same time, unassignedseatingin theaters and cinemas has been causing quite a bit of confusion for some time. Many wonder why certain places in the US still don’t have the reservation option, while others refuse to participate in it for various reasons.
As a twentysomething-year-old who grew up and still lives in Europe, this debate baffles me, as unassigned seating was never really an option here. For as long as I can remember, we always had to choose the seats after buying a ticket, or they would already be indicated on it, depending on the availability.
However, in the US, the “trend” of reserved seating has been going around for approximately a decade. Only in 2019 did AMC Theatres, the largest movie chain in the world, allow moviegoers to secure their place beforehand in all of their locations. Taking everything into perspective, that seems quite recent.
Prior to that, in 2013, writerMark Vanhoenackerpublished an article called “Movie theater seating: Why don’t American theaters have reserved seating?” voicing his frustrations on the matter. What inspired him to write it was his experience trying to locate empty chairs, but only finding “reserved” ones held with headbands or even laptops.
He acknowledged that this issue wasn’t characteristic of that particular night. “And the worst thing about this cinematic insanity?” he asks, is that it’s seemingly unnecessary. Back in 2013, he hypothesized that having reservations meant that we could choose where we wanted to sit comfortably.
“If it’s busy, you choose your own compromise—in the middle rows but on the side, for example, or a frontish row, but centered. If you have limited mobility, or don’t feel comfortable staggering down a darkened, steeply inclined row, you can reserve an aisle or ground-floor seat,” he added.
He further explained that picking seating in advance eliminates having to arrive very early, stand in a long line, or rush into the theater. You also don’t have to mark your territory with clothing or personal electronics before going to the bathroom or buying a drink. And if you’re going with your friends, you can ensure that you’ll be able to sit together.
Some people are categorically against assigned seating
Image credits:Kazuo ota / unsplash (not the actual photo)
He further explained that arriving in advance means that you’ll watch more commercials. In 2023,cinema advertisingspending worldwide was estimated at 2.61 billion U.S. dollars, up from 2.56 billion dollars a year prior.
Commenters were applauding the karma the family got and even shared similar stories
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