If you’ve been to see a movie in the theater recently, you may have noticed that phones don’t always stay in people’s pockets anymore. It’s part of a trend that some observers say is making behavior and etiquette in movie theaters seem more like how we’d watch a movie on our couch — and they don’t mean that as a compliment.
So, have home theaters changed the way we watch movies in actual theaters?
Joe Fortunato, a teaching professor at Arizona State University’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School, spent 15 years in the entertainment industry before moving to the classroom.
Fortunato joined The Show to discuss whether he’s noticing that movie-goers’ behavior in theaters is worse now than it’s been in the past.
Full conversation
JOE FORTUNATO: I guess. It depends on how you define the past. I don't really think it's noticeably worse now than it was two or three years ago. You know, if we're talking about 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, yeah, for sure. But, with the last couple years I think it's been on, on a either decline or, or it sort of stayed level, but that's not a good thing because the behaviors are still there, and they're not always great.
MARK BRODIE: Well, so what is it that people are doing that they shouldn't be doing that maybe a decade or so ago?
FORTUNATO: They weren't doing well, two things. One, it kind of all comes back to the phone and, you know, now that we have smartphones with us all the time. And people are looking at them, the glowing screens, they're answering their phones with, and if they're not answering, they're texting glowing screens or looking stuff up. So that's a problem really since the development of the and the ubiquitousness of the, of the I don't want to throw iPhone under the bus but the smartphones in general.
So there's that the other thing is the, the proliferation or, or advent of home theaters. And this works as a good and a bad thing. But you know, people are, are now used to, many people have a home theater and they're used to streaming movies at home. But when they go to the theater, they're not at home, they're not in their living room, they're not in their man cave, they're not in their, you know, theater basement, whatever it is.
So I think sometimes people just forget that there's other people around them and they’re talking with their neighbor or just basically, you know, acting as if they're home in their living room and not in a public space.
BRODIE: Well, so do you think that people are forgetting that they are around other people and, and not sitting on their couch or is it just a matter of people think, “well, this is what I do at home, I guess it's not a problem to text my friends or, you know, chat with my neighbor, you know, sitting next to me, even though I'm in a theater”?
FORTUNATO: I think it's a little bit of both and, and, again, I don't wanna sort of be dismissive of a younger generation or whatever, but this is true. Just human behavior. Once things become kind of programmed into, into our DNA, it's just normal. So for a lot of young people that's normal.
BRODIE: Are theaters trying to do anything about this or is there anything they can do beyond, you know, putting the, the announcement on the screen before the movie starts, hey, you know, please put your phone away. Let's be respectful of, of everybody in the theater.
FORTUNATO: Well, you know, obviously that's done at most, most chain theaters. It's not really prevalent because to be honest with you, I can't even think of that announcement sometimes. It was, you know, there are some more dedicated cinema theaters. The Alamo Drafthouse is one that's no longer there. But that, that, they were very adamant about putting your phones away. They would escort you out. And they would, you know, so there, there was a, you know, really a lot of diligence on, on enforcing that rule at certain theaters that are a little bit more cinephile-friendly.
So, you know, I, I think that's not necessarily the case in the, in the mainstream, you know, big cinema chains, but certainly smaller ones are very cognizant of that.
BRODIE: So what does this do for, like, if I'm in a theater and I'm just watching the movie, my phone is in my pocket, I'm not talking to, to the person sitting next to me. What does it do for my experience or, you know, if you're in a theater and you're trying to watch a movie and the person next to you is taking photos or scrolling social media or something like how does it impact your experience?
FORTUNATO: Well, it's, it's a distraction for sure. Now, if they are, if they don't mind the distraction themselves, you know, that's their choice, obviously. But when it bleeds into another patron’s, this unwanted distraction, that's problematic. And, and, you know, I've had that experience where I've had people either next to me or a row or two down in front of me on their phone, you know, everybody needs, you know, I shouldn't say needs to, but it's not uncommon and not unwarranted to check your phone once or twice in an emergency or something like that.
But for people who are constantly on them or that, that glowing screen is constantly happening, I think that's disrespectful and, and this bleeds into the classroom. I noticed this in, in our classrooms. Now if we're screening a film in class, you know, it's not uncommon at all to see glowing screens and, you know, we, we try and make rules or, you know, different rules about that, to respect your neighbors and stuff, but it's not just in a public theater, it's in the classroom as well.
BRODIE: It's an interesting point you make about how, for example, if you're, you know, maybe you have a babysitter at home and you check your phone, you know, a couple of times while you're out just to make sure that a text you're getting is not the babysitter saying you need to come home immediately. There's a difference between that and maybe like scrolling through, you know, Snapchat or something like that.
FORTUNATO: Exactly. And, you know, look, I've checked my phone periodically in a theater so I'm not gonna be a hypocrite about that. But it's, it's the constant, you know, scrolling on social media as you said or, or whatever.
BRODIE: It seems in doing some reading that there are some pretty passionate opinions on both sides of this, both in terms of people being frustrated that, you know, their fellow theater-goers are maybe taking pictures or, or using, you know, texting, doing something like that. And other people saying, look, they're just creating memories. Like, why do you have a problem with that? Why, why shouldn't people be allowed to do that?
FORTUNATO: Well, and again, I, I, if your memories are in, in encroaching on my enjoyment of the movie, I don't think that's fair. I do think that's a problem. I mean, that's, you know, just sort of general life lesson 101, treat others the way you would want to be treated. So it's, it's that, I think that that's the tipping point there.
BRODIE: So, do you get the sense that sort of this new type of behavior, not super new, but within the last few years, like, is this becoming the new normal at movie theaters? Do you think there's going to be an effort to bring it back to look if you're in the theater, sit down, put your phone in your pocket, let's watch the movie quietly altogether.
FORTUNATO: I don't know. I, I, I'd like to say yes, but I'm not real hopeful about that because, first of all, you know, big box theaters and chain theaters, they're often understaffed and, you know, it might be young people working as ushers or whatever and they may not have the skills or wherewithal or, or, or training on how to deal with those kinds of things. So that's asking a lot.
And so for some of those employees, you know, but the, the, the other theaters that I'm mentioning that are more art house, more, you know, cinephile-dedicated, cinephiles and people who are really serious about their movies. Like I said, like the Alamo Drafthouse used to do or, or other independent cinema chains, I guess not chains but independent cinemas, that they are probably going to continue to be diligent about that.
