During Christmas vacation my wife and I, both schoolteachers, had the opportunity to see the new film “Titanic” at our local theater. Like many moviegoers today, we were excited, though we were unaccustomed to the packed house (perhaps 500 people at this auditorium) for a matinee show. Our daughters, who have seen the show twice, have reported that sellouts for this film are a common feature. This has not happened since we went to see “Star Wars.”
We were disappointed, however, by the row of twenty 12- and 13-year-olds sitting behind us, and during the opening credits we had to verbally reprimand these children, using our polished educators’ authority. At least two other times audience members also reprimanded these students with words and tones far less polished than a schoolteacher’s. Sadly, these children became most obnoxious during the most intense moments of drama.
At the end of the film, we encouraged our neighbors to register complaints. While we did receive free passes for our “inconvenience,” we were more discouraged by what has become the newest form of day care for adolescents. Ten years ago, the public library bore this unfortunate label, but today’s libraries are more secured and supervised.
Ultimately, we must ask, whose responsibility are these children? If a movie theater elects to take the $4.50 matinee admission price and seat them, does that make the theater responsible? Our answer is yes. While the overhead of extra security would cut into the theater’s profits, far more so than the free passes for those who care to complain, the reality is that today’s theaters are an accident waiting to happen.
Do adults seeking to enjoy a film have to choose one with sex or violence or foul language to avoid the giggling, flirting, popcorn-throwing and heckling by children? It is really not the parents of these children who are to blame but rather the proprietors of today’s theaters. Not only might adult audience members elect the comfort of home entertainment over the cinema, the audience itself might prove to be a liability far more damaging than the cost of a few seats.
