Slashdot Mirror
Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Theater Gives Texters the Boot
Hugh Pickens writes "Ever been annoyed during that nail-biting darkened hallway scene by someone turning on their phone to send a text? Well, don't mess with Texas or you may end up on the screen in a public service announcement. Alamo Drafthouse, a local chain of dine-and-screen movie theaters in Austin, Texas, has long waged a war against impolite moviegoers booting out customers who talk or text during performances. Phoebe Connelly writes that according to Tim League, the Drafthouse's founder, a woman was recently warned twice about texting during a screening, and then, in accordance with company policy, was escorted out without a refund. 'I don't think people realize that it is distracting,' says League. 'It seems like nothing, but if you spend as much time as I do at the movies, you realize the entire theater sees it and it pulls you out of the movie experience. It's every bit as intrusive as talking.' The irate customer called up the Alamo Drafthouse and left a profanity-laced (and perhaps slightly inebriated) message decrying the theater's policies, but the theater got the last laugh as they took the audio of the woman's voicemail, transcribed it, and turned it into an in-house preview [tl: Note, YouTube video contains some profanity] that warns theatergoers against cell phone use during movies. 'Part of what we're trying to do is have a comedic message about what to us is a very serious issue,' says League, declining to give any more details about the woman at the center of the recent PSA."
No you don't. A cinema isn't exactly a proper place to work.
Ceci n'est pas une
Meaning she wasn't even considerate enough to come in on time for the movie, so to hell with her. And even that would have only gotten one warning, ergo she had to have kept using the phone after being warned once. Additionally, there are signs posted that warn of this policy as well.
Another damn good reason for this policy is safety. As there are staff constantly walking around the theater serving food and drinks (in glass containers, no less) in the darkness, the last thing I would want is for some poor staff member to have their low-light vision impaired and end up tripping with a full tray of glass + food/drink.
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
Or.... you could not be an asshole, and wait an hour until the movie is over, and then text your friends that it was bad instead of annoying everyone else in the theater behind you.
Here is what is playig at the theater. Brides mainds, kung fu panda. x-men, etc. Not a high end theater like landmark or Dundance where the films require a little more attention.
That's right. Only people who are watching appropriately high-class, cultured, artistic works of cinema should expect to be able to watch a film without unnecessary distractions. Folks who are going to watch mass-market movies just to have a pleasant night out aren't interested in paying attention; of course they shouldn't expect to be able to see or hear what they're watching. Their low-brow entertainment preferences don't deserve any better.
Seriously? For someone who's bemoaning Austin (Austin? Texas? Really?) as a city of pseudo-chic poseurs, you're awfully stuck up. Sure, this could just be a publicity stunt--but I hold out some faint hope that there might actually exist theaters which care about the audience's experience, and expect a better level of conduct than we seem to settle for in most venues.
~Idarubicin
So you admit that you didn't have to go see a movie, but you did anyway and don't see anything wrong with bothering anyone around you while you are paranoid about your kid. Ya know .. my phone vibrates differently for a text message and email than it does a phone call. One would think that if your kid got hurt, someone would CALL you. In fact, if I get a phone call and don't answer it, it vibrates for several seconds. Then, when a voice mail is left, it vibrates again. So I know if someone that just called me left a voice mail.
....
So NO ONE needs to check email or text messages during a movie. Tell someone if they really need to get hold of you to CALL YOU and leave a voice mail. NOW you know it's important and you can slip out, check your voice mail.
Your petty, self-centered excuses (along with others on this board) only show how inconsiderate, self centered, or technologically ignorant you are.
At least if you are technologically ignorant about your phone, you can learn
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
I wonder if you have some sort brain damage or something, or are just assuming the least instrusive phone possible during the brightest scene possible.
How could you not find a bright backlit LCD distracting during a dark scene in a movie? The Alamo's policy is a great one - they prohibit children under a certain age, too, outside of certain designated showings They are well-loved in Austin for these kinds of policies - I won't go to other theaters now unless I want IMAX or they are not showing a movie I want to see. It really does make a different kind of experience, making sure that nobody is distracting their neighbors.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
Yeah, this seems like an incredibly stupid thing to become so righteously anal over. I've never once been distracted by someone texting in a movie. Talking, yes, but never texting.
This is just some stupid theater owner's personal crusade to fight a really ridiculous cause. They've probably spent 10x as much fighting cellphone use as they would have lost in customers had they allowed them in the same capacity as any other theater. Heck, if they are escorting people out of the theater for texting, that would be WAY more distracting than someone just using their phone.
I would stay away from a theater with this policy out of spite.
You must not have to deal with many texters. Many times have I had to kick the back of somebody's chair because I'm being blinded by their lack of ability to keep themselves from chatting with their friends every minute of every day. It's not about being righteously anal, it's about not wanting to have your $11 experience be ruined by some self-centered asshole.
The Alamo's policies alone make me wish there was one around here that I could patronize, but the fact that they would take an angry person's voicemail and make it into a pre-show video (without trying to appease the hypersensitive by censoring the hilarious overuse of profanity) makes me want to travel to Texas solely to give them my money.