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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."
For example, a friend of mine once worked as an emergency responder for the Red Cross. Part of that was to carry the emergency contact phone wherever she went while she was on call. If she was going to be somewhere that respectful quiet was expected, like a church, or the theatre, or a classroom, she made damned certain that the thing was set to vibrate. She also made sure to arrive at the venue early, so that she could get an aisle seat and, if she felt the phone vibrate, she could slip out to the lobby without shoving her ass in a row-full of faces. As far as anyone who wasn't in her group was concerned, she would just be politely nipping out to the bathroom. No ringtones, no sudden glare, no conversations, not difficult.
In her message she says she was using her phone as a flashlight to find her seat (one of the most annoying things you can do in a theater)
... and shortly thereafter says that she didn't know she wasn't meant to be texting. And then proudly declares that she's texted in every other cinema in the area. So I'm going to go right ahead and sound the bullshit horn on this one...
The irony being that, although they do have a system to order food and drinks that doesn't necessarily involve talking, frequently one does need to talk. The wait staff is continuously whispering to people to make sure they are receiving the correct order. This is pretty distracting, but then I go to the Alamo Drafthouse for exactly this service and I just have to accept a certain level of distraction.
I like the Alamo Drafthouse, their "concessions" beat the crap out of the overpriced Cinemark down the street, but one thing you are not getting there is silence and full devotion and reverence to the movie. If anything it's a nod to the fact that many of us in the audience aren't there to watch a movie so much as sit in an air conditioned theater away from our own children, with each other, sharing a relaxing (and typically mind numbing) experience, but also resting the frayed nerves one receives after a week of maximizing shareholder potential, balancing our finances, maintaining our habitat and trying to raise our spawn to be good citizens.