One of the reasons I love Facebook is it's pretty much the ultimate form of people-watching. I find it especially fascinating to see what REALLY pushes people's buttons. Sometimes I feel the fire in my belly flare when someone says something against things I'm passionate about, and other times I feel a kinship and an affirmation of why I'm friends with someone I see eye-to-eye with. Usually I find myself laughing at how fired up most people get about the LAMEST things. Today's controversy? Assigned seating in movie theaters. No joke. Had a friend post this as her status this morning:
"Assigned seats in movie theaters?! No. That is not going to work for me."
Some of the comments that followed were hilarious-and surprisingly passionate for such a simple subject. I even heard someone was un-friended due to their views on the matter.
My first thought was "Really? I think it's a fantastic idea."
Now before any of you get your knickers in a twist and start sending me hate mail for my opinion let me paint you a picture:
It's circa 2005. You have been waiting with baited breath to see the midnight showing of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (don't judge me-I liked Episode 2 and 3) since the moment your friend got the tickets on pre-sale weeks ago. You rush home from work to gather the things you'll need to keep yourself busy for the next five hours while you wait in line. (No, we didn't camp out. We're hard core, but not THAT hard core.) Anyway, you get to the Jordan Commons around 7:30 or so and the line on the North Pavilion is already forming in the maze of dividers, but you can still see the doors so you're not worried. You spend the evening playing games and showing off your newly-acquired engagement ring (that may or may not be the reason this movie holds a spot in my heart-I got engaged that night before getting in line). Excitement starts to build around 10 o'clock because you know in just 30 minutes the doors will open and you're in primo line placement for a decent, if not AWESOME seat.
Then at 10:45 it happens. The 3-4 people you have been making pleasantries with all evening let FIFTEEN people join their group ahead of you. No biggie, it's only 15 seats. Your little group of six still has a hope of sitting together and avoiding the dreaded first five rows. Eleven o'clock finally arrives and it's time to go in. There's a bum-rush once you got past the doormen, but you're finally inside.
What do you see upon entering the theater? Those 15+ people who cut in front of you in line are now spreading blankets, jackets, purses, and anything else they can use to 'reserve' the primo rows in the center of the theater for heaven knows how many MORE people.
Needless to say you are pissed. You'd been waiting in line since 7, you'd played by the rules, and these jerk-faces were going to come in at the eleventh-hour (literally) and scoop up all the good seats? Well, folks, it happened. If I remember correctly our group ended up being split, and Superman Lover and I were banned to the back corner, fuming all the while.
This was not the first time this would happen to me. I remember it happening for viewings of Harry Potter 3, 4, and 5, Spiderman 3, Superman Returns, and most of the X-Men movies. To say it jaded me towards movie-going was an understatement. When Larry H. Miller's theaters started assigned seating I was all for it and drove the ten extra minutes it took to go there as the Jordan Landing right by my house had not yet jumped on the bandwagon.
When Mr. Wonderful and I started dating he and I could never see movies together opening weekend because I hated waiting in line and being herded like cattle only to be jipped once I got inside, and for some reason he loved being an enforcer and keeping the bum-rushers at bay. Plus he prefers the Jordan Landing over LHM's theaters-but that is a blog for another day.
The Landing has since implemented reserved seating on their 'blockbuster' movies, and after a little resistance Mr. Wonderful now loves that we don't have to be to the theater hours in advance to fight for mediocre seats. I love it because I'm not having to have my personal bubble violated being herded like cattle or waiting in line for nothing.
What say you? Yay or nay on reserved seating?
9 comments:
I've never waited in line for an opening day movie, so I haven't had the experience you have.
Still, I get it. I have never been offended at having a reserved seat at a movie theatre. We are assigned seats for concerts and plays, so why not movie theatres too?
Funny enough, my first experience with assigned movie theater seating was for Star Wars: Episode III. I saw it in London and since we got there late we sat on the very back row, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie.
I like assigned seating, because it allows me to get there 5 minutes before the movie starts and I know I'll still get a good seat. I don't go to non-assigned places anymore unless I'm pretty sure it won't be busy...
I love assigned seating. It makes it so I can sit by all of my party that is there with me seeing the movie and we have decent seats. :)
I think that most theater people are going to like assigned seats in a movie theater. We're used to it. We don't have a problem sitting squished up next to people we don't know (well, not sooo squished with the nice, new, roomy theater seats). I think the people who get upset are the ones who don't plan ahead and buy their tickets online. They get there at what they think is an early time, only to find that most of the prime seats have been snagged by more prepared people.
Sorry about the crazy multi-postings. I couldn't tell it had taken. It's so hard to read the "Please prove you're not a robot" words.
LOVE assigned seating.
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