A movie-lover’s heartfelt yearning for the days of respectable cinema behaviour’s past

Here’s an idea: we should all act normal in public. What once might have been a glaringly obvious statement—akin to other hits like “the sky is blue” and “dogs go woof”— has turned into a desperate and unheard plea to the youth of today. 

I, like millions of others around the world, recently watched A Minecraft Movie. A victim of nostalgia, I took a trip to the theatre to watch a beloved childhood videogame come to life on the silver screen. Sitting with popcorn in my hands and excitement in my heart, I eagerly awaited for the cinematic masterpiece this film was sure to be, excited to share the experience with the people around me. Little did I know, I was in the presence of hoodlums set on disrupting the experience in a way I’d never seen before, on a level I didn’t know was possible. 

Approximately an hour into the movie, Jack Black’s character Steve yells “Chicken Jockey!” as the rare mob spawns into existence to battle Jason Momoa’s character, Garrett. What was meant to be a relatively innocent gag was a turning point in my movie-going experience. 

In that moment, it was as if a small crowd of sleeper agents had suddenly been activated and the theatre around me came to life. A group of people stood up from their seats, howling the line with roaring applause. Two young children chucked their bags of popcorn into the air. I sat there, shellshocked. 

When leaving the theatre afterwards, I began to question the entire ordeal. Why had it happened? Why did people feel so comfortable disrupting a movie for an entire group of people like that? What happened to common decency and reservation in the presence of your fellow man?

According to some social psychologists and sociologists, the reason people enjoy going to the movies or attending concerts—as opposed to watching movies at home or listening to music on the radio—is because of a feeling of collective effervescence. Collective effervescence is the feeling that comes when people gather together for a joint purpose and share heightened emotion and an experience together. It’s born out of a shared sense of unity and belonging that supersedes individual experiences. It’s the energy that you feel when you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. 

People attend festivals, concerts or movies not just because they want to listen to music or watch a movie, but because they want the feeling that comes from doing those activities in a large group. People intentionally join a group of people that they expect will uphold the same etiquette that they are upholding, all for the sake of that feeling of collective effervescence. When that feeling is shattered—such as in the case of the “chicken jockey” incident—people can feel incredibly offended, and in some cases experience a disruption to their sense of self. Not only was their goal obstructed, they didn’t get to experience that shared, larger-than-life feeling of euphoria, either. 

My movie-going experience was not unique. Hundreds of theatres showing A Minecraft Movie around the world have had to deal with this exact scenario on several occasions. People have been going into the theatre with the intention of causing a scene during screenings of the movie, as part of a viral internet trend. Hundreds of videos depict people trashing theatres, screaming and even bringing in live chicken’s to showings of the film. Theaters have had to bring in security, issue warnings before the movie and even had to call the police to deal with the disruptors. 

After the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantines in 2020 there has been a significant increase in abnormal behaviour in public settings across the world and a decrease in social skills. People now have poorer social skills, are more narcissistic and self-interested than they were previously, and these flagrant displays of breaking social norms and expectations are proof of that. 

Due to a global break from large, in-person social gatherings, achieving collective effervescence  has lost its importance for many, especially younger people. Having a crucial developmental period disrupted by the pandemic was incredibly detrimental to people’s social skills. After becoming accustomed to social media and isolation, many have started to become more self-serving in public settings than would have been previously. 

Obviously, this one trend does not serve as a warning sign for the future of regular behaviour out in public, but it does show us a new trend in behaviour. While behaviour in cinemas has never been perfect, people have definitely begun to treat the act the same way in theatres as they would at home—scrolling through social media, texting and even having full-blown conversations with the people around them. It’s a little worrying, and definitely a regression from social norms that have been in place for several decades. 

I understand that viral trends are not indicative of society’s behaviour as a whole, but I can’t recall any wide-scale patterns of behaviour like the ones that we are seeing in the world around us today. I think we need to go back to that feeling of collective effervescence and really immerse ourselves in the world around us, rather than focusing on how we may be perceived online. Another moral as old as the internet itself, but an important one.

If we can’t treat the workers and the people around us at movie theatres with respect, what right do we have to enjoy the experience at all?