by Kia Tyler

Created on: January 11, 2009

At one time or another, we have all had the opportunity of self-justifying why we caused a theatre disturbance.

"Shh!"

-"Sorry, this is an important call."

"Shh!"

-"I couldn't find a sitter."

"Hey!"

-"What do you want me to do? Nachos are a noisy food!"

I myself have learned, admittedly by trial and error, what annoys fellow movie-goers and now make previous preparations to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Setting my mobile phone to "vibrate", turning down the LED screen to avoid the distraction of the bright light, even going alone just to avoid having to make a forced response if the company I bring turns out to be a talker.

To be honest, I have grown to hate the many distractions that come with what should be, a nice two-hour vacation from ordinary life. When I leave my home and head for the movies, it is not the excitement of being alone that compels me, but the promise of escaping the ordinary world, being part of the imagination of another, and when it's all over, walking out of the theatre and seeing the world in a completely different way.

This effect is hard to achieve when you are constantly torn from your fantasy by the cries of an infant, (especially in an R-rated film) by the distractions of whispers and giggles from the group of teenagers sitting adjacent to you, or by late arrivals walking in front of you blocking your view, followed by the occasional announcement in the dark of "this seat is saved".

But, through all of this, I try to understand the person causing the distraction, drawing from my own personal experiences causing them. Sure, I get upset, remind myself I paid good money to see this film, and try to pretend I've never done anything to distract a person in a movie before in order to feel more justified. But in the end, I remind myself that I am as human as the kid on the mobile phone trying not to miss his important call, the woman with the baby who couldn't find a sitter, the people saving seats too embarrassed to come alone, and the lonely man eating his weight in nachos next to me. We all came here to be taken away...and I can't help them do that. I can only do it for myself. So I tune them out...feel sorry for their failure to escape reality even for 2 hours, and I get back to my film.

I do this because, even during the dozens of distractions during a movie that make me flash an unseen frown in the dark, they only last a moment and then, I return to the bliss of dreams and fantasy. But oh....won't the day be great...when none of us will have to?

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