It’s April 2018, and I’m heading to the AMC in Kips Bay with a friend to see A Quiet Place. In being a horror fan, you’ve seen every which way a jump scare can and almost every single theme that comes along with it. I was craving something fresh, and that’s precisely what I got. The theater was nearly complete, and you could feel the weight of everyone immersed in this experience collectively. Nobody wanted to make noise as if we were a part of the plot line in which comping on our popcorn would alert the aliens to make mince meat of the family on screen. A couple slightly got up to go to the bathroom — walking in a manner that mirrored a Looney Tunes cartoon, trying not to make noise. Being present at it all felt great and enhanced the entire experience.
Fast-forward to March 2024, as I enter the Regal Cinemas at Battery Park to see Immaculate. At this point, you’re accustomed to seeing people on their phones (but perhaps not during the entire film). Since theaters have re-opened since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a noticeable breakdown of the social contract in theaters. Some people have taken behaviors accustomed to what they do in their living rooms straight to the Dolby and IMAX theaters — much to the complaints of many. But this night, the two rows before me had a special type of egregious behavior. Within a collection of teens, a person had set up their phone on the tray in front of them and recorded them watching the movie for an hour and a half plus (talk about breaking the fourth wall). Their mom was in my row, scrolling on her brightly lit phone the whole time. Seeing the theater become more of a theme park than a place where people congregate to sink into pieces of moving art for two hours at a time was wild — especially in a horror movie.
Joseph Quinn as “Eric” and Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.
Going to the theater may be especially expensive for individuals and families without a subscription (like AMC A-List). It’s been weird to see going to see a film as a way to create more content rather than people allowing themselves to be taken (whether positive or negative) with the art they paid to see. Shortly after seeing ‘Inside Out 2,’ I saw an onslaught of crucial scenes recorded from the theater uploaded as Instagram Reels with different captions and takes. It’s not that we can’t acquiesce to the notion knowing that people get their information in various shapes and forms – it’s more so the point where individualism and the need to be the main character (ironically in a place that has them already) has eroded a tremendous communicable experience. We are no longer sitting with the creativity we see, but rather remixing it into our disoriented filter that falls short of accurately showing that experience.
This is on the precipice of another ‘Quiet Place’ release weekend, and the built-up cache of how positively these films are received puts it on a runway to be a hit. But with a movie so dependent on soundscapes and attentiveness, will some audiences be able to provide that suspension of disbelief? Losing a grip on our attention spans also changes how we engage with art in a manner that disservices us all and might leave good works out to dry. Do we want to be a part of the show or give the space for it to entertain us? I’m not sure that we’ve collectively found an answer.
Main Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
