A few days ago, I went and saw "Avatar", the hyped game changer, the return to the silver screen for James Cameron who left us after hitting an iceburg in "Titanic." I had done the ground work to preserve a good screening and experience but had to fight tooth and nail to keep it.
I had an advanced ticket I bought on Fandango on Sunday for opening day at 4:00. I got out of work a little after 12:00. If I wanted to push it, I could've tried for the 12:30 showing. I decided not to. I was pretty tired and didn't want fatigue or irritability to cost me in my experience. Little did I know, I was hellbent and determined not to let anything get in the way of my experience with the film.
While I was in line to pick up my reserved ticket, the woman in front of me also had a print outfor an advanced ticket. I knew she didn't go on Fandango for a ticket to "The Blind Side." We talked about "Avatar", the Carmike theater at the mall sucking and half price drinks and appetizers at the bar at On The Border.
I had a Red Bull before the movie. I had to wait in linejust to get into the theater. I was behind one woman that became a whole family with kids and large popcorns. This 8 year old kid had a Coke bigger than I ever had in my life.
I walked into "Avatar" and got the aisle seat next to the left, first row with the rail in front of me. I put my jacket in the seat next to me to nonverbally convey it was taken. It worked while the lights were still on as people bypassed my row to snatch up seats above and below. When the lights went out, I didn't have that nonverbal signal any longer. I had some people I could smell from the aisle walk up and ask if they could sit there.
"It's taken," I said.
They didn't hear me.
"It's taken," I said.
They found seats in the orchestra section.
Before it went dark, I saw some women with an old man. I'm thinking of the scene in "Trading Places." "Who is that your father or something?" This guy was old. "Where did you dig up that old fossil?"
"Alright Poppy, you're gonna sit up here with Greg, we're gonna sit down here," the women said.
Why did they want to sit with their dad? Then Greg shows up with large popcorns and Cokes. As the previews started rolling, the girls would periodically treat their father as a deaf child.
"Do you want some popcorn Poppy?"
"Do you want your 3D glasses on Poppy?"
Thank god that settled down.
A little bit later, one guy asked if those seats were taken.
"This one is but this one is not," I said.
He asked the people next to the empty seat if he could sit there. He sat down at the seat to the left of my jacket. So yeah, I'm okay with one low maintenance guy but not anyone with the potential to destroy the experience. One low maintenance guy, not a women with her kids, a cellphone and a need to be updated on whatever her friends just twittered as if it were breaking news.
During the previews, I had the urge to pee but maybe I could hold it for the next three hours. After about an hour and during a possibly small scene, I would leave my seat to go to the restroom. What about the Kharma of turning people away from the seat? What if I left my jacket? Would I not only leave my seat but my jacket? I made a run for it abandoning my jacket to defend itself as a territorial tool. What if I lost my seat? What if Kharma felt the need to take my jacket as well? A jacket I have had since the Bush/Kerry election.
I hustled there and back to the theater. Seat empty. Jacket still lounging in the seat next to mine. Crisis averted.
Too many times we concede a filmgoing experience and do not take control. Thank God it was the first day of a huge movie and very few lit cellphones were in the dark. Too many times we have to take what we get.
Many times, there are too many cellphones to even begin to start policing it. If I could, I'd call in the National Guard to round up those cellphones.
Was it unethical to say the seat was taken when it was only by my jacket? Should there be preferential seating given to people with advanced tickets? Should there be a first class seating for movie theaters for people who have respect and appreciation for the film and not feel the need to check their phones even for the time? Time for most of the population to reinvest in a watch. Should I be given preferential seating because I got there twenty minutes early to stake out the seating or should someone be able to stroll in passed the start time during the previews and stumble onto a seat next to you? There should be a Bill of Right for Filmgoers. For people who have significantly more invested in the film than others.
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