Cinema audiences are getting worse. I remember going to the cinema when I was younger and the theatre would be silent. Sure, the rattle and bustle of popcorn and the schlurp of a drink would break the silence, but that’s an understandable and fair side-effect of the experience. But recently – maybe since I bought my unlimited cinema card – I’ve noticed a hell of a lot of chatter. Have things changed or has my patience for this type of thing ran out as I’ve gotten older and become a more regularly movie-goer.
It’s possible that both of these things may have happened. Now as I’m older, I go to see more serious films, films which demand a certain level of silence. But I’m also partial to watching films that don’t need to hold your attention massively: for every A Quiet Place, I’ll go and see a Bumblebee (a massively underrated, charming movie), and for every Florida Project I’m happy to check out a Marvel film (more than happy, actually). But what is the reason for the increased level of muttering and chattering in a cinema? I fear it is more technology, increased streaming and possibly shorter attention spans. And coming from me, that’s saying something.
Since Netflix moved from predominantly letterbox-posting-easy-rental to stream-wherever-you-fancy-go-crazy, streaming has taken the world by storm. What was once a pipe dream held back by your internet connection is now quickly becoming the most convenient way to consume film and TV content. Facebook now streams sport, Amazon Prime will soon have Premier League football and barely a month goes by where Netflix doesn’t have a show on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Streaming is here to stay, and the more we watch movies at home, the more we’ll continue to treat the cinema screen like our personal mega-living room.
The fact that most living rooms have had a TV for over 40 years doesn’t remove this theory completely. TV, since its invention in 1927, has been the centrepiece of the living room. Families have gathered, breaking news has been consumed and legendary shows have entered social consciousness all between – for the most part – BBC One and Two, ITV, Channel 4. Sorry channel 5, but you haven’t done much for us.
Films in the home used to be a treat. Growing up for me, cinema was saved for birthdays and the odd surprise. Watching a film at home was saved for Christmas time or, in poorer visual and sound quality, for VHS. That tape that was the size of a brick and that quality of a potato was one day a treat in itself.
Technology, accessibility and big business has helped Hollywood become a household business. Like with music screaming where once an album was £12.99, you can now stream every album in the world for merely £9.99. Movies the same, have gone from a similar cost as music, to now approximately £6.99. What is great for the consumer, but it may surely affect the theatre.
Going to the cinema used to be an almost sacred affair. The snacks, the quiet, the anticipation. We were treated to it all. Yet now, in an age where hundreds of films are available in the heartbeat of the household, etiquette is changing. And it’s up to picturehouses to help buck the trend and make the cinema become a delight - and a quiet one at that - once more.
Luke Chandley co-hosts First Take Film Club, a movie podcast dedicated to discussing movies old and new only recently watched