A few weeks ago, I wrote about how audience behaviour in cinemas has been getting worse in recent years.

Now with the film adaptation of Broadway smash Wicked hitting screens, the topic of audience behaviour has come roaring back already. Rather intensely this time. Clearly, I went too early with my rant on my fellow audience members.

First the furore was over audience participation – fans of the musical were singing loudly along to the songs, creating a debate over whether such interaction with the screen was appropriate. Voices across the spectrum chimed in for and against, and cinemas screening Wicked had to grapple with the division it caused. To ban singing from a joyous crowd or not?

And now a new debate has emerged, this time over audience use of phones.

On Sunday, an X user posted “show ur ‘wicked part 1’ photosss”, attaching a picture of the film’s title card taken during a screening they attended. The negative reaction in response was inflamed yet seemed to signal a shift towards defeat – many felt that the battle to keep cinemas sacrosanct had been lost. Expectations for the audience were changing, and the longstanding norm of turning phones off had seemingly dissipated over time.

In response to the backlash, the user defended their transgression: “is it that serious? did a harmless photo to capture a favorite scene hurt anybody?”. No, no one was hurt. But that is not necessarily the standard we should be setting for public behaviour or in the close confines of a cinema. There is such a thing as respect for others around you, and respect for the film itself that everyone has paid entry to see, after all.

This mindset has been permeating for a while, now commonplace. It’s part of the package from the flippant minimising of the ‘let people enjoy things’ crowd.

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With this mindset, any critical eye can be easily excused, serving as a weapon to paint anyone with the mildest criticism as anti-fun, just white noise emanating from dour party poopers and curmudgeonly snobs. Taking a picture of a movie screen is harmless and not hurting anyone, true, but that doesn’t mean its transgressors should be free of criticism. By allowing this behaviour, we only set a precedent for future audiences to experience this same annoyance, over and over.

The advantage of seeing film in a cinema over home viewing is that a crowd of people are fully engaged with one thing. They are plugged in, focused, no distractions – everyone is there for the same reason and with the same intent. It’s communal experience, everyone in the room collectively going through the same motions together. This type of experience in the modern world is increasingly rare, and an understanding of its nature is essential lest it is lost.

The last thing this experience needs is the breaking of that necessary immersion – the light from a phone screen outside the corner of one’s eye, someone’s untrained singing voice shooting right into the ear canal of the person seated next to them, obnoxious reactions that might as well be loud conversations. Perhaps the person told to shush and turn off their phone might internalise it as ruining their own experience, but it should always be remembered that they are the ones ruining the experience for others.

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There is no shame in speaking up when cinema etiquette is breached. In fact, it’s a duty, otherwise the precedent that this is acceptable behaviour sets in. Some may see this as hyperbolic, and that being an inconvenience during a screening of huge mainstream juggernaut Wicked is no big deal or a fringe case.

But the behaviour spreads, and soon enough it will be everywhere, from local mainstream chains to arthouse theatres. Perhaps it’s the responsibility of cinema staff to control this behaviour – but most cinemas run on skeleton staff in the present day, and much of the process of entry is automated. A vigilante touch is required.

It’s also important that cinema etiquette is instilled in younger people, who are more likely to document every activity through their phones. The habit of being taken to see a film regularly in adolescence is one that is dying out – family trips to the cinema are increasingly expensive and the cost-of-living crisis ensures that cinema trips are a lesser priority for many. Either way, it needs made clear that the experience of home viewing is not the same as sitting in a cinema, and to act accordingly.

The blame for poor cinema etiquette is often pinned on attitudes borne from the pandemic and the continuing enmeshment of social media into our lives. But there is a third, and it is the lack of seriousness afforded to cinema itself. If cinema isn’t legitimised, brought out of the stable of mindless ‘content’, and given the same credence and respect as other art forms, then can attitudes and behaviours surrounding it really change for the better?