I really don’t see why it’s so hard to keep quiet during a movie. It’s a movie being shown in a movie house, for God’s sake; it’s not your living room. Don’t these people listen to the singing frogs before each movie starts? The ones that sing about how it sucks when someone talks out loud during the best parts of the movie, and why we shouldn’t talk in the first place because we can’t hit the rewind button and all of that? Anyway, for those who have been to the movies lately, you know what I’m talking about. For people who intend to watch a movie anytime soon, be there early to catch the trailers and listen to what these singing frogs have to say; they make a lot of sense.
Going back to 300, everything was all good up until this rude person decided to keep chit-chatting with his seatmate about stuff that was going on in the film. First there were little snickers. Then followed a number of pointless side comments uttered when a portion of breast was exposed for a good one second. I bet the sight of that breast made him realize how much of a loser he really is. And to cover that up, he tried to make it sound like he’s all cool and "with it," like so-called witty banter about that single film frame of breast made him the coolest person in the world. The "Breast Expert" who can keep a conversation going even when a bare breast is shown on the screen right in front of his face. What a loser.
This dude was obviously older than me, but he was handling the nudity in the film like a kid who was just on the verge of hitting puberty. I don’t know. Can’t these people just grow up?
And as if that wasn’t enough, this dude had side comments for each plot development in the movie. Aside from the nudity (where he was noisiest), there was the "My Two Cents" segment about the protagonist’s wife and her actions; the "Technological Report" wherein he tried to differentiate which scenes used special effects from those that were real; and my favorite of them all, the "Gossip Buzz" where he attempted in vain to make connections between a traitor and the rest of the plot. He talked throughout almost the entire film. Aside from being really annoyed, I think I was amazed at how much of a motor mouth this person was. But really, that amazement lasted a few seconds before I realized I wanted to duct tape his mouth and staple his eyes shut.
I think what took the cake though was when this guy started yelling "Sparta! Sparta!" from the back row. Can you guys imagine that? Okay, for those of you have seen the movie you know the significance of King Leonidas shouting those words. And for those who haven’t seen the film yet, let me just say that there’s something about him screaming those words at the top of his voice that truly makes him a king, and a deserving one at that. But this guy, this annoying guy who must think he’s "da bomb" and is probably only king in the eyes of his pet goldfish, just bastardized the phrase. It was so stupid.
What was even more frustrating was, at the time, no one else seemed to mind that this guy was yammering on and on. I found that I was the only one shushing him and telling him to shut up and all of that. I thought for a while that maybe I was the one looking like a jackass because I was the only one bothered by it. But it’s just stupid. How can people turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to stuff like that? It’s annoying, not to mention rude and discourteous. But I know I was correct and thinking on the right track. I don’t like analyzing stuff like this, but if people are apathetic about others not exercising proper manners, then I guess they’re rude and unrefined people as well. It’s that comfortable slump of indifference that robs such people of the chance to improve and become better and more enlightened human beings.
So my suggestion for movie houses is that they let all moviegoers sign a waiver that only allows patrons to speak up to a certain decibel level. If it goes beyond that marker (and after maybe two or three cumulative warnings), they’re sent out of the movie house and blacklisted for a year from all movie houses. It sounds pretty rough, but it could be the first step away from passiveness and towards being more responsible members of a community. This paradigm shift in thinking and being can all start in the movie houses.