By Maia Venuti
Staff Writer
In the past few weeks, two movies came out that are extremely important to two very distinct fanbases. They are “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”, and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF). One film is a concert film of the entire three hour Taylor Swift Eras concert, and the other is a film adaptation of an iconic horror game franchise. These two movies and their fan bases are different, but they share a blatant commonality: a complete utter absence of decorum and manners in movie theaters where the films are shown.
People at “The Eras Tour” movie are dancing in giant circles in the front row, shining flashlights, belting all the songs as loud as possible and even taking bows at the end of the concert.
What I have seen many defenders of this behavior say is that “The Eras Tour” was made so all of Swift’s fans could experience this iconic tour and that Swift wanted people to treat the movie like a concert. While that may be true, at what concert does the audience bring their own chair to dance with? Or start a massive “Midsommar”-esque dance circle in the front row, or take a bow with the person performing? The answer is none. There is no concert where people do those things.
I could ignore the singing, it could be easily overlooked as a part of a concert movie, if it didn’t interrupt other films in neighboring theaters.
It has been reported by many that people going to see “Killers of the Flower Moon” are hearing the muffled screams of fans singing along with the Eras Tour movie. This has become so much of a problem that it has been recommended that people wanting to see “Killers of the Flower Moon” go see the film on either a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, the days when the Eras Tour movie is not playing.
The fact that this is a problem is absolutely absurd, and completely unheard of. This kind of behavior is not only negative for people looking to simply watch the Eras Tour respectfully, but for folks wanting to see a different movie who are being unwillingly subjected to this lunacy.
Moviegoers at the FNAF film are just as bad, if not worse. Many filmgoers had to leave the theater due to the amount of people not only talking, but full on screaming as the film played. One moviegoer said that they and the person they were with could not sit fifteen minutes before they left because of just how rowdy it was in there. Many fans are seeing the movie as an opportunity to try stand up comedy, screeching unfunny, cringey jokes related to the movie. Whenever there was a scare, people would scream so loud, and for so long that they would still be howling well into the next scene. People I know personally went to see this film at a time on a weeknight to avoid a large crowd and any such negative experience.
This all leads me to beg the question: Why are people acting like this? What is it about these two movies that are causing people to go so feral and lose all manners? Personally, I feel like this is a microcosm of a far bigger issue beyond the two movies.
In general since the pandemic, people have forgotten how to behave in public settings, whether it be mistreating minimum wage workers, or eating 48 oysters on a first date or forgetting to be quiet in a movie theater. People have forgotten that other people exist around them, and that their actions affect others.
I understand being excited to see a movie, especially when the movie is so highly anticipated like these two films are. I am all about having fun and going all out getting dressed up to see a movie, I do that for most movies I see in theaters. But the hijinks occurring at the FNAF movie and the Eras Tour movie are absolutely outrageous.
