Category: Movie Theater Ethnography

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Alana Morel- Movie Theater Ethnography

I recently went to see Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle in theaters as part of Ghibli Fest, which for the past six months or so has been screening a Studio Ghibli film one weekend out of the month in theaters across NYC.

 

I feel like I’m part of a dwindling minority who actually enjoys the movie theater experience. I went to see the film on a Monday night after work, and because this is had such limited screen times, I had to buy the tickets before. I can understand people’s frustrations with skyrocketing movie theater tickets, they are pretty expensive, I paid $25 for two tickets to this screening. However, there are ways to get around that now. We have things like MoviePass, which for less than one standard priced ticket one could essentially see every new movie that comes out each month. Of course, there are people who aren’t movie theater fanatics who wouldn’t want to pay a monthly fee for an excursion they take maybe once every three months, that’s fair. Another alternative, which I have been using before I knew about MoviePass, was PlumBenefits. PlumBenefits is a little more restrictive in the fact that usually these are perks you would receive through your job (you can check if your job has a membership on their website) and from there you can buy discounted movie tickets, around 9 dollars for Regal Cinemas and 10 for AMC. The only snag is that you would have to use these tickets to buy them at the box office, so for Ghibli Fest, which often required me to order the tickets online in advance, I was unable to use the discount. That being said, I actually hadn’t seen much of Studio Ghibli’s films, save Kiki’s Delivery Service, so I didn’t mind paying the extra $2.50. I also didn’t mind because I really enjoy the theater experience, I just like being able to get away from home sometimes. I always get popcorn and a drink before the movie, and even though the screenings for the Studio Ghibli’s films have come without trailers, I thoroughly enjoy watching trailers. Not only do they put me in the know for upcoming films, but they tend to be set to really dramatic hype music which always gets to me. For Howl’s Moving Castle, I went to the AMC movie theater at Kips Bay. there they have reclining seats, which means I basically get to watch the movie laying down. However, because these films tend to have these long pauses of just scenery, laying down can lull me into a doze, so I opt for a position where my feet are up, but I’m still sitting upright. The audience were all Studio Ghibli enthusiasts, and it was really nice to see parents bring their children in to view the classics in a movie theater setting, it gives this sort of illusion of the film being released for the first time again. The audience overall were very polite, and at the end of the film there was a round of applause.

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Movie (Theater) Ethnography: Elmer Ortega

On Saturday December 9th, 2017, I went with my family to see the Pixar film Coco. My family is Mexican and we had been excited for weeks to see the film because it has been out in Mexico for quite some time already and has already become the highest grossing film of all time there. (To say more about the film’s general appeal rather than its cultural appeal to Mexicans, the film is breaking Pixar records in China where many were surprised that the film was not censored due to China’s refusal to show skeletons on screen. It was allowed after censors screened the film and left the screening in tears) . We went to see the film at AMC Bay Plaza in the Bronx where we live which is a predominantly Hispanic borough. Which explains what happened next.

My family all speak Spanish except for the young kids, who can barely even speak at all. Spanish is our first language. When we got to the theatre we were in the process of buying the tickets when we were told that there was a Spanish language version of the film that we could watch. This was exciting for me as many times my family, primarily my parents, have trouble connecting or understanding a film because of the language barrier. They speak and write in English but being that it’s their second language it becomes difficult for them to immerse themselves into a film. We quickly chose the Spanish-language version. It turned into one of the best times I have ever had at a movie theatre.

Not only was the film in Spanish but it did not feel as it was an afterthought but rather the initial plan of Pixar to make the film in Spanish. The songs sounded like they were meant to be sung in Spanish, the jokes flowed better in Spanish. It was one of the first times in my life that I was able to take my parents to see a film in their native language. Usually they are asleep by the first 15 minutes, but all throughout the film I kept looking over at them and seeing the joy in their faces at being able to connect so strongly to a film.

At the end of the film, my mom was emotional and teary-eyed and my dad had the biggest smile on his face. What this film was able to do was to capture a culture they grew up in with enough respect to treat it as normal rather than exotic. For a moment in the theatre, Coco transported them back home.

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“Mudbound” Theater Ethnography

On November 20th I was lucky enough to attend a showing of “Mudbound” at the Titus Theater inside the Museum of Modern Art. I had recently been gifted a membership card which allowed me free entry into the theater. I had never attended a screening at MoMa and was shocked at how large the auditorium was. The room was flat, so there were no levels nor did the seats ascend upwards towards the back. Because of this I chose to sit in the front row towards the side. Usually I prefer the seat dead center in a row that is fairly far back, but because the seating did not raise upward like a standard theater I chose to sit somewhere my view would be completely unobstructed in case someone taller sat in front of me. I was also anticipating having a good view of the director Dee Rees during her post screening Question&Answer session. The screen seemed to be a similar size as one in a regular theater, however I didn’t notice the curving of the screen on the sides that I typically do while watching a movie. Eating was not allowed so I had a light snack before the movie started at 7:30pm. My favorite time to see movies is at night on weekends because I love hearing the reactions of other audience goers during the film and feel it makes the experience more memorable.

The people at the MoMa were relatively older and few of them had questions for the director Dee Rees after the screening. One woman burst into tears while explaining that her own relative had undergone a similar fate as one of the main characters. After the Q&A, Rees spoke with the young woman and many others, including myself about the topics seen in the film. I snapped a photo with Rees and spoke to her about her first film, Pariah, which I adore. Once everyone had spoken to her, her handlers rushed her off and viewers were allowed to walk through the exhibits to exit the museum. All in all it was a great experience and I can not wait to put my MoMa membership card to use again.

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Movie Theater Ethnography: Justice League (2017)

Over Thanksgiving break, my friends, girlfriend & I decided to go see the new Justice League movie that came out. We have our own group chat where we discuss all things relevant (and irrelevant) about the movie and have been following the movie up until release. We already knew a sufficient amount of knowledge about the DC Universe, DC vs. Marvel, and the controversial reviews about the film. We decided to go see it for ourselves to determine why this film received such negative views and to have a good time, watching a superhero film in the 21st century is always filled with eye candy, excitement, thrill and lust for action, comedy and storylines.

We began by purchasing tickets online to skip the long lines at the theaters. We decided on a movie theater and showtime where we all could accommodate and watch it together. We decided to go to AMC Empire Theater 25, which is right on 42nd Times Square, and chose a late 10:45 pm showing with reserved seating, since one of our friends was meeting up after work and he works around there. Everyone purchased their tickets through Fandango, trusted and fairly easy to use. I purchased two tickets, one for myself and one for my girlfriend which came out to $35.58.

All of us met up 20 minutes before the showing, so we can get snacks and watch the trailers of upcoming movies. AMC Empire Theater 25 is located on 42nd, so of course, visually and geographically it was a popular and vibrant place to be. Good thing we purchased our tickets online because the lines at the theater were pretty long. Patting ourselves on the back walking past the long lines we stumble upon the concession stand only to greet us with an even longer line. Great. We stand on line waiting for the two concession stand workers almost zombie-like to take care of the customers and their needs. Its finally our turn to purchase snacks. First off, I made sure my girlfriend bought them. We got nachos, a slushy and a drink. Forget the exact pricing but came around $20 something, no surprise there. The fountain to get our drinks and little island to get napkins, straws and butter for our popcorn was extremely dirty, sticky and disorganized. We notice two workers on the side, clearly have knowledge about the mess, but continue to ignore and talk anyways.

We finally get in the theater, and my initial impression was, wow, the seats are cramped. They were somewhat smaller in size and slightly uncomfortable. But hey, atleast it was reserved so we all got to sit next to each other. The theater itself was pretty packed, almost all seats were taken. During the movie, the audience (including us) was quiet and well-mannered. We, as the audience, were loud at times and quiet the rest, it was a unified notion throughout, everyone was enjoying the film. No cellphones were noticed during the screening, no screaming babies, nothing. Movie ends. Everyone is cheering and applauding the film. Credits roll, no one leaves their seats, because there is always an after credit scene or two. We, as the audience, watch the end credit scenes and do a secondary applaud and shout of excitement. After the film, it was a general consensus that Justice League was a phenomenal film and was highly enjoyable thanks to the film and the setting of which was experienced. It was a pleasurable experience.

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The Alamo

One Friday afternoon my GIRLfriend 😉 and I decided to skip class to go on a little city adventure. We jumped on a random subway and looked at the potential stops we could get off at. We decided Dekalb was a great choice and thought there would be many options to choose from around the area. Upon entering the Fulton Street Mall we knew we had made the right decision. Exploring the different floors of the mall we came across the “Alamo Drafthouse Cinema” at the top! We looked at different movie times to see which would best fit our agenda. It was only 5:40 and the next movie start time was “Falkirk” playing at 6:30 p.m. She’s also kind of a history nerd so she was intrigued. We noticed that there was a student discount so we had to jump at the opportunity. With some time to kill, we continued to wonder about the mall. In the basement we came across a Trader Joe’s which was the perfect place to shop for snacks to sneak in! We bought: multi-grain pumpkin o’s, Trader Joe’s milk chocolate covered pretzels, and Trader Joe’s pumpkin organic toaster pastries (it was clearly pumpkin season) and of course a bag of original movie theater popcorn. We shoved it all into our bags and returned to the cinema. When buying our tickets we had to select the specific row and seats we wanted to sit in. Upon entering the theater, we noticed there were tables located among the seats. Food dishes and drinks were being served like it were a dining experience. We continued to our seats. The table located between us was lit underneath making it very difficult to conceal our sneaky snacks. Eventually we gave in and bought milkshakes which turned out to be more expensive than our movie tickets. The movie was great, Harry Style’s was greater, and the Alamo Drafthouse is the greatest.

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Harshvir Latta – An Expensive Movie Outing

After watching Children of Men in my favorite class I still had appetite to go watch another movie. Also the fact that I did not enjoy it as much I was told, but that is a topic for the response paper. Anyway, searched Google for “movies near me” which showed a long list of screenings in a 5 mile radius, so there were alot of options. I had heard of about Ladybird in quite a few conversations, the reviews were raving, so I decided to watch the 6.45 show at Lincoln square AMC, ambitious timing because I did not want to pay for a taxi and wanted to walk across to the west side and it was already 6.10. I reached on time to find a surprisingly long line. Only five minutes were left before the movie started and the line did not seemed to come to an end. So I looked on Google again for other showtimes and decided on watching Ladybird at AMC empire 25 at 7.20. Reached 15 min early and got to the kiosks to buy my ticket. Choose the movie and the time, then came the ticket price, $16.49, *cough* rip off. But because I like movies more than money I clicked continue which took me to seat selection, which surprisingly only had some corner seats in the back and the very front row available. Surprising because I did not take Ladybird as a crowd puller, not when the Hollywood brainchild, formula driven, superhero blockbuster Justice League is playing in theaters. Anyway I did not want to break my neck watching sideways or straight up, so I clicked on the Kiosk home button to check for other movies playing, nothing good was playing except hiding on the last page was Three Billboards Near Ebbing, Missouri. I wasn’t sure of putting my “large investment” into a movie I had not heard alot about. I was hungry at that point so I went across the street to Five Guys for some burgers and fries which in retrospect was not a good choice before sitting down still for two hours. Anyway I searched about the “Billboard” movie and critics called it “one of the best movies of the year”. I finished my food and went to buy the ticket. Same red kiosk, seating chart had two or three rows full, I choose a middle row and middle seat, I have an issue with seating, even one seat off center, my mind cannot concentrate on the movie. Anyway after climbing endless escalators, I reached the dimly lit theater. Sticky floor, smell of popcorn and sound of coke on the pre-show advertisement made me want some even though I was full, these people are getting good at consumerism. A couple sat on my right side and a girl on my left. I prefer watching movies with no one around, people are just distracting, fidgeting, crunching on popcorn, especially people on dates, who want to impress their partner with really bad movie trivia. After watching alot of previews, which I thoroughly enjoy, the movie started. It was a good crowd, no one used their phones, laughed at the same things I laughed. After watching the movie which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommended, the credits rolled and the theatre was empty before even the credit for Director of Photography came on screen. Anyway I left after watching the credits, going down endless escalators to reach 42nd St. It was full of life as always and being a Friday, tourists were all over, and I mean literally all over. Took the E train back to Queens where I live which went local, obviously because well MTA does not want me to reach home. So I wrote this whole review on the train, which drained all my phone battery, hope this does not affect grading. I wanted to watch another movie but I had work the next day so I went to sleep. Sorry went a bit longer than I expected.

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Movie Theater Ethnography: Coco

Over the weekend,  I watched Coco with my family. It was the perfect choice for a casual movie evening and for my younger brother. The tickets were about $16 each at the AMC at 34th street. I bought them early in person and found out theater makes you choose seats upon purchase. I picked middle seats near the back. My girlfriend got fries and came back once the theater was packed. Immediately after getting to her seat, she had to leave again to use the bathroom, so everyone had to move two more times.

The Frozen short that played before Coco was excruciating. I felt cheated out of my time but resisted pulling out my phone since some kids seemed to be enjoying the short. I tuned out until the movie started and noticed that the left side of the screen had a large vertical shadow/vignette shading it. I pointed it out to my girlfriend, who got upset that she could not unsee it. The shadow did not go away for the entirety of the film.

When I first walked into the theater, I was primarily concerned about how many babies would be there. Fortunately, only one cried during the movie and it was quickly silenced. There were a lot of children, who all stayed quiet and still after previews, which was a pleasant surprise. Overall, the experience was decent for a family film in large commercial theater.

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Movie Theater Ethnography: Beach Rats

My ethnography for my viewing of Beach Rats by Eliza Hitman occurred a few weeks prior to the assignment. My friend and I bought our tickets ahead of time because we were going on the last day of screening and thought buying at the door would be too risky. The film was screened at the Landmark Sunshine Cinemas at 8 PM. We arrived a few minutes early and decided to buy nachos. The employee decided to give us an extra cup of nacho cheese free of charge. The theater was average in size. The bathrooms had portraits of famous characters in film history. For the women’s bathroom, an illustration of Uma Thurman’s character in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace. The men’s bathroom feature a picture of Robert DiNero’s character in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle. It was a rainy day, so there were a few abandoned umbrellas scattering the seats of the theater where the movie was being screened. Although we both expected a bigger turnout due to it being the last day of screening, only a hand full of people occupied the seats. My friend and I sat in the 5th row down, the seats where screen was in perfect eyesight and looking up or down wasn’t necessary. A group of three teenagers sat two rows in front of us, and a couple in what appears to be their mid-twenties sat in the far left corner. As the film played, the theater was mostly quiet, aside from the rhythmic crunch of the nachos we bought being turned to mush in our mouths, whispers from me and my friend to each other about what we think is going to happen and why Hitman decided to include certain things in her narrative, and the occasional gasp from one of the teens whenever a penis appeared on the screen. When the credits rolled, everyone except for the couple had gotten out of their seats and left the theater.

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Movie Theater Ethnography: Phantom Thread

Daniel Day Lewis in Phantom Thread

On November 26, I had the opportunity to attend a private evening screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film Phantom Thread at the School of Visual Arts theater in Chelsea. I was sent an invite to the screening nearly a week in advance through email and eventually (no vacant spots were available when I received the invite) managed to reserve myself a spot for the event. I arrived at the theater around 20 minutes early and as is customary with National Board of Review screenings, I had to check in with a NBR representative when I entered the theater. The lobby of the SVA theater was modestly populated with attendees coming in and hanging around and the decor was minimalist (black only color scheme). After checking in, I went straight to the screening room in the hopes of securing a seat with an optimal vantage point (a couple of rows away from the front of the screen and seated in the middle of the row) but found to my disappointment that most of the rows in the center of the room were filled. Looking around the screening room, the only rows that had vacant seats in the middle were the front row and a couple of rows at the back of the room.

The screening room was modest in size, it looked like it could hold a capacity of about 70 occupants. Deciding to sit at the front row, I discovered a peculiar trait of the screening room which was that there was a raised platform inches away from the front row. The space between the platform and the front row was so narrow that whenever someone wanted to move across the row, people seated in the row had to stand up to allow passage. The seats in the room had red polyolefin fabric and narrow armrests. Waiting for the screening to begin, I turned to my phone for reading material to pass the time but unavoidably overheard various conversations from the attendees (filmmakers and film students alike) situated around me; seated behind me were two women having a conversation about post-production challenges that one of the women were experiencing, within my row nearby was a trio of men discussing the films they’ve seen through NBR screenings for end-of-the-year honors consideration.

When the time came for the screening to commence, an NBR representative gave the routine announcement that prefaces all NBR screenings; a statement that specifies the film’s title, run-time, the talent that will be present for the Q&A after the screening, and reiterating that cellphones must be put away and that no photos or recordings of the Q&A (both audio and video) will be permitted. After the screening of the film, we were treated to a Q&A with Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Day Lewis, Leslie Manville, and Vicky Krieps. Since I was situated in the front row, the Q&A was conducted a mere 4 feet away from me on the raised platform (which was a surreal experience). As for the film itself, I thought Phantom Thread was fine but when compared to PTA and Lewis’ prior collaboration There Will Be Blood, I liked Blood a lot more than Thread.

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Movie Ethnography: Three Viewings

I saw three films in three theaters during Thanksgiving break. They were Thelma, Ladybird and Justice League. It was Saturday I saw Thelma at the Village East Cinema in Manhattan which is a theater that caters to limited release features. As a MoviePass subscriber, I pay $10.99 a month and I can watch one movie a day, but the actual ticket price was $8. I didn’t buy a drink this time because the concession stand was empty. The theater was small, around 40 seats, fold-up when you stand up, and a total of 11 patrons total including me. Most were single viewers; 3 college aged, 1 older woman, 1 older man, and a father-daughter couple. They were quiet during the show, but there was small discussion of what the film was about afterward.

The second film was Ladybird at Kew Gardens Cinemas in Queens. It skews more toward limited release as well and one of the few places in Queens to see smaller films, but there are also wide release features as well. The actual ticket price was $8 and I bought a $4 soda. The theater is around 100 seats and was at 70% capacity so very full. Older people mostly with some couples. The seats are fold-up, packed and there is only one aisle. The audience laughed at the appropriate times, but toward the end a guy started asking what was going on. That got a lot of shushes and shut ups. After it was over, I overheard the old ladies in the row in front say they didn’t like it. One fell asleep and another couldn’t believe how mean the mother was.

In contrast to these theaters, AMC Bay Terrace shows wide release and has recliner seats. The cost of a ticket would be $14.30 and a large soda was $5.60. There are exactly 92 seats, 103 counting reserved handicap seats. Despite that, there was probably under 30 people, some single, couples and a family with young children. They were mostly quiet. I did see the bright screens of a smartphone from a number of patrons. Since this is a definition popcorn flick, there was popcorn on the floor.