CINEMA CODE OF CONDUCT
The “Cinema Code of Conduct” above was put together by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo who are, as it’s been explained to me, essentially the Siskel and Ebert of the UK. It’s a great list that, friend of THE LIST, Winter Tyson (of Cinema Scream) thought it might be a bit incomplete. So, he’s enlisted a bunch of bloggers to tack on our own rule to go along with these. I’m going to cheat and add 2 though they are essentially the same. Here they are:
THE SPACE RULE.
Part 1: If the theater is sparse or even nearly empty, you must sit nowhere near me. In particular, you must not sit in front of me. While it may be bad manners, I have every intention of propping my feet up on the seat in front of me and you have no right to impede that. I also don’t want to hear you… or see you… or, worst of all, smell you!
Part 2 (for guys): A one seat gap must be maintained between 2 men seeing a film together. While this started as a homophobic thing, it no longer is. Men just really like having space and everyone wants the arm rest. If the theater is near capacity, this rule may need to be broken but you MUST maintain the gap as long as it is possible… or just bring a purse to throw in the empty seat and say your girlfriend is getting candy!
To see ALL of the bloggers contributing to this post, you need only CLICK HERE!!!
THE LIST 
December 1, 2010 at 12:37 am
[…] The List […]
December 1, 2010 at 1:03 am
Yes yes & yes! Except for the shoe rule. Arriving with clean odorless feet should allow for shoe removal & foot comfort.
December 1, 2010 at 2:13 am
haha! id love to sit right next to you any time Kai…
agree with your number 11 though. as someone who often goes to the flicks when no one else does (i dont like myself, so why would i like ‘other people’ too?) i too like to be stranded amid a sea of empty seats.
December 1, 2010 at 6:58 am
Yes having your own space is an desired perk at a theater…little selfish but still desirable:P You want that to happen more often, then go see more crappy movies. Then the theater is pretty much yours:)
December 1, 2010 at 7:43 am
I don’t think that can happen in my country. I heard that some countries allow people to sit wherever they want but in Indonesia, everyone has to sit based on the chair number we have ordered. If the cinema is really empty, having a space, which means move from the right number, is probably allowed
December 1, 2010 at 8:07 am
One of my weirdest cinema experiences was when I went to see Jet Li’s The One (Don’t judge, yes it was awful but I was going through a Jet Li phase and I was 14). There only this elderly couple in there when I showed up and they were in the front corner so I went up to the middle of the theater. A few minutes before the commercial starts a guy walks in, scans the area then proceeds upward. In my opinion there are 3 people in a theater with 50 seats, the closest you get is one row up or down and a few seats to either side. The guy went up to my row, and began working his way down. I thought oh maybe he’s going to the other side. Maybe, he didn’t see me so I did a little *cough*. Nope guy walked right up next to me, asked if the seat was taken. There’s 3 people in the theater! To be honest he didn’t wait for an answer. The man proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions, why did I like Jet Li, etc. The weird factor on this guy was about 75. So I got up on the pretense of needing a Coke refill, and when I came back promptly say in a front row seat.
Now, had I known about this I would have taken part (nobody tells me nuttin).
December 2, 2010 at 4:22 pm
This is one of those weird stories that is supposed to explain why you don’t go to the movies alone… Fortunately I’ve never run into that, so I remain comfortable with my solo outings.
December 1, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Totally agree about 11, nothing more annoying than people coming to sit right in front of you when the theater is 3/4 empty!!! As for 12, I don’t really care about it as long as we are leaning in opposite directions ahah 🙂
December 2, 2010 at 3:22 am
Oh no! You’re one of those people who puts his feet up on the seat in front of him, shame shame! 😀
December 2, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Personal space issues much? Hey, if your broseph can’t sit next to you, and he didn’t give you a ride to the movies, why did you take him to the movies? I’m not saying you need to be close enough to grab his balls – but if there’s some witty comments to be made (yes, in the lulls I might have something to whisper) it keeps the leaning to a minimum.
To be totally honest, I’ve broken almost all these rules at some point in my life. Although I have yet to do a drug deal while munching on my popcorn.