The Cinema: An Oscar Winning Experience?

Having ventured to the cinema this week, I swiftly uncovered the alarming expense and annoyances involved in the cinema experience. For the most part, attending the cinema is a pleasant experience. The vast array of films on display means that there’s a choice of film for everyone. A bountiful selection of confectioneries and refreshments ensures that your hunger and thirst is quenched as you enjoy the latest blockbuster. With such a picture perfect image presented, people often neglect the extreme expense and annoyances that are associated with the cinema. This article will be focusing on observations I’ve made whilst partaking in public film viewing.

Upon selecting a film to view, you are prompted to pay a fee for your ticket. I fully appreciate that profit must be accumulated in some form, but requesting seven pounds for a film that’s being displayed for merely an hour and a half seems preposterous.  It seems increasingly ludicrous when you consider that said film will become available on DVD within a matter of months for a similar price.

Having received your ticket, you find yourself craving some of the sweet confectionaries and refreshments on display. You scuttle over fixated with the multitude of sweet treats available to you. Once you’ve selected which mouth-watering sweets you wish to purchase, you find yourself having to part with over ten pounds to enjoy them. Ten pounds may seem like an exaggerated figure, but if you examine the prices of these products meticulously, it becomes abundantly clear that ten pounds doesn’t purchase much in the cinema.

The extravagant price tags placed within the cinema would be problematic for any individual. This financial burden would double for those who have large/extended families. With film trailers constantly being displayed on the television and online, it’s extremely difficult to escape the advertisement ploys that are transmitted.

With your tickets in hand and an array of treats and snacks to devour, you make your way to your selected film. As you enter the designated screening venue, you glance at the seating area only to discover that it is full to capacity. To make matters worse, the majority of the audience are teenagers. You traverse the area, squinting in the darkness searching for a seat. As you discover one, you proceed to make yourself comfortable in preparation for the film.

To your disgust, an onslaught of popcorn and confectionaries is heading your way, followed by sniggers and mild chatter by those aforementioned teenagers. The film begins and you find it difficult to concentrate with the running commentary and comments from the individuals around you. Testing your patience further, the deafening ringing of a mobile phone interrupts the film. Not to mention the people who insist on purchasing refreshments or taking bathroom breaks religiously throughout the whole film. As you vacate the building, you find yourself agitated and confused as to the actual plotline behind the film you watched.

As I mentioned previously, for the most part, attending the cinema is an enjoyable experience. What I merely wished to point out during this article is something that we come across within everyday life. I believe that partaking in public film watching involves a level of respect. You may agree or disagree with this statement, I’m not quite sure. I feel the acts mentioned above such as the conversing during a film demonstrate a lack of respect for the people around them. If individuals merely thought about how their actions affected others or how they’d feel if the situation were reversed, I think this disruptive attitude would become redundant.

Regarding the financial burden of the cinema, I feel that prices are ridiculously inflated and major companies do not consider how this affects their audience. If prices were decreased, it would extend their audience thus generating similar if not healthier revenue. 

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this article. I must express my eagerness in hearing your feedback regarding this article and any article I’ve included here. 

Once again, thanks for reading.

Hannah