These Switzies, they're so foreign.
Going to the movies here is weird enough what with the allocated seating, different ticket price for different areas in the theatre, intermissions, and outrageous enthusiasm for dubbing instead of subtitling. Actually, I've found that only the dubbing part of that is relevant lately (maybe I'm just going to the right movie theatres, but I haven't had an intermission in ages), but I think all the years of indoctrination with allocated seating might have had a permanent effect on the movie-going habits of many Swiss folk. In my experience, ticket-sellers at Swiss cinemas, when they have to allocate seats, tend to allocate everyone into the smallest space possible. Even if there are only 10 of you in the whole theatre, you'll all be wedged into the middle, nary a spare seat between you, and your Charming Swiss Companion will be surprisingly hesitant to agree to move with you to other seats so that you can have some elbow room. If, unlikely as it is, you do happen to use your initiative and move to a seat other than your allocated one, you can be sure that someone will come in and say "excuse me, you're in my seat". Everyone cares that much about being where they're supposed to be.
Even now, in the brave new world of "sit where you like! All the tickets cost the same!" a lot of people can't bear to see a seat in the middle go to waste. At pretty much every movie I've seen in the last few days (which is about 10) I've seen people come into the (usually mostly-empty) theatre just as the lights are going down, spot a single reasonably-central spare seat (usually with coats/scarves/bags on it) between groups of other people, and squish past everyone else in the row to ask "is that seat free?" rather than just taking a slightly less central seat that perhaps has spare seats around it. I'd rather sit at the end of the row and have a bit of room to myself and be able to whisper annoying commentary to my Charming Swiss Companion (that's Reto, by the way, not some Mystery Swiss Companion) without annoying other people as well, than have the "best" seat in the house. Apparently no one agrees with me.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
... or how to waste time in the land of stupid laundry
4 comments:
You have just done a perfect summary of why I have stopped going to movies since coming to Switzerland.
Well, now my excuse is a 6 month old baby.
But I didn't go before because I found it all so distractingly annoying!
Fortunately they can't stop me so easily. They'll have to think up something much more fiendish than just sitting next to me to stop me from going to the movies. Maybe 2 intermissions would do it.
I went to the movies at the George Street complex last week (won't tell you what as it was so hideously low-brow and popular you would mock me and think less of me in future if you knew), and they gave out allocated seating! In Australia! You could choose the back section or the front section but that was it. How bizarre, right? And, they have the different prices for 'gold' class seats here as well... it is like the Australian cinema establishment is turning to Switzi models for the way forward.
Back to the allocated seating, though, we still just went and sat in a good spot over on the side where there was no-one sitting near us. Obviously.
I don't see how anyone could stand for the introduction of allocated seating. I mean really, it's insane. Just say no, Australia (because of course all of Australia is reading this)!
In other news, lots of the festy films here were on at the local George St-megaplex (or whatever) -equivalent, and it was so odd! I haven't been to a big movie place like that for ages (mostly because all the movies on there are dubbed in to french, and I say NO to dubbing. NO NO NO), and it was so big and red and identical to every Hoyts (or whatever) you've ever been to. It was just like the olden days.
Post a Comment