Cinema stopping kids in suits from coming in - Minions

[jackstini]

DS & his friend (both 13) had tickets this pm for Minions, Rise of Gru

Like lots of people per TikTok, they dressed up in suits/ties - just for fun
Got to cinema and were told they couldn't come in because of what they were wearing

DS called me upset and DH went down to see if he could sort it. Found 5 grown men standing over them and a few other kids, shouting at them that they needed to leave and they were not allowed in. Kids felt very intimidated

No dress code visible in the cinema or on the website

DH asked if they had misbehaved and was told no, we just don't like this suit thing as some of the people on TikTok have kicked off
DH pointed out, they hadn't kicked off, just wanted to watch the film, so what was the problem. Stoney silence
He took them outside, took their jackets & ties off & they went back in 5 minutes later and were admitted by a different member of staff

Is it just me or is this ridiculous? And pathetic for them to treat kids like that

I really want to complain but wanted the MN population to vote on if you think they were BU or not

YANBU - cinema staff were out of order & I should complain
YABU - don't complain

In a very specific circumstance.

Nobody cares if a group of teens wish to go out in suits anywhere else. If they want to pop to Asda or skateboarding they’re perfectly free to do so.

Your 'point' makes absolutely no sense.
Autism, colour and sexual orientation can are not a choice and cannot be removed like a suit.
Discrimination is about who you are, not what you wear.

DS went to see it yesterday (in jeans ) and said about 200 other teens were there in suits and the most they did was clap at the beginning and end. Only about 3 under 10s in there he said
Minions will make billions out of this ironic trend!

My point being that teens are being judged for the behaviour of the minority, just for how they are dressed

Well blame the minority of morons that are disrupting screenings and damaging auditoriums. Management have to be pragmatic, they are acutely aware that there is an active social media craze of suited teens acting like dickheads during the showing of a certain film, they are well within their rights to put in place measures to protect their property and other customers.

I used to live near a premiership football ground, plenty of pubs in the area on match day had a strict 'no colours' dress code, i.e. no football shirts. Unfortunately for many landlords they had learned the hard way that a sizable minority of football fans can't be trusted to behave in the same room with rival fans. A bit unfortunate to your average footie fan who just wants a pint with mates but everyone understood why pubs had such policies and instead blamed the hooligan element who spoiled the fun for everyone else and not the landlords who did not want the business trashed.

My point being that teens are being judged for the behaviour of the minority, just for how they are dressed

It's no more discrimination than it is when banks refuse to admit people wearing ski masks.

plenty of pubs in the area on match day had a strict 'no colours' dress code, i.e. no football shirts

exactly. If your teen is outraged then explain this is part of being an adult. If you choose to align yourself with a group by choosing to present yourself in a certain, specific way then you take on the responsibility of what other people choosing the same have projected into society.

You have the right to present yourself in any way you like and others have the right to exercise the knowledge they have about the way you dress if it’s possibly detrimental to them.

My Year 11 has been planning to go and see it for ages - long before the TikTok trend. And will absolutely not be dressing up or doing anything other than watching the film.

My Year 13 considers it too babyish but would have been there in a suit (potentially causing mayhem - I'm not a parent who thinks their children must be angels) when he was in Year 11.

Unsurprisingly every teenager is different.

I am also the mother of a 15 year old boy, and you can promise nothing. You're wrong.

I voted Yanbu after reading OP, but would change to YABU now. Only if you didn’t know about the TikTok nonsense, it was your boys who were BU.

Ok. I don't know any 15 year old boys who would go and see the minions movie unironically but clearly your sons are much less worried about being seen as babyish than any of the ones I know!

All four of my sons (and the majority of their friends) are self confident and worry very little about their image, plus their generation are at pains to be seen as non-judgemental in literally everything (for each other, they judge the fuck out of the parentals!) so that's not an issue.

Ok. I don't know any 15 year old boys who would go and see the minions movie unironically but clearly your sons are much less worried about being seen as babyish than any of the ones I know!

I've been working the weekend shift so Fri/ sat/ Sunday. We have different groups of teenagers with us. I've now seen Minions twice and another member of staff went to same film , different screenings. In total we have taken 9 teenage lads ( 14- 16) to see it as part of their activity. They choose the activity. All enjoyed it.
Staff are planning to take some of their ( case load) young people to see it this week ( again teens around 14 to 16) No learning needs or behaving younger than their age.
I dont get what is babyish about it.

Oh well done the pair of you for having such grown up children!

Oh my, some of these replies...the reason your little darlings are not being allowed in is because of stupid tik tok videos where they trash the cinema.

*Clymene · Today 11:45

Oh well done the pair of you for having such grown up children!
Ok I'm detecting the sarcasm but what in earth are you on about!!
I've only got adult ' children' and I havent said anything about them.

Yanbu

I have a 15 year old that went to see it on Saturday with his friends but they did wear their own clothes. There was talk of wearing blue dungarees but it never happened. They did genuinely want to see it, you have to remember there is this thing called 'fun' which teenagers are entitled to have but everyone seems to have forgotten that is allowed beyond 10 years old! Those disrupting pull them up on it. That happens all the time regardless of the film and the cinema usually does nothing about it. I took my Dad to see the Aretha Franklin Respect film with my DH and DD who was 10 and a group of teenagers were shouting out about how shit the film was, singing and then chucking sweets, they left after 15 mins and felt the need to shout out the whole audience were the C word before slamming the door to leave. Another set of girls had come along to see it for a birthday treat with the parents and were screaming and giggling, the parents didn't tell them to be quiet and he staff didn't doo anything. An elderly woman who had come to see the film with a carer as she was physically weak, asked them politely if they would stop screaming in hysterics as the film wasn't funny. The Dad went over to this women who was about 80, he was stocky and posh and in her ear said never to address his daughter again and if she had an issue, come to him. The people who are disruptive should be dealt with but they are often not at other times so it is wholly unfair to accuse a person of something that hasn't even happened. Minions is very much a childhood film for 15 year olds, it is not that unsurprising there is an affection for it. In the 90s we would often dress up, silly theatrical make up and go to places, what is the difference? The idea that children, which they still are, should not be doing so many things as they are 'too old' and should be fully functioning rational adults is ridiculous and actually not reflective of their brain development.

Yes and like a PP we went to see the Lion King when I was in the 6th form and Harry Potter when I was at university and first one was really childish. We decided to do both after we had been out all night so looked hungover and worse and there was a group of us going in. Nobody thought stop the 6th formers that stink of last night. Surprisingly we watched the film without any disruption!

Lion king 2, we were going to go to Toy Story in year 11 but wanted to spend the money elsewhere.

@GrinAndVomit - no they had not had any occurrences, just heard of other cinemas that had

Er, because the cinema staff confirmed it!

RTFT

I had already written they specifically said when DH asked that there was no bad behavior from them, it was a preemptive measure

And invested in having at least ten members of staff to manage the situation?

Problems posting so apologies if this posts more than once.

That was kind of my point. 13 and 16 is not the same which is why I weighed in when the PP spoke generally about teenage boys and how they couldn’t possibly have a genuine interest in the film. It’s worth repeating that the OP’s child is 13.

The idea that children, which they still are, should not be doing so many things as they are 'too old' and should be fully functioning rational adults is ridiculous and actually not reflective of their brain development

but neither is treating them as actual children reflective of most teenagers development and it’s the adults job to help them navigate that line. Regarding the wider thread, cinemas drawing a line at letting in teenagers wearing suits to a particular film is recognising that teenagers aren’t rational adults yet and to navigate that they’re declining the opportunity for them to get carried away to the detriment of other customers. They don’t have time to debate the general character of each individual.

On the point whether teenagers should be watching minions, of course they should if they want to. There’s plenty of kids films I, as a fully fledged adult, enjoy. I probably wouldn’t spend the money to see it in the cinema if I didn’t have dc but The idea that children, which they still are, should not be doing so many things as they are 'too old' and should be fully functioning rational adults is ridiculous and actually not reflective of their brain development.I’d certainly watch it if it popped up on tv.

Now that's exactly what they need to do if they make that decision!

Plus put on website/social media so people can make an informed choice about going