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Original poster

Masks in cinema

113 replies

Sebw · 17/05/2021 01:20

Do you need to keep them on when watching the film or can you use eating and drinking as an excuse to keep them off

OP posts:
MarcelineMissouri · 17/05/2021 20:32

@ilovesooty

I don't see why people need to eat and drink in the cinema anyway.
If no one ate at a cinema there wouldn’t be a cinema to go to. They don’t make their money from ticket sales. Most of that goes to the film distributors.
EvilOnion · 17/05/2021 20:34

What a bizarre analogy.

The whole idea of a theme park revolves around the rides, part of the leisure industry.

The cinema is centred around watching a movie, it's not part of the food/drink industry.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 17/05/2021 20:34

@toocold54

I love going to the cinema

I will not be going if I have to wear a mask while watching a film

The students at my school have been wearing a mask all day every day for months and none of them complain about it.
I’m sure you’ll be ok wearing one for a 2 hour film.

Completely irrelevant.

Do your students pay to go to school?

Do they go to school for a night out?

EvilOnion · 17/05/2021 20:35

And I say that as someone who's partial to a cinema hot dog 😁

WarwickHunt · 17/05/2021 20:35

Honestly, I'd just wait for the lights to go down and then pull the mask down a bit.

CoffeeWithCheese · 17/05/2021 20:51

Won't be going while popcorn eating is the new source of social stigma and shaming (it's not the cinema without a big popcorn to nibble on), and won't be paying the arm and a leg cinema entrance prices are while it's an unpleasant experience for me as I find masks and being around masked people very difficult to deal with.

I'm not doing things that have been made excessively unpleasant by covid measures - so no "leisure" shopping either and nowhere with crazy rules and so much stripey tape it looks like a crime scene.

ilovesooty · 17/05/2021 20:59

@EvilOnion

What a bizarre analogy.

The whole idea of a theme park revolves around the rides, part of the leisure industry.

The cinema is centred around watching a movie, it's not part of the food/drink industry.

Exactly. You're in a cinema for a fairly limited time, and the main purpose is to see the film. You go to theme parks to go on the rides, not to look at them.
Mrgrinch · 17/05/2021 21:21

Who cared if it's not a good example the point is the snacks are part of the experience. If you say they're not then you're just being weird and think not eating popcorn somehow makes you a superior cinema visitor.

anon12345678901 · 17/05/2021 21:35

@EvilOnion

What a bizarre analogy.

The whole idea of a theme park revolves around the rides, part of the leisure industry.

The cinema is centred around watching a movie, it's not part of the food/drink industry.

Actually cinemas make a lot of money from concessions, so it's pretty important to them. They don't tend to make that much from ticket sales alone due to the cost they pay to the studio. So food and drink are actually really important to the cinema industry.
battenburgwithtea · 17/05/2021 22:08

Popcorn is one of the things which makes the cinema fun. It's a massive space so if you're not sitting near anyone and nobody is speaking then to my mind that's better than a restaurant where you can be sitting back to back and people talking. Anyway I prefer going to the cinema than eating out and it's cheaper. I don't care if others don't wear masks, unless it's busy. So for now I'm going to something I expect will be fairly quiet.

herecomesthsun · 17/05/2021 22:47

[quote MarcelineMissouri]@herecomesthsun whilst I concur that going to the cinema is obviously not essential when compared to going to buy food, it is yet another industry that enables the people who work in it (including my dh) to have the money to buy that food. I understand that some people may not feel comfortable returning for a while but the way that so many posters are so flippant about these ‘non essential’ industries as if they can just disappear with no impact on anyone really winds me up. You think everyone should just be happy to watch everything on Netflix now? It just doesn’t compare as an experience. And it certainly won’t put food on our table![/quote]
No, as I have said I have been shielding till recently and would feel uncomfortable sitting indoors with a group of random people for 2 or 3 hours, in a place with no windows.

As much as I sympathise with the cinema industry, and I do, I am voting with my feet on this one.

hamsterchump · 17/05/2021 22:57

Just been to the cinema this evening. We took our masks off once seated just like before the last lockdown. No one's going to check if you're wearing a mask once you're sat down, how would they even do that? It would disturb everyone and ruin the film.

MarcelineMissouri · 17/05/2021 22:58

@herecomesthsun I understand that which is why I also said I know there will be many people who do not feel comfortable going yet.

It’s the comments about something being non essential and how you can watch films at home which wind me up as they just show such a disregard for other people’s lives and livelihoods. And I mean in general, not just your post - you see it all the time. People saying ooh I won’t be doing this or that and it’s not essential anyway.... I totally understand some people will choose not to do some activities for some time to come, it’s the flippant way in which it is said with no thought for those of us who’ve spent over a year now wondering what will happen to jobs and livelihoods, the stress of businesses closed and no money coming in for month after month and no idea what the future holds for an industry we’ve been involved in our entire working lives. Then you read people just being so dismissive about it - it’s just another knife in the wound really.

EvilOnion · 17/05/2021 22:58

@Mrgrinch how is it weird to point out that the main purpose of going to the cinema isn't to eat snacks?

I don't like popcorn myself - can't say I've ever felt superior about it mind 🤣

Nat6999 · 17/05/2021 23:03

Hopefully only another 5 weeks & then no masks at all.

Tumbleweed101 · 18/05/2021 06:40

I think there are half the people put off by having to wear masks and the other half put off by the thought of others not wearing them.

Personally I would be pulling it down as I can’t watch a film through steamed up glasses and if half the people aren’t wearing one as they are eating I don’t see the difference. However I work in a job with no social distancing throughout the pandemic. Have been vaccinated and testing regularly. I don’t feel I’m a high risk to anyone else at this point.

Florelei · 18/05/2021 06:49

@luckylavender

I can't bear going to the cinema and listening to people eating and rustling food. Find it really off putting & selfish.
Yep it’s going to be even more of a nightmare now people are buying enough food to be eating and drinking continuously for the whole film. If the people on this thread are representative it’s going to be a film filled with the added sound effects of a load of people rustling and slurping. Sounds great.

I mean this seems excessive. Cinema food and drinks are often overpriced. Spending £15/£20 to avoid wearing a bit of material on your face and then eating food you probably don’t really want feels a little.... disproportionate to me!

Mrgrinch · 18/05/2021 07:25

[quote EvilOnion]@Mrgrinch how is it weird to point out that the main purpose of going to the cinema isn't to eat snacks?

I don't like popcorn myself - can't say I've ever felt superior about it mind 🤣[/quote]
Because people on here feel superior about such pathetic things.

Maybe you don't like it, that's fine. But them saying it's completely unnecessary and basically anyone who feels the need to enjoy a snack with their film is a gluttonous pig is just ridiculous.

EvilOnion · 18/05/2021 07:36

@Mrgrinch Where did I "basically" say that? Please feel free to quote me so I can correct myself...

I suspect however you didn't actually read my response or follow up and decided to create your own narrative and pick a silly argument.

I never said I had a problem with people eating/drinking at the cinema. I eat at the cinema sometimes, admittedly not all the time but I'm prone to a cinema hot dog or a pick n mix every now and then and ALWAYS buy a drink - as I've said twice on here already.

My comment (as stated) was in direct response to the bizarre comparison of going on rides at a theme park to eating in the cinema. Snacks are a source of revenue but they're not the main purpose of going to the cinema unlike rides at a theme park. That's fact. Nothing more.

Mrgrinch · 18/05/2021 07:45

@EvilOnion you do realise that not everyone's posts are directed at you don't you?

SunshiningBetty · 18/05/2021 07:48

@CharlotteRose90

I love going to cinema. I’ll wear my mask till I’m seated then I’ll be taking it off for the film. I have drinks and popcorn or sweets . If I wanted to wear a mask I’d watch a film at home.
Anti mask intelligence right there Grin
EvilOnion · 18/05/2021 07:56

@Mrgrinch I'm aware of how it works but you referenced my post in a reply then literally quoted me on a second 🤦‍♀️🤣

herecomesthsun · 18/05/2021 07:56

@MarcelineMissouriNot sure how it is being dismissive to state something which is the truth (and which the speaker would rather was not the case)?

I love the arts, love music, the theatre and cinema and took the kids to stuff very very regularly pre lockdown.

And there are quite a few people like me, I imagine, who are trying to work out the best way forward right now.

We get emails from the arts organisations who have organised stuff we attended, asking when we would be likely to get back to seeing things in house. I think they have had a lot of answers suggesting this won't be for quite a while as things are.

I'm very interested in stuff like drive in movies though, if we get a suitable one at a time and place that works.

MarcelineMissouri · 18/05/2021 08:03

I imagine you don’t see the flippancy because it’s just a non essential activity for you and not your livelihood.

Imnothereforthedrama · 18/05/2021 08:14

[quote MarcelineMissouri]@herecomesthsun I understand that which is why I also said I know there will be many people who do not feel comfortable going yet.

It’s the comments about something being non essential and how you can watch films at home which wind me up as they just show such a disregard for other people’s lives and livelihoods. And I mean in general, not just your post - you see it all the time. People saying ooh I won’t be doing this or that and it’s not essential anyway.... I totally understand some people will choose not to do some activities for some time to come, it’s the flippant way in which it is said with no thought for those of us who’ve spent over a year now wondering what will happen to jobs and livelihoods, the stress of businesses closed and no money coming in for month after month and no idea what the future holds for an industry we’ve been involved in our entire working lives. Then you read people just being so dismissive about it - it’s just another knife in the wound really.[/quote]
I agree I have no desire to sit in a freezing beer garden but I understand so many do and the hospitality industry is grateful , this essential malarkey winds me up . Ffs let people live I’m sick of the but if you don’t understand etc or you a anti lockdown/ mask / Covid denier . No we are not we just want to get on with life the best we can do .
We’ve all done lockdown we can now do things so let us . God if we all did as some people are suggesting the economy would really be screwed. But of course Covid trumps everything doesn’t it .
I think people are going to agree to disagree those that don’t feel it safe and those that do .