OP-ED: TJ EDWARDS BLOG
I remember an old MGM Short film called MOVIE PESTS, about the people who were annoying moviegoers back in 1944. Latecomers, seat changers, big hats, knees on chair backs, feet in the aisle and eating peanuts... very tame by today's standards, which is why I've been developing a new short examining the gall of contemporary cinema bugs.
Back in the early nineties, I pitched two article ideas to John Lindsay, who was then the editor of the LA Times Sunday Calendar (Entertainment) section. One idea was a study of bad manners at the movies, the other involved reviewing and rating local cinemas and movie theatres. Mr. Lindsay encouraged me to work on them and let him know when I had something ready...
I am an uneasy writer, and by the time the Cinema Etiquette article was ready, Mr. Lindsay had moved on. The article was submitted to numerous publications, including the Times. all of them rejected it... then published something remarkably similar. I also showed it to several friends in the movie industry, who all wished that the article could be posted or handed out at the door to every public movie venue.
The original Cinema Etiquette article has been researched and updated many times since the first draft in 1994. Early on, when pumping a friend for feedback, I was told he liked the passages that most revealed my own voice. When pressed to explain, he mentioned several of my statements that could best be described as "snarky." I couldn't believe I was being encouraged to be more jaded and cynical than usual, and tried to temper such remarks with some humor.
Unlike the "remarkably similar" print articles that followed, I wanted to enlighten and not simply amuse. I'm as pissed-off by movie pests as everyone else ("put together!"), but I don't mean to scare anyone off... unless they have their damn feet on the back of my seat, won't shut up, or can't chew with their mouth closed!
As the internet began to proliferate, it occurred to me that a website would be a good place to post reviews and opinions on movie theatres, and discuss the movie experience in general. From this site's conception, through its development, design and construction, it has taken nearly eight years to reach what is now just a beginning.
What we have now is like a big, (but stylish) multiplex, with just a handful of movies showing. So if you wander into an empty room here, think of it as just another cinema where the feature hasn't begun yet. You've arrived early, there are plenty of good, comfortable seats available, and plenty of entertaining, enlightening features are "Coming Soon."
I look forward to sharing my (sometimes snarky) voice, and hearing from others who share my passion and yearning for the finesse, theatricality, and showmanship that are missing from the modern moviegoing experience.
TJE
