17 Mar 2011

The Girl's Speech

Last weekend I watched The King’s Speech, a movie which would have been truly enjoyable had I actually watched it. A sizeable portion was unfortunately lost in the added chatter that was religiously provided by the mother-daughter duo sitting next to me.

The daughter must have been about seven or eight years old. As soon as the movie title appeared on screen, she began her questions.

Mama, what movie is this?
Mama, who is this?
Mama, why is the king stammering?
Mama, why is the lady upset?

In the first five minutes, I fully expected Mama to tell the daughter that they would discuss the movie once they left the movie hall since it was not polite to talk during a movie.

Expectation turned to hope and then desperation. Mama was actually providing detailed answers to each of these questions.

By the time Colin Firth’s speech therapy began, I was seriously in need of some therapy too, with a headache from trying to tune out the conversation that was happening by my side.

The daughter was clearly quite precocious given how well she followed the movie. She was also not shy to ask questions on points she did not understand. In any other context, I would have probably praised the mom for taking the effort to explain everything patiently and which had clearly helped her daughter be more involved, observant and curious about everything.

But Gaahhh!!

Isn’t being considerate to the general public no longer part of a good upbringing?



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You'd think so. But apparently parents these days not only engage kids in conversation, but also let their infants wail, toddlers scream in terror (who brings kids to 7 Khoon Maaf?), and also find time to answer their cell phones (and inform the person at the other end that they are inside a movie theater). touchy subject. Movie watching in India for me is no longer mind numbing, because I find myself waiting all the time, to pounce on the first person who might disturb me

Phew ... *** rant ends ***
Anusha

Archana said...

But why did you not say something?

Just recently, the guy in the row behind us encouraged the 9-10 year old boy with him to read out loud all the names that appeared on the screen when the movie started to play. The boy obeyed. I could not believe my ears and involuntarily loudly exclaimed, "Oh my dear Lord." Thankfully, boy and man shut up immediately. Of course, this works only when the talkers have some sense of shame.

Unfortunately, most talkers have zero sense of shame - in their own universe, they absolutely wonderful and/or enormously funny gifts to to cine-goers.

Sad for me, I seem to run into the shameless morons at most movies I go to watch :-(. I am getting good at blocking out these gratuitous noises - at any rate, my BP no longer shoots up as high as it used to go initially.

p.s. I think the comments are longer than your original post now!

byker7 said...

Condoms save lives. Especialy young, precocious ones.

Anita said...

Anusha/Archana - clearly I am not alone in my movie watching experiences.

Byker7 - I must admit I agree sometimes.

entropy said...

I have the same question as Archana - why didn't you ask the to shut up ??
All the morons who speak on their mobile phones during the movie have brought me to the point where I shamelessly and loudly ask them to shut up. Especially the witch who finished speaking on the phone only to repeat the whole conversation to the old hag sitting next to her. Such people deserve a public scolding.

Also those who keep their cell-phone ringer off but keep answering smses during a movie and have the irritating light shining away.

Zen

Anita said...

Entrophy - Actually during the interval I did tell the mother politiely to shut up. By the time I came back from picking up my popcorn, think the mother and father were in the middle of a full fledged fight on bringing up children. Quietly slunk into D's seat and made him sit next to the parents. Who finally went into a cold war.
Whew.

Jerry said...

I so agree with Zen. Actually I cringe sometimes when Sri does exactly that! He has no qualms in doing the loud 'shush' or asking people to turn their mobile away becoz of their annoying light.

Anyway buying a DVD with a big bowl of popcorn seems far more appealing these days.

Jerry