Accordion City writer James Reid and his girlfriend went out a Friday night to see a preview screening of Derailed, which came with a free search-and-seizure procedure:
…the line was moving slowly because they were asking customers to raise their arms so that they could be electronically frisked with a metal detector, and women’s purses were being searched by uniformed security guards. Try to remember that this is Toronto, Canada we’re talking about here, not New York, Tel Aviv or London.
People who submitted to the search (everyone from what I could tell) had their cellphones taken from them and checked at a table set up in front of the theatre and they were given a ticket to reclaim it when they left.
I was having none of this, and checked the back of my ticket stub to ensure that there was no mention of being required to submit to a search listed as a condition of sale.
As my girlfriend and I made it to the front of the line, the guard looked at me and asked me to raise my arms for the search. I politely declined saying “No, thank you”, and proceeded to the ticket taker. I could hear him calling “Sir! Sir!” behind me, but even though I slowed my pace in case he was really going to do something about it, as I had expected, I wasn’t stopped.
The ticket taker took my ticket and I waited for my girlfriend just inside the gate, as her purse was being subjected to a thorough going through by one of the guards.
Since she was there for work, and her deadline was that night, she was not ready to risk not seeing the movie. Her 150 words won’t have room for what happened next.
Her phone was taken from her and put in a sealed plastic bag with a claim ticket, and she joined me where I was waiting, past the gate, and we walked into the theatre together.
To add further insult to the debacle at the gate, near the exits at stage right and left were two uniformed security guards at each door, all four with video cameras scanning the crowd and making themselves very conspicuous.
This was not just a bit of pre-show MPAA theatre, they stood there for the entirety of the movie, red LED’s glowing, scanning the crowd to remind us that we were under close surviellence [sic] and our actions were being recorded.
5 replies on “When Did Movie Theatres Become Police States?”
This happend to me this year! Got invited to a preview of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (librarian connection), and was searched and dephoned! Unbelievable.
Actually this has been going on for over 2 years. I first witnessed it when I went to an advance screening of Alien, Director’s Cut in October 2003 (a title that annoys me because the 1979 release version WAS the director’s cut). What was doubly puzzlying was this was a 24-year-old movie, with added scenes that had long been available on laser and dvd. Who would want to download a crappy cam-copy of this?
Still my reaction was to be appalled at first but since then I’ve grown to accept it…. which reminds me of the time I went to see Malcolm X at a downtown theatre in 1992. The line-up was predominately black and as we started to move inside I was startled to see uniformed police officers (not security guards, but guys with guns) doing a metal search of everyone entering the theatre. What surprised me more was the non-chalent attitude of the other people in line. They just sighed, threw up their hands, turned around, and waited politely to be waved through.
And what really pissed me off is when my friends and I reached the entrance they waved us in without searching us at all (presumably because we were the only white ones in the line-up).
You know, London hasn’t changed much, if at all following the bombings. At the moment Blair is even having to water down proposed new anti-terrorist laws (hold without charge for 90 days, as opposed to the 14 it is at present).
Life is, pretty much, as normal here. Our way of showing that terrorists won’t beat us.
And no sooner do I post that, than Blair is his mission to make my life miserable decides to continue his crusade, even though there is a real possibility that he’ll get defeated on the vote.
Oh – and happy (late) birthday Joey.
It’s actually been the case for a while in some cities, from what I’ve heard it was the case in Michigan as far back as the early 90s. Hell if I have to go out the movie theatre isn’t exactly what I had in mind, and those places aren’t adequately equipped to give me peace of mind that I can get out of there quick enough if a confrontation did escalate, I can always watch a film at home, and you’re probably better off doing so in some areas.