So last night was ushering for Spring Awakening. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s a pop musical with the broad context being budding teen sexuality, from top to bottom. The themes are love and how we reconcile the adults we are going to be with the society we live in. A little “language”, a little nudity, some hot button issues (masturbation, teen sex, child abuse, homosexuality, abortion). So in usher briefing, I asked, “What do we do if somebody is, mmmm, traumatized?”
I thought it was a legit question. The house staff were of the opinion that there were warnings on the website, warnings in the lobby, warnings in the advertisements – mature matter, not recommended for children under 15, blah, blah, blah (ha! Spring Awakening joke). So nobody should be coming in not knowing what they’re getting into.
But sometimes people think they know. But they don’t know. And then there’s a teenager wanking off on stage. It could be startling. Even though this is not the nudity part. It was pretty obvious.
And as I seated people I tried to pick out, “Who will it be?” There was one brother and sister, older, 70s maybe. He was big and bluff with a bolo tie and cowboy boots and a bushy beard, with a booming country accent. She was tiny and a little frail. She was wearing varying shades of beige with a satin scarf tied under her chin like a kerchief. I kept my eye on them.
Actually, it turned out that the walkouts were 2 women who looked like they were in their 30s, at least in the darkened house. Evidently, they thought they knew. But they didn’t know. The older siblings had a ball. Loved it. And they were having a lovely little chat about finer points as they left.
Well, I guess if you’re going to be one of those people who gets offended, you’re just going to be one of those people. There's no age limit on jumping on your Huffy bike. Some of the oldest theater goers last night had actually lived some of what happened in the show. They were around prior to cheap, safe and reliable contraception and before the sex-ed unit in health class, when you may have suspected it wasn't really the stork that brought babies, but may not have had a real clear picture on what the causes were. They’ve seen years of change and that there is very little new under the sun. And maybe it has made them even less likely to find honesty about the human condition offensive.
Me, I loved it. That score deserved every award it received. And, as I’ve said before, I’m pretty hard to offend. I’ve already signed up to usher another night.
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5 comments:
When I worked at the movie theater people would ask me for a review of the movie and would ask if I thought it was appropriate for their little darling as they were buying the ticket. Several times I hadn't seen the movie or read the review so I couldn't say. What's offensive to me may not be offensive to them so it was a hard call. If they really wanted to know, they should read the reviews before they get there (this was on the cusp of the internet so it might have been harder, but newspapers did exist). My mom was ON TOP of movies in her day. I would try to sneak in asking if I could see a movie that just came out because I (naively) thought she didn't know about it. Saturday Night Fever - nope. Grease - nope. Poltergeist - nope. Footloose - nope (made fun of Baptists).
My favorite movie theater memory was the lady who demanded her money back because she didn't know just how violent Robin Hood was going to be and was terribly offended (or maybe it was Kevin Costner's on-again/off-again accent?) Meanwhile, her kid looked like he wanted to go back inside.
People just need to get over it and deal.
Best rule of thumb, is if you think you and your little lamb are going to be offended, you probably will be. Go see something else. In this day and age, there are plenty of alternatives for just about everyone out there. But if you're constantly isolating yourself from things that might be shocking, you're probably going to miss out on great stuff. And an opportunity to expand your mind.
people have a lot of gall to ask for their $ back - ifthey really cared they'd have done their research before buying the tix - plenty of places do it for moms andchirchgoers these days - if I was a theater (movie or live play) I'd have a big NO refund policy sign on the door
Along with the "death of civility", I've noticed that tolerance is on the critical list too. So instead of something being "not my taste", it's an affront to my way of life. And you're right, there's no excuse for not being an informed consumer these days. There are a lot of choices out there. You can't expect all of them to be to your liking.
This was back when the internet was fairly new so the research wasn't as easy BUT she could have easily read a paper or magazine. Normally, they wouldn't have refunded her money but she raised such a big stink in the lobby (and it was about 15 minutes into the movie) that the manager felt it made good business to just hand her $ back. I just stood by and giggled at how worked up she got over a dumb movie. If she was really upset, she should have complained to the people who made the movie that it was too violent for her precious kid!
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