I know that I, as well as many others, am guilty of texting in theaters. While I text, I usually try to hide my phone because it is not appropriate. Although text messaging is not appropriate in many theaters, some theaters are starting to not only accept, but embrace text messaging during a performance.
This trend is quickly growing. Recently, certain theaters have begun to encourage viewers to text message during plays and intermission. This is not regular text messaging though, it is feedback for their play. By using text messaging as a resource, producers are able to get instant feedback during their play, and they can utilize this information.
Museums as well as plays have started using text messaging as a way to get feedback from their customers. During tours, people will rate pieces of art and tell museums what their favorite display is.
This form of text messaging is only the first stage of a growing trend. You may soon become part of an audience encouraged to text during a performance, or when visiting a museum.
I too have recently encountered this new texting trend. This last summer I went on a family vacation to Disney World. One of the "rides" was actually a comedy show with Mike and Scully from Monsters Inc. Before the show everyone was given an opportunity to text in some kind of joke or comment that could be incorporated into the show. It was a very interesting idea but a successful one. Almost everyone waiting in line had their phone out texting the number. It is amazing how our society has grasped technology and businesses are now using it to their advantage. This goes great with our current topic in class. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is ridiculous. If I was performing, I would absolutely hate it if audience members were texting. Show time is NOT the time to be giving feedback to the producers of the show or whatever. That is so incredibly disrespectful of the producers to even consider that. It takes actors and directors and designers so many months of hard work and dedication to produce a play or an opera, and then to have the producer invite the audience to text DURING your performance, it's really unbelievable. I can understand using it in some kind of innovative way, like as a means of interactive storytelling (the example made by the poster above me is perfect), but not to ask such irrelevant questions such as "Which character are you most like?" What in the world is the audience member going to get out of that?! I find it so frustrating that some people actually find this acceptable. There are many ways to get feedback from an audience, BEFORE and AFTER the show. Hundreds of theaters have little questionnaires in the lobbies that can be filled out. There are phone numbers that you can call if you have a complaint. Once a performance has begun, the audience should give the artist their undivided attention. Allowing people to text during a show for feedback is an open invitation for them to become distracted and start doing other things on their phone.
ReplyDeleteI agree with RubCar91's comments on showing respect for the artists during a performance, being a musician myself. We all love to text and keep in touch, but I think we need to know our own limits. Many companies have incorporated this trend of 'text promotion' in their advertisements, for example Coca Cola.
ReplyDeleteThey're aware of our texting habits, so it makes perfect sense as a business model, but we need to stop ourselves from being 'suckered in'. I'm pretty sure we can all live without our phones for an hour or two, at least for the duration of a particular event that requires certain social restrictions.
Maybe we should just chloroform every person with a cell phone at the movies...
ReplyDeleteLast week on the radio I heard a news story about Adam Lambert, singer turned American Idol, who stopped his show because someone was on their cell phone. On this site ( http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2010/02/adam-lambert-get-off-the-phone.html ) there is video of him telling the fan to get off of her phone. This is real life situation where a celebrity is personally offended by someone using their phone while they are performing. It is ironic that the day that we talked about this in class was the day that I heard about this story.
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