Last night I went to the movies. I sat in the 2nd to last row, near the doors. Some kids sat behind me. They talked a lot. Not enough for me to say anything, but enough for me to notice. About an hour into the movie two of them got into a fist fight. I watched as they tumbled towards the door. I figured it would end soon. Only my row was really aware of the fight. A few people stood up. The fight started to get loud.
Then the rest of the theater noticed that “something” was happening, only they couldn’t see what it was. They thought it was something much much worse.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that sound before, the sound of hundreds of people terrified for their lives. I’m not sure how many of them were responding to the commotion in back or how many were responding to the people around them, but that room cleared out faster than they could pause the movie. By the time the lights came on both exit doors were wide open, the sold-out theater had maybe 20 people left in it (mostly in my section), parents were looking for their crying kids, police had been called, and the fight that started it all had ended.
People thought they might die because they couldn’t see what was happening and we all know people get shot in movie theaters now. And what’s weird is even though I knew I was completely safe and it was just a misunderstanding, my body still had some fear reactions when I saw the panic. I was able to mentally acknowledge why the rest of the theater was terrified, that there was no need for it, but the mood was in the air nonetheless. The part that’s stuck with me the most since then is how long it took for one us who could see that there was no danger to announce that to the rest of the room. It must have been a full minute before someone shouted “it’s just a fight, everything is ok.” And it wasn’t me. I said it to myself to reassure in the moments of chaos, but none of us told the rest of the room, the ones who needed to know the most, until the fight was over and most of them had fled the theater. I'll be honest, the thought didn't occur to me. I hope that if there's ever a situation like this again that I can react better.
I’m glad no one was hurt in the commotion. I’m extremely glad no one’s life was actually in danger. But it sucks that we’re so on edge. It sucks that we assume we’re all about to die when “something” happens in a dark theater.
Also the first hour and change of Black Panther was highly enjoyable and I look forward to finishing the movie later this week.