Trois Cheers

13 October 2004


French Cinemas to Jam Cell Phones

Like most technology, the cell phone is neither rude nor polite. It has no ethics, knows no right nor wrong. It just is. The people who use them are quite a different matter. Many are inconsiderate, impolite or just plain rude. The French government has weighed in by backing a move by cinema owners to jam cell phones in the performance area. Emergency calls and calls made in the lobby will be unaffected. This decision is proof that the French remain a civilized people despite having Mr. Chirac as president.

During a performance (film, theatre, music, dance, etc.) any interruption detracts from the experience for those in the audience as well as those on stage. As Kevin Spacey said in making the Old Vic theatre a cell phone-free zone as its artistic director, “"We certainly don't want them ringing and people ignoring them pretending that it's not theirs. My feeling is if people don't know how to behave they shouldn't come."

In reality, there are damned few people so important that they need to receive messages during a performance. Heart surgeons may deserve a special dispensation, but accountancy, insurance sales and Little League Management are devoid of crisis on the same scale. Parents who can’t resign themselves to being incommunicado for the duration of a 2-hour film are probably creating dreadful separation problems with their children later in life. Two decades ago, one got up, used a payphone to check on the little dears and returned to one’s seat – much less distracting that taking a phone call. That is what intermission is for.

Opponents of the jamming solution note that cell phones have a vibrate function. Indeed, and people don’t use it often enough. Which still begs the point, “what’s so important in one’s life that two hours away from a phone results in disaster?” The phone also has an off button, which preserves the battery’s charge. Yet, these things remain on because people forget. In New York, the use of a mobile phone in a theatre results in a $50 fine. This, of course, is of no concern to the inconsiderate and wealthy. And getting a cop to write up a summons is a bit of a distraction to the performers as well.

Hence, the solution proposed by the National Federation of French Cinemas. For a small price, the French cinema owner can buy a transmitter that will send out a signal that occupies the same frequencies in the electro-magnetic spectrum that cell phones use. With a range of 30 meters, or about 100 feet, the transmitter is local but fool-proof. And that’s what is needed, a solution that can defeat a fool.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

Home