Going to the movies in Germany is different. Of course it is! There aren't many things here that are the same (as the USA). That being said, these cultural differences can be detrimental to an American-German relationship.
Most strikingly strange for us Americans as moviegoers in Deutschland (other than the fact that they sell booze in the lobby and popcorn is more likely sweet than salty) is that we have to purchase tickets for specific seats in the theater, as if going to a concert.
The first time I noticed this was when I was interning in Hamburg in 2010, and I wanted to do something other than sit in my hotel room another evening. After a short train ride north to a newer theater complex I found online, I pulled my euros out for the man behind the ticket counter. It is likely that he asked me where in the Saal I wanted to sit, but I didn't understand, because my German wasn't as good then, and I don't remember having to choose a seat. He may have tried to explain, but I only figured out later that I had a designated Sitzplatz when I saw that my ticket had a row and a seat number.
There were very few people in the Kino that late afternoon to watch ""Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," and I found my seat located by the door. If the movie was terrible or I couldn't understand enough, I supposed I could make a quick escape. But why did he have to seat me where the Licht and Luft would come rushing in each time someone entered?
Pfffff, I thought to myself, and instead of staying where he placed me, as soon as the theater went dark and the previews began, I moved down a few rows, away from other audience members and from the light of the doorway. I had a coat and a purse, popcorn and a drink, plus a candy bar stashed away in my bag: I had to spread out and get comfy. No point in disturbing anyone with my trappings, and I certainly wasn't about to abide by that stinkin' reservation rule.
Back in the good ol' US of A -- when I lived there at least and hopefully still in the smaller movie theatres -- you simply buy your tickets and hope to get a good seat. You don't reserve, you don't pre-select, you don't know how many people are already in the theatre, and finally, you don't know where you will end up. This is great, because the suspense of not knowing before you sit down to watch the movie you've heard all about -- until you walk into the dark theater -- can be quite enthralling and part of the excitement. If you are not unpunctual, you always have a choice: you can plop yourself down in the best seats in the house. However, if you are not so punktlich, you might have to sit in the very front row and gaze up at the screen (neckache alert!). If you are terribly tardy for a blockbuster, you may have the worst luck of all: sitting far, far away from anyone you know and love, because single seats situated between noisy teenagers or chattering couples are the last remaining.
Because I have plenty of experience watching movies (that aren't dubbed in German), my American ways don't allow me to be rigidly pinned to a reservation. I enjoy looking for my own seats, one arm stuffed with a barrel of warm, buttery, salty (not sweet) popcorn, and the other balancing a cold, fizzy drink and my purse. I love the movies, and because I do, I don't ever wish to sit elbow to elbow with anyone except a non-stranger. Sometimes it's best to be snuggling in with a lover, son, or grandson. With a sister, you can still rub elbows and not feel uncomfortable.
Because of all these reasons, it's my opinion that when a person is forced to buy a reserved seat ticket, the fun of going to the movies is diminished. And somehow because of reservations gone bad, I am always stuck sitting next to someone I don't know or care to rub arms with. Germans don't seem to be bothered one bit by the reservation system and sitting next to strangers. Their country is more crowded than ours is, at least out west where I came from, and they're used to sitting in tight places with people they don't know, i.e. in trains, subways, the Straßenbahn and das Kino. They are up each other's rear end in grocery store and other shop lines. Personal space h
My own personal German is rigidly rooted in rule-following, so I don't have a chance at the movie theatre if I'm stuck next to someone undesirable. According to him, if a person has a reserved seat, that person must sit in that seat. No aberrations. No wandering. No questioning. No departure. And no changing seats. Even if it's me. Especially if it's me.
"Definitiv werden wir die Sitzplätze im Kino nicht tauschen," he says. We definitely will NOT change seats at the movie theater. Das ist verboten, at least by him.
I can beg, I can plead, and I must now whisper, because we're in our seats, in the theater, surrounded by other Germans who are settling into their own reservations. I try to hide my American accent, because I am by now usually whining, and it looks bad for our people.
Heinie only becomes more tense, and I feel the tension building. Then he is as stur as a tree stump when I ask just a tiny bit louder to move. "Nein!"
Even pinching his arm and threatening acts of violence doesn't work. No switching seats, even when:
the German dude in the seat directly in front of me is 6 foot 10 inches tall;
the highbrow people behind us are making commentary throughout the film;
the man to my left smells funny and is hogging my arm rest; and
there is a fine choice of other great seats within a few steps from ours with no one intent on occupying them.
Look! There's an open seat! Let's move there.
The Germans are regimented. They are well-trained. They don't budge from their reserved seats in the movie theater, and Heinie is no exception.
Today a colleague heard an abridged story of the Kino horrors I have endured, and she inspired me to sit down and finally write this tale of the German cinematic system. Comically, though American, she prefers reserved seats, because she doesn't have to rush to get the seats she wants, and she can be unpunctual as she chooses.
In regard to my boyfriend's rigidity and unmoving body at the Kino, she burst out, "Sorry, no offense, but he sounds like a real jerk!"
She's so right, he can be a total jerk. But then he's German, and he's different. He is also my best friend and the guy who buys the popcorn.
That being said, this war is not over.
Wörterbuch / Dictionary
Das ist verboten - That is forbidden
das Kino - cinema, movie theater
das Licht - light
die Luft - air
nein - no
das Popcorn - popcorn (duh)
punktlich - punctual
der Saal - room
sauber - clean
der Sitzplatz - seat, place to sit
die Straßenbahn - streetcar, tram
stur - stubborn
