Les réponses sont globalement les mêmes. Aucune marque de violence, mais au contraire certains proposent de changer de place.

Je pense que ces situations sont universelles, quel que soit le pays, on trouvera des gens irréspectueux et qui ne se soucient pas tellement de la gêne qu'ils peuvent occasionner.

L'important et que dans ce genre de situations, lorceque l'on fait comprendre aux autres qu'ils nous gênent, en général ils se taisent et comprennent le message.

C'est un peu le B-A BA du cinéma ! Et le plus simple est sans doute d'éviter d'aller au cinéma le jour des avants-premières et lors de la semaine de la sortie d'un nouveau film. Ainsi on a plus de chance de s'épargner les groupes de lycéens et les habitués du popcorn. C'est d'ailleurs bien plus agréable de regarder un film dans une salle à moitié vide (choix de la place, pas de problème de visibilté etc.)

Is it rude to ask people to be quiet in the movies? Would people get offended if you do?

Thomas:  What do you mean by "le B-A BA du cinéma ??"  Please explain.

It seems that most of the reactions on the American side encompasses passive-aggressive behaviors or snide remarks, while on the French side, the preferred method is generally to ask them to be quiet. In my opinion, this is a reflection of the American society as a whole. I have observed here that the public generally would refrain from mixing with each other unless they know another person beforehand. Even at times of inconvenience, they tend to avoid confrontation and conflict. This does not apply to major cities like NY though, where it is quite on the contrary. How is it in France? Are people outspoken or bashful? Also does it have a dependence on the location inside of France?

Pour Vinnie : le B-A BA est une expression française, qui se réfère (me semble-t-il) aux méthodes d'apprentissage de la lecture par les jeunes enfants. On commence par apprendre à lire en formant des syllables avec deux lettres, ainsi, la lettre B et la lettre A forment la syllabe BA. Comme il s'agit de la première chose que nous apprenons, l'expression a été utilisée par la suite pour désigner la première chose que les gens doivent savoir à propos de ce qui suit l'expression, dans notre cas, le cinéma.

I think the responses are interesting because sending body language signals seems more rude than just politely asking them to be quiet. Maybe the responses reflect the body language method since we would like to avoid awkward interactions.

I agree with Sumin and Jon-Ross here. It seems that for the most part, the responses are the same on the French side and American side, but the American side does contain more subtlety in parts, or hinting, which isn't necessarily a good thing. 

I feel that the response sample size is too small, and that you'd find an equal amount of both subtle and direct actions if you were to ask more people.  To me, it simply depends on the personality of the person, and not necessarily the culture.

Je suis assez d'accord avec ce que dit Thomas, faire taire les gens bruyants au cinéma est une lutte sans fin, je pense que le meilleur moyen d'y remédier et d'éviter d'aller au cinéma dans les périodes de grande audience pour tel ou tel film comme le jour de la sortie ou le premier week-end. Pour l'anecdote j'ai vu "Project X" la semaine dernière au cinéma, c'était vraiment insupportable, toute une salle de jeunes lycéens qui riaient et parlaient à haute voix, que faire dans ce cas?

You could demand your money back. If that was me in the US, that is what I would have done, especially with the present price for movie tickets and my college budget. You might not have gotten to see the movie, but at least you would have lost a bit less, as they usually throw in coupons for your inconvenience. That usually works, especially if you ask for the manager and end your statement with "...I don't have to take this. This is America!"

While I agree with the observation that the American responses were more passive-aggressive than the French responses, I also noticed that more of the Americans said they would wait first for the people to stop of their own accord before confronting them. I'm not sure what the reason for this might be - it might be that Americans try harder to avoid conflict, that they are more willing to give the people the benefit of the doubt and assume that they'll check themselves, or that Americans are more tolerant of rude behavior than French people.

Since so many French students said they would ask the people to be quiet, I want to ask: would this request usually be honored without trouble? Do people become belligerent, or are they apologetic? In my experience, if you did the same thing in a movie theater here, the people talking might actually be offended in return or think you're a spoilsport. Maybe French people generally agree that such behavior is very rude and a greater offense, and so it's not so unexpected to intervene?

I agree with Anne, it seemed that the French responses were generally more confrontational, or willing to speak to the person. As I remember, there was only one response saying they would change seat or just ignore the person - on the other hand, that was a fairly common response on the American side. Is that because of reactions people have to being asked to be quiet? It depends on the situationa and the person, but some people can be very rude if you ask them to be quiet in America. Maybe that's why we generally try to avoid talking to them about it? 

I agree with Anne that maybe this is a matter of tolerance levels, and that American levels are higher than the French. I was wondering though how often does a situation like that happens. Here, every time I go to the movies there is always at least someone speaking during the screening. How about in France? Do people only talk when there are young groups watching the movie and during the first opening week or is it also a common occurence? Is it considered more rude if something like this were to happen during a play or a ballet?

I agree with the past three comments. In all the forums, there seems to be a recurring theme of the French being more direct with expressing their thoughts, and they do not expect other people to know what they are thinking. I think happens often in the US because people want to avoid awkward situations (as was said above), and this is the source of a lot of miscommunication. 

How often do French college students usually go to the movies?

Pour répondre à vos questions, je dirais premièrement que d'une manière générale, si la demande a été adressée poliment, les gens ne sont pas tellement vexés de devoir faire moins de bruit (après, c'est peut être un sentiment que je suis la seule à partager...). Je pense qu'en discuttant, ils se rendent compte qu'ils peuvent gêner, et donc un rappel à l'ordre ne les rend pas agressifs. Encore une fois, tout dépend de la façon dont on leur fait remarquer.

Ensuite, je pense que la situation de gens parlant dans un cinéma est très répandue, mais comme Thomas le disait il y a quelques jours, en évitant la première semaine de projection, la salle est presque vide et nous pouvons choisir de se placer loin des groupes déjà formés. Cela évite ainsi de se confronter à ce genre de situation.

En ce qui concerne la fréquence à laquelle nous allons au cinéma, je dirais que ça dépend de la personnalité de l'élève, et surtout de la période. Personnellement, il peut m'arriver d'aller plusieurs fois au cinéma dans la même semaine si plusieurs films me paraissent valables, et pas du tout pendant plusieurs mois pour la raison inverse.

Par contre, je me demandais si c'est courant chez vous de vous faire rembourser la séance pour cause de gêne pendant le film. Ici, personne n'oserait le demander (à mon avis), et quand bien même quelqu'un essayerait de se faire rembourser, je doute fort que le gérant du cinéma accepte. Est-ce que cette pratique est courante ? Et est-ce limité à ce genre d'activités ou bien cela s'étend à l'ensemble des activités de la vie courante ?

Je pense qu'on pourrait se faire rembourser nos places si la gêne a touché beaucoup de personnes et que tous se décident à aller se plaindre.

-- John

"Is it rude to ask people to be quiet in the movies? Would people get offended if you do?"

 C'est loin d'être impoli ! et si on devait me faire la remarque (dans le cas où j'aurais par inadvertance pu créer une gêne) je m'arrêterais sans me sentir offensé puisque je serais bien évidemment en tort.

I think that customer satisfaction is high in the US. In most cases, whether you are at fault or not, the rule is "The customer is always right," and this is prevalent in many service industries. It is not uncommon for a customer to complain to the manager of a store, megaplex, or restaurant. Managers usual try to comply with the upset customers as they can become rowdy, which may create a setting that is bad for business.

I agree with Jonn-Ross. Though I personally would probably never demand a refund of some sort, I have seen many cases where people get very angry at the smallest mistake of whatever service, including discomfort at a movie but mostly food orders. The service providers calmly comply with the customer, following the notion of 'the customer is always right', even if its a ridiculous case or if the customer is being unreasonably rude. Its certainly in their best interest!