Heading into the film’s opening weekend last week, audiences for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour movie had one job: Have an enchanted time.
Ahead of the concert movie’s release, popular theater chains like AMC and Regal put out a memo encouraging fans to participate in Eras Tour concert-like behavior like singing, dancing, and exchanging friendship bracelets. While debates about theater etiquette have skyrocketed this year thanks to the costume-heavy Barbenheimer fad this summer, with The Eras Tour, the rules sent a clear message to potential ticket buyers: There will be noise. So if you aren’t interested in a rowdy screening, this isn’t the film for you. Simple as that.
And yet, buzzkills on social media have chimed in with presumptions that the hordes of fans who will be flocking to cinemas every weekend—the movie only screens on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays to invoke the feeling of an event, like the original concert—and wreaking havoc. After a few videos of fans enjoying the film in theaters last weekend went viral, folks began comparing Swift’s fans and their behaviors to the horror movies Scream and Midsommar. They’ve gone so far as pitying what it must be like to be a movie theater worker at this time.
Now that The Eras Tour is back in theaters for its second weekend and Swifties are gearing up to live out their wildest dreams at sold-out screenings across the country, I say it’s time to stop midnight raining on their parade. The shaming is ridiculous at face value, and it’s gone too far.
I am an ex-movie theater worker. I have faced bigger atrocities in the aftermath of certain screenings than what The Eras Tour appears to be from social media clips. (I have yet to attend a screening.) Check out the popcorn scattered after any kids movie—children are a far bigger mess and distraction than Swift’s fanbase.
One current movie theater worker shared her experience on TikTok, her expectation being that popcorn and candy would be piled into miniature mountains in the aisle. The actuality? Some accidental kernels dropped here and there. A leftover Taylor Swift-branded soda cup. Hey—she can sell that on eBay and rake in the dough!
@cinema_chelsey It wasnt that bad! Most theaters were pretty clean. It seemed that certain rows were super messy, but the majority were pristine. I give yall a 8/10 based off night 1, and cleaning after 7 shows. #swifties #taylorswifteras #erastourfilm #movietheateremployees #timelapse #satisfyingcleaning ♬ Lover - Taylor Swift
The comments on this video are telling, too: “As a swifty I could never leave a place messier than when I came in,” one TikTok user wrote. Most of the other comments share a similar message: The Swifties want to uphold their reputation. Other comments refer to the new Paw Patrol film, which the original video creator attracts a far messier crowd—as I said, the kids create the most mess, but we’re not going to shame them out of the theaters.
Plus, wasn’t this the exact behavior AMC and other theater chains expected? If you call on a group of fans to dance, they’ll dance. Perhaps some of the rules are too loose: Some fans have complained about flashing phone lights and crowds loud enough to block out Swift’s voice. And that’s a fair gripe—especially the phones can be annoying. Still, a lot of the dancing videos posted on Twitter show a handful of harmless fans dancing in circles. Sure, it’s a little Midsommar-esque. But are these really the heathens social media has painted them out to be?
It’s equally important to consider the circumstances surrounding The Eras Tour movie. Many fans were shut out of buying tickets thanks to Ticketmaster’s confusing and difficult purchasing process. Resale tickets often blew past $1,000, selling for up to $20,000 and more. Tickets to the movie are only $19.89. (Good one, Taylor.) A lot of fans who were unable to afford the steep prices for the concerts are finally getting their first chance to see The Eras Tour, and they deserve the same opportunity to sing, dance, and have as much fun as possible—just now in the cinemas instead of the stadiums.
The spite non-Swifties have for The Eras Tour movie seems to be punching down at what I assume is the targeted audience for this film: mostly young girls, probably around age 12 to 18.
Surely, all kinds of people are going to this movie; the videos shared on social media show adult Swifties, men, parents, etcetera. Adult women also make up a huge bracket of Swift’s listeners—per Forbes, almost half of her fans are millennial women—but those are the folks who, with an income, were more likely to have the opportunity to have seen her show live. The younger girls are probably seeing Swift for the first time on the big screen—hence, their excited yelps of joy and cult-ish dancing.
Uproarious screenings, as a whole, are a good time. I wish there were more of them. I attended a “Rowdy Screening” of Cats back in 2019 at my local Alamo Drafthouse. While it was certainly a far cry from The Eras Tour, the ability to shout jokes, chat with my friends, and dance to “The Railway Cat” made Cats more enjoyable. There is a time and place for these noisy crowds—watching Bridesmaids with some mimosas, The Room is another popular example—and The Eras Tour fits the bill.
Give the girls (and everyone else!) some room to shake it off. If you’re mad, blame Ticketmaster, who robbed fans of the opportunity to go wild in stadiums. We should all be excited to see ticket sales boost, a growing opportunity for musicians to connect with fans all over the world, and the happy smiles and giggles of Swifties meeting hundreds of like-minded fans.
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