Viral video of fight during Barbie show reminds us of the worst theatre nightmare... a noisy kid

When he wasn’t busy rebranding Twitter as X, the Chief Twit of Twitter Elon Musk was watching Oppenheimer in the past few days. But perhaps, he found Christopher Nolan’s ambitious epic to be a tad bit too long, as is evident from the meme he tweeted. 

Musk wasn’t the only one to have found doomscrolling a better option than watching the movie during the Barbenheimer weekend. Representing the Barbie delegation is a Brazilian girl who preferred watching YouTube instead of bobbing her head to Ryan Gosling singing, “I’M JUST KEN!”. 

As per a TikTok video shared by user @ferreiraxyz_, the aggressive “Ken-ergy” leapt out of the screen and radiated through two adult women instead. With the movie’s credits rolling, a woman dressed in a grey tee and pink trousers began shouting at a woman dressed in a pink blazer. Pink Trousers Barbie was frustrated at Pink Blazer Barbie because the latter had let her daughter watch YouTube during the movie. 

ALSO READ: What are Barbie and Oppenheimer's chances at Oscars 2024?

Representing the worries of all moviegoers bothered by noisy kids, Pink Trousers walked up to Pink Blazer and then... she just pushed her back. Angered by the insulting fall, Pink Blazer got up out of the popcorn-buttered seats and struck her with her glittery heel in hand!

The video has gone viral ever since and while netizens are condemning the violence (that can be a big blow to the “save the cinema” movement in Brazil), the consensus is that people should be “just Ken” and not “fighting Kens”. 

And yet, many do feel that kids or distracted audiences should simply leave the hall if they’re not interested in the movie. “I mean if u dont wanna watch the movie you paid for then take you and your kid somewhere else,” says a Twitter user. Another one sums it up, 

“if you go to the movies, be quiet or leave”

So, to prevent further theatre violence, here are some basic do’s and don’ts for you (especially if you’re a parent with noisy kid/s).

The Ten Commandments of Theatre Etiquette

1. If you have an infant, place the baby in the care of a trusted neighbour or relative if you’re heading out to the multiplex. Nobody would find your child’s coos and goo-goo-ga-gas cute when the “Smoking Kills” ad starts playing before the movie.

2. If your kid talks loudly in between the movie, just silence them with a Hannibal mask. You can shop for them on Amazon. 

3. KEEP YOUR PHONE ON SILENT! NOBODY CARES IF YOU HAVE AN IPHONE AND AN IPHONE RINGTONE TO PROVE IT!

4. Kindly refrain from shouting “When will the bomb explode?” during Oppenheimer. It’s a three-hour-long feature. The bomb will explode sometime or the other. 

5. If you plan to watch YouTube Shorts or scroll through Instagram Reels during a movie, then try walking out of the hall and continue your browsing near the popcorn counter. 

6. If you are going out for a movie with your partner and cranky child, then take turns in taking care of the baby. Don’t let the baby cry in surround sound inside the hall. Instead, step out with the child to make it sleep. Then, come back and pass the baby to your partner, assigning them for a shift. You and your partner would have a disruptive viewing experience but at least, the rest of the audience will not be pissed off. 

7. Don’t give your kids your phone if they are getting bored in the middle of the movie. They might just end up watching YouTube on full volume at a brightness level higher than the shades of pink in Barbie. 

8. If your friend is a “cinephile dudebro”, don’t get them along with you. Their constant IMDb-fuelled yapping on “this actor appeared in which other movie” and “if the movie is better than the book” will not be entertained by the rest of the crowd. 

9. Don’t talk in the middle of a horror movie’s jump scare (even if the movie is as bad as The Pope’s Exorcist or Insidious: The Red Room). 

10. Try not to steal the 3D glasses. They anyway break after one movie.