What a show

Posted on July 31, 2007
Filed Under Daily News |

Last week on the way back from my visa run to Vientiane in Laos, I found myself in Bangkok with a day to kill before catching the bus to Mae Sot.

I’d wanted to see Die Hard 4 for a while. One of the drawbacks of living in Mae Sot is there is no cinema, so I’ve missed a lot of big movie releases. But, I figured this was the kind of movie that needed to be seen on the big screen in order to be fully appreciated, so I was determined to catch a screening while I was in town.

Unfortunately, the film was nearing the end of its theatrical release in Bangkok, and the only place it was still showing was at the Cineplex in the Siam Paragon shopping mall, and there it was only showing in the VIP cinema.

So, grudgingly, I laid down my 600 baht for a ticket (over 3 times the price for a seat in one of the Paragon’s regular cinemas).

As I have mentioned on here before, in its regular cinemas, the Paragon has some of the most comfortable cinema seats I have ever experienced. Nice large leather covered seats that gently rock back when you lean on them. Well, the VIP cinema makes the regular cinemas seem like a packed economy class cabin flying from Heathrow to Marbella in the last week of July!

The VIP cinema.

To give you a sense of the luxuriance of the VIP cinema, let me describe my experience from the beginning: First, I was greeted at the door to the theatre by a hostess, who showed me to my seat and as I was sitting down, she pointed out the little button next to the arm rest that electronically lowers the seat back and raises the leg rest, causing the chair to turn into a horizontal bed. She then handed me a pillow and duvet, to wrap myself in, in case the air-con got too cold.

Then, as I was making myself comfortable, she asked if I would like a drink (you could also order popcorn and have it delivered to your seat).

So, there I was, lying flat on my back, nice and warm and luxuriating in my soft chair/bed, with a cold drink and popcorn on the table beside me. Perfect!

Unfortunately, the film wasn’t very good. But, I didn’t want to get up and excuse myself from all this comfort one second earlier than I absolutely had to. So, I stayed to the end, and left feeling poorer because of it, although I was very relaxed.

So, if you come to the cinema for the movie but stay for the legroom, does that mean that you’ll pay good money to watch any crap, so long as you think you’re getting good value because for an hour and a half, you get to stretch out in luxury.

In other words, does the quality of the experience count for more than the experience itself. Or are we more discerning than that, are we able to tell when we’re being sold a sub-standard product, just because it’s nicely packaged.

The implications for evangelism are enormous. Will people accept anything if it is presented in a glitzy enough manner. Do people care about the truth or otherwise of the message as long as it is packaged in a multimedia show with a few good tunes?

July 31 11:05A