Time geography – lets go to the movies as studied by Hagerstrand

I was lucky enough to be able to drag my boyfriend along with me to the movies; it may have taken all about two seconds for him to agree to come with me. Unlike me Alex loves the movies, he is a movie theater enthusiasts he is absolutely addicted to the atmosphere that the cinema can provide. As he constantly says to me, it gives him the feeling that he can escape reality for the brief 1.5 to 2 hours. Making this week blog task easy to achieve, we decided to watch one very over priced movie Bad Moms, little did Alex realize this was essentially a chick flick, so I felt like I won a secrete victory there. I set out with a goal to watch and record what other people did during the movies, including us.

(source:  Cinematreasures)

It soon became evident that there were silent rules that everyone follows, when visiting the movies and by watching people during our movie it become interesting to witness what people did during the movie that made them feel more comfortable within the cinema. In a weird way they all established their own certain rituals, including where the felt comfortable sitting and whether they followed there designated sitting or whether they brought their own food. In our particular cinema, it was quite a late session starting at 9:30pm at Greater Union at Westfield Miranda. It soon became obvious that everyone present was sitting in two particularly couples, however what become interesting is that everyone sitting in our cinema theatre felt comfortable sitting separated from the crowd of other couples. Leaving quite reasonable gaps between them, something that I know Alex and myself also did. When asked where to sit Alex replied to the usher that he wanted us to sit in the middle of theatre, when I asked him why he replied that he never really thought about it but after given thought he established that he felt that he wasn’t being watched in the middle of the theater he felt like he didn’t have everyone staring at the back of his head, that the middle gave him the best view of the screen.

What was interesting is before the movie even started hardly anyone was talking to each other, instead the majority of the girls in the theatre where on the phones. Scrolling through social media in particular Facebook, I must admit I was guilty of this too. Alex and I didn’t buy any food at the theaters this time, we both looked at the prices and both agreed 15 dollars for a coke and popcorn wasn’t ideal. So the cheap people we are opted for Coles lollies (what else are University students meant to do, so please hold the judgment ha-ha). Though there were a considerable amount of moviegoers that didn’t have the same view as us, they were busy chomping away on their popcorn and chop tops.

In the text written by Hagerstrand (2001) he studied the way people acted and how they behaved in society, particular “ the effects of space on human behavior”(Hagerstrand, 2001,p.1) studying human migration patterns. Highlighting the importance of time in Human activity “Time has a crucial importance when it comes to fitting people and things together for functioning in socio-economic systems” (Hagerstrand, 2001,p.2). Stating that even though a venue like a movie theatre might be close to you there are often obstacles that get in our way. For instances a person cannot allocate enough time to travel to it, allowing the person to not attended the movie (Hagerstrand, 2001,p.2). He uses three categories to describe the limitations or constraints a person can come across regarding time geography (Hagerstrand, 2001,p.2). The first is Capability, where a person considers how they might get somewhere (Hagerstrand, 2001,p.2). For example for Alex and myself attending the movies theater, wasn’t such a big issue for us we both have our full license. This allowed us the comfort of knowing that we could easily get there and back quickly and without hassle. A particularly benefit knowing that we chose a later movie session. If for some reason we didn’t have our cars and had to catch the train, I highly doubt we would make the effort to travel from our home to Miranda for a movie that late. Money wasn’t a factor for us too, of course it played a part in our minds we where both just able to afford it. Thus as Hagerstrand (2001,p.2) describes it, is his capability theory.

The second is coupling, where he questions if a person can get there at the right time (Hagerstrand, 2001,p.2). Again for Alex and myself we had to choose a movie session that allowed us not to rush to the movie theater. A time that we both knew we could make, which happened to limit our choices of what movie to pick. For a person this limits a person decision to go somewhere, this is what Hagerstrand (2001,p.2) calls coupling. Lastly he illustrates the last limitation, authority, where a person considers am I allowed to be there? Where they think about the ability to access the venue (Hagerstrand, 2001,p.2). For instances this movies was MA+ meaning that anyone under the age of 15 wasn’t allowed to watch the movie unless they where companied by an adult, limiting their access to the venue. For myself this wasn’t a problem as both Alex and myself where allowed full access to the venue. Considering that we are both over the age requirement. Overall our movie experience was quite enjoyable, I enjoyed my company and I really enjoyed our overpriced movie pick. Though I think I will wait another couple of months to go back or unless Alex drags me there, which is always highly likely.

 

Ps. Go watch bad mom if you’re a lady I highly recommend it. But maybe take your mum or your best friends instead, not a boyfriend whom gets bored half way through . below is a trailer if you want to know more about the movie .

As always all the best

Chelsea x

 

References

Corbett, J & Donald, J (eds) 2001, ‘Torsten Hagerstrand , Time Geography’ Center for spatially integrated social science , 25th August, pp1-4

The Golden Ticket

The way we watch television is changing due to the impact of Internet technologies. Its changing the way families and consumers watch their television whether that is because of the ability to stream or connect to each other through the internet. One thing for sure, the way in which we have connected has impacted and made new rituals within the family home. When interviewing my father it became apparent that broadband was the key to the notorious Chocolate Factory, the Internet had the power to open many new doors that were full of wonder. Just like the Augustus Gloop in the chocolate Factory my father, John Brunton jump right into this new mysterious world. Though the question remains are our now household technologies changing the way we interact within our family, is the instant gratification of high-speed Internet vs. the household television really are golden ticket? . To answer this I had to refer back to a true chocolate (internet) expert, my father.

 

When did you revive the Internet?

It was 1995 when the Internet entered our household; we didn’t have wireless like you kid’s have nowadays. The way the Internet operated was through modems that were able to connected us to the Internet at 48 hundreds kilobits per second, it was disgusting! We were so lucky that over the next couple years after its released the Internet managed to go quicker at 9600 kilobits per second

We only used the in Internet in our family for business; we didn’t really use it for anything else.

 

Where you more excited over the Internet then the television?

I think I was more excited over the invention of the television then the Internet back in 1995. Television for us was a bigger thing back then it allowed you do more things then you could do on the Internet.

 

Do you think that the Internet has taken over television?

 

Yes, this dynamic has changed now compared to when I grew up; the Internet has taken over TV, “because the internet is television”. We can stream and download TV shows and sports in a moment notice but with television this is harder to do. Um, well its obviously changed television, the rights of television are no longer. I mean its now all open, you can stream whatever you like. I Think the next generation will not survive without broadband, the problem with the Internet is that now they do all this tracking behind the scenes. They are now stirring every person and individuals into stuff he knows about, it’s narrowing his world knowledge

Would you say we are on the Internet while watching TV?

Yes, I do it every night and I’m pretty sure you do too !

 

Do you think this is a bad thing?

 

I think the bad thing is that I’m always connected to my work. They can always contact me and hassle me, there’s no down time. I can get emails at 10pm at night and they would be demanding for an answer at 9am the next morning. The way people communicate with each other have changed, our manners have changed.

 

Do you think this changes how are family dynamic worked? In other words did we separate more?

 

I don’t think we used it for social reason in the beginning, I used it more for business point of view, but as you kids grew older the Internet took over and all of a sudden it certainly did change how we acted and communicated as a family. Everybody goes on their own way, does their own thing, doing what ever they have to do on the Internet.

 

Would you say we where more social towards each other through the Internet then face to face?

 

No, were more social through the Internet, which in someway is a good thing and a bad thing. I’m able to connect to you guys, my kids when I can’t see you often or when you’re out and about. But this has it faults; we now sit in separate rooms and use the Internet to communicate. Which has in a way changed the way we used to communicate to each other. I sit in my chair and if I see something on TV I’m not to sure about, ill go and Google it “. What did you do before any of this? “I would come home I would have dinner and sit and watch TV and if I saw something I didn’t know about I would sit and discuss it with the family ”

 

Do you miss this family link?

 

I think the link is still there, it’s just a different dynamic now, and the year of just sitting together forcing conversation is long gone.

 

Would you say by having the Internet creates more conversation?

I think it makes for a more interesting conversation as it brings up more subjects that you have never really thought about, therefore it broadens your knowledge and gives you the opportunity to go have a look and search for yourself.

 

What are the benefits of having faster broadband?

The Internet has allowed me to work from home; it has given me the ability to communicate to workers that are stationed all over Australia, something that we couldn’t do before. We would travel frequently to contact each other.

 

Do you like that you can work from home?

I prefer working from home, but you have to be disciplined to work at home. It’s a lot easier to become distracted then it was before. The downside is you lose relationship between co-workers when you work from home, in a way I guess this is making us less social.

 

When the Internet goes down what is your back up plan?

I would travel back to the office or I would use my data on my phone and if that failed I guess we would have a day off. We can use the cellar networks, but the amount of data that takes wouldn’t be worth it, we couldn’t afford it

 

Do you think it’s a good thing that you are so reliant on the Internet?

“Um, probably not in the greater scheme of things”. Why? “Because it becoming like electricity you expect it to be there and it’s always going to be there, but someday it may not. And I use our broadband a lot, in life and work; I think we would all feel lost without it”.

 

Do you have a choice of preference of what broadband you go with?

“ Um, I do, but where we live we are tied down with Telstra”. Do you like Telstra? “Um, probably not to bad really, their okay, we don’t have a choice we cant change, so it doesn’t make a difference if we like them”. Do you think this is fair? “I don’t think this is fair I think most people should get the option to go with a company they feel comfortable with or what they know will work better for them”.

 

Would you say there was an area in your home that is un-networked?

“ No “, so you wouldn’t go into a space in your house and say this is where I don’t use media, “not in this house, everything is networked, I don’t think that needs to exist”

 

If you were denied access to the Internet how would you feel?

I would be pissed off; I would be annoyed, I think that no matter where you are in Australia you should be able to have Internet connection

 

Its clear from this interview just how much the Internet has taken over families and individuals. I guess it’s true that the Internet has opened many wonderful and scary doors in its chocolate factory empire, one that will be hard for any generations to go back to. In a way broadband is our golden ticket to our now technological lives, but the questions remains do we really want it to?

 

I would like to thank my Father, John Brunton for allowing me to interview him about his life experience of the Internet and television, for creating a wonderful and interesting discussion.I would love to hear your feedback, or tag me in your stories. Would love to read them!

All the best Chelsea x