Movie Theaters: Where Introverts and Extroverts Go Hand In Hand
- Ty Francis
It’s a minor life goal of mine to, one day, even just once, convince the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator that I’m actually an introvert. I feel like if I could just finesse my way onto “Team I”, I’d have the perfect excuse to go out less often, drink less booze, and spend more time alone.
All I’d have to do is ace a little free online personality test…
Literally me every New Year’s Eve (Brokeback Mountain, 2005)
Tongue out of cheek, I know I don’t need a personality test to tell me it’s okay to put up boundaries, turn down drinks, and live a balanced lifestyle. In fact, realizing just how much I enjoy my solitude has been one of the most important realizations of my 30s thus far. And I have movies to thank for that major personal discovery.
Strangely enough, for most of my life I wasn’t actually much of a movie guy; I always fancied myself too busy for movies. It was only after I moved to Los Angeles and saw up close just how fascinating Hollywood can be that I truly began to unearth my passion for cinema. Until that point, I had preferred to put my time and energy into things like watching sports, maintaining a wide network of friendships, and American wage slavery shudders. All of those things are inherently social activities that command a lot of time and energy. And all those years, I didn’t notice that I wasn’t saving enough energy for myself.
Once I began watching movies, I realized just how restorative alone time can be. Even for the most extroverted extrovert to ever extrovert (at least according to my MBTI results 😑), detaching myself from social obligations and creating mental space to reflect was such a game-changer. I guess you could say that movies were my gateway to discovering “JOMO” – the Joy of Missing Out. Movies taught me how to embrace my inner introvert.
Before long, I had developed a cherished new Friday night tradition: after a long week of working and enduring the rigors of adulthood, I would decline any invitations to go out, order a pizza, shut my phone off, and watch a movie. And once I realized that watching a film alone is an entirely different experience to watching with friends, I even started going to the cinema alone. To this day, I enjoy my “cocooning” ritual as often as I can on Friday nights…at least when I’m not hosting events!
Movies taught me to embrace my inner introvert (Amélie, 2001)
Hosting these dating-themed community events during my usual Friday night alone time is actually what made me recognize that, even though it’s not the same as being at home in my cocoon, cinemas can be wonderful community spaces for introverts. After all, it’s just as normal to go to a cinema alone as it is in a group, the atmosphere is usually calm and subdued, and, at ReSee Movies events, we combine our film screenings with loosely-structured activities that can take a little bit of the sting out of small talk. Plus, our guests are always welcome to opt out of participating and just observe.
Planning introvert-friendly social events is a delicate balance, but it’s one we at ReSee will always try to strike. Thankfully, cinemas are the perfect places to do it. As we continue on our mission to make movie theaters more inclusive, representative, and fun, that also means we’ll be curating event concepts that cater to all 16 personality types. And who knows – maybe after a few more introverted events, I’ll even be able to trick the MBTI into putting me on “Team I” the same way I forced the sorting hat to put me into Slytherin back in the day 🐍
