Kim had an irritating experience while watching "La Traviata" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts last Friday. A person sitting next to the 40-year old omitted to turn off his mobile phone, which suddenly rang during the opera and continued to do so for 10-odd minutes after the person switched it to vibration. It was only when Kim finally asked the person to turn off the phone that he could turn his attention back to Verdi.
Kim Ji-yeon (26) suffered in a movie theater in Mok-dong where she went to watch "Lust, Caution". The person sitting behind Kim was talking out loud throughout the movie before eventually falling asleep, at which point he started snoring. Kim had no choice but to move to the back of the theater.
Korean audiences lack manners, especially in classical concerts, museums and golf courses. In the case of classical concerts, many Korean audiences commit the faux pas of applauding between movements. "I often find it difficult to concentrate on my performance because of audiences clap between movements or leave their seats", said Dennis Kim (32) of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. "Such scene are rare in Europe and the U.S".
Concerts are also disturbed by stragglers who demand to be guided to their seats and by some who sneak in food against regulations. "For classical music, musicals and operas, we don't admit children between three and seven, but there are always parents who bring them in anyway, which caused other members of the audience to demand their money back", said an insider in the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. In museums, it is not uncommon to see people touch or take pictures of the exhibits.
Not even sport events are safe, with golf the perfect case in point. In the final round of the 50th Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open, as many as 14,000 Koreans swarmed on the site to watch world class golfer Vijay Singh putt. Singh, obviously annoyed by such large group of spectators, made a face at the people gathered there. With so many of them all taking pictures of him with their mobile phone cameras, it was difficult for him to concentrate and he frequently frowned at the people, to no avail. It wasn't until a caddie asked them to refrain from taking pictures that they stopped.
The lack of manners is probably due to the small number of concert-goers here, most of whom have little education in the etiquette. According to a 2006 survey on Koreans' culture and art-related activities, only 6.8 went to museums and 3.6 percent to classical concerts. Another big problem is the mass giveaway of concert tickets. About 40 percent of classical and opera audiences used free tickets last year. As more and more sponsor companies give out tickets to their customers, there are large numbers of concertgoers who have yet to learn the appropriate manners. "Companies buy tickets in bulk to give out and even mobilize audiences when they feel not enough people will come to the event", said Yang Chang-seop, an official at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. "Bad manners are the clearest sign that this culture of free tickets isn't working".
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