Minecraft is one of the most popular video games during Generation Z’s childhood. Coming out in 2011, almost all of Gen Z played or at least know about Minecraft.
With the recent release of the ‘A Minecraft Movie’ many in the generation decided to attend promoting a sense of community and nostalgia as a whole within the generation. But with this community there is also a sense of disrespect.
On the community side, there are people from all ages coming together to enjoy this movie seeing cameos from famous Minecraft youtubers, enjoying the nostalgia from when they played the game, and tearing up at an emotional reference to a Minecraft youtuber who passed away.
“It was one of the best times watching a movie I’ve ever experienced,” Shaun Dobratz (12) said. “It made the movie way more enjoyable to watch with everyone clapping.”
But as for a lot of things, a recent TikTok trend emerged.
The trend is to cheer when Steve, portrayed by Jack Black, says certain phrases that are memes or the most popular on TikTok.
Like, “I am Steve,” “They’re the villagers,” and the most popular “Chicken Jockey.”
“It felt like we were all one big friend group watching a movie all together,” Dobratz said. “It was surreal.”
It started as a fun, lighthearted trend, but with anything it’s been taken to the extreme.
Instead of just cheering, people started throwing popcorn, but that wasn’t far enough.
All over TikTok, people can be seen doing the most extreme things including setting off confetti cannons, throwing stuffed animals, and even bringing live chickens. And you may ask why are people doing this? Well, anything for more views and clicks the better. Even if it may result in getting kicked out of theaters like almost every one of these people have.
It may be funny to watch on TikTok for a short minute, but what about the people on the other side of this trend?
Movie theater workers already have to spend hours cleaning up spilled popcorn, soda, and candy, but what about when it gets to the extreme?
Timothy Nestel (12) is a movie theater worker at the Mid-Rivers Marcus Theater.
“People’s personalities have been more disrespectful, they don’t talk to me, they just view me as a person below them. They treat my coworkers with less respect,” Nestle said.
He has seen it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“It’s outrageous, someone recently threw four whole fish at the screen,” Nestle said.
And all of this for a few extra views on Tiktok?
“It was fun when people were just cheering, but now that people are making messes. It’s awful,” Nestle said.
It usually takes 10-15 minutes to clean a theater, but now it can take up to 20-30 minutes per theater.
Generation Z is not the only ones who enjoyed Minecraft, the generation below also played the game. That’s why the movie was rated PG. But why would parents want to bring their 5 to 9 year old to a movie where they will hear profanity, get popcorn thrown at them, and in the end get kicked out because of other people?
“I have to do theater checks constantly because of people complaining,” Nestle said.
So the question at the end of the day is, Is ‘A Minecraft Movie’ promoting community or disrespect? Or is it both?
