Plane movies

Allison Claire on what to watch when you’re speeding through the sky.

In her novel Flights, Olga Tokarczuk writes that plane travel functions “as though the aim of travel were another traveler.” The character expressing that sentiment intends it as prosocial; supposedly, we are on this journey together, but it seems unlikely that most travelers outside of fiction feel this way. In-flight entertainment is a nice amenity and a nice attempt to disengage with everyone around you, as I recently learned myself, when I experienced my first “plane movie.” (I say plane movie here to mean something you watch on a plane, not about a plane, so if you have come here mistakenly, Vulture has you covered.)

Before my flight to London this summer, I had never seen a movie on a plane. My previous international travel had, unfortunately, involved Spirit Airlines. My domestic trips are almost always via Southwest, which provides only a web portal of entertainment options, accessible to those who have their own devices and are willing to pay $8 for Wi-Fi.

This flight would be different. Two days before I was set to take off, an email from my latest airline of choice greeted me with promises of various perks, including a 10.1” seatback TV with “a plane-load of free on-demand movies and TV.” I felt I was about to experience some level of luxury from the moment I received this message right until I was finally navigating the 10.1” monitor, when reality set in. A laptop-sized screen doesn’t really allow a person to be immersed in the supposed power of cinema. The sound from my headphones wasn’t great, and the plane made its own intrusive noises; I couldn’t pick anything in which audio was meant to add significantly to the work. I put on Women Talking. I’d heard good things about both book and film, and I liked the cast list; my reasoning wasn’t extensive.

But the biggest problems with a “plane movie” are social. You have to account for your neighbors, who are inches from you, and sometimes children. Next to me was, of course, a child. As such I couldn’t watch anything particularly gory or sexual or even verbally foul, as I had subtitles on and did not know how to turn them off. “There’s no movie more compelling than the one a person in front of you is watching,” said one friend when I later asked him about the ideal plane movie, retroactively confirming my worries.

As he went on to elaborate, flights render you “captive to your own plans.” It can be worthwhile, then, to turn on a movie that you’ve wanted to watch, but haven’t yet had the chance to. Women Talking met this for me, though if I’d been desperate to watch it, I don’t know that I would have had a good time—my focus strayed when my meal arrived, when my trash was collected, when fellow travelers chatted and moved around and put their legs against the back of my seat.

Comforting, comfortable movies get the most plays, according to a Warner Bros executive in a Vulture interview. The right movie pick is one that doesn’t require “an immense amount of concentration.” Happy Death Day was a favorite of another friend, who advised me on the best genres for plane views: action, rom-coms, and PG-13 horror. Nothing that will shock anyone who sneaks a glance; nothing much to miss if your attention is diverted by in-flight annoyances and distractions.

Rewatching was recommended by everyone I spoke to—you can trust something that you’ve already enjoyed to ameliorate an environment that’s less than ideal. I saw a lot of people watching Harry Potter, Bridesmaids, other popular comedies from the past decade. Marie Antoinette got me through the tail end of my return flight. A great choice: it’s meandering, visually interesting, and requires no close attention. I didn’t feel that I missed something when pilot announcements interrupted the film, or when the woman in the window seat needed to exit past me into the aisle.

After Women Talking, I myself got up to go to the back of the plane. The interior lights were off as I made my way to my seat. I knew the plane was full, but my other travelers were all in shadow, while their monitors stared brightly back at me.

The Dirt: If I’m watching a movie, and you’re watching a movie, who’s flying the plane??

HAVE YOU MET PRUNE?