Things got a little too hot for at least one passenger during a flight.
Airline passenger “Jess” (apparently not her real name) flew from Bali to Sydney, Australia. Like many of us, she opted to watch some filmed entertainment.
Jess told Australia’s Kidspot that she “checked whether there might be any kids around” — and selected Magic Mike’s Last Dance as her film du jour. For those who don’t know, the Magic Mike franchise stars Channing Tatum — who plays a male stripper.
You already see where this is going, don’t you?
Kidspot’s Eleanor Katelaris writes, “Salma Hayek was having quasi-sex with Tatum in her kitchen, oiled-up dancers rhythmically gyrated on lots of different surfaces, and there was enough of a relationship arc for people to claim ‘there was a plot!'”
A female passenger next to Jess “had constantly been glancing over” to the movie. (Are you like me? Do you sometimes watch the movie or TV show on someone else’s seatback screen when you could just as easily watch it on yours? Despite having seen it a bajillion times, I got sucked into Casino during a flight this summer — which was playing on a screen across the aisle and a couple of rows up.)
But the neighboring passenger tapped Jess on the shoulder — and handed her a note.
“I accepted it without even glancing down to see what was written,” Jess said. “When I’d taken a quick look, the shock hit me and I went silent. Up until that moment, we’d had very little interactions, so it really caught me by surprise.”
The note read:
If you want to accept His offer you may pray this prayer…. Dear Lord Jesus, I realize I am a sinner and I believe you bled and died to pay the price for my sin. I believe that you rose from the dead and you live forevermore. Please forgive me and come into my heart and save my soul. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Dear Friend, if you would like:
- To study the Bible
- Someone to pray for you
- Help with a personal problem
- Someone to visit you
- To join a youth group
- A Bible
Please do not hesitate to let me know.
Jess was not deterred. She pressed on and watched the rest of Magic Mike.
Jess told Kidspot said the woman “lectured” her a few hours later “about the ‘evils of Satan’ and why she ‘needed the guidance of God.'”
For her part, Jess apparently listened politely and then put her headphones back on. And that was that.
(I’ve found that firing back some book of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 1-8, usually quiets things down.)
If this all happened as Jess said, I applaud her for keeping her cool. Given that air rage is becoming more and more common, it’s good tempers didn’t flare — especially because morals were called into question.
In a picture posted to Kidspot’s article, you can see that Magic Mike’s Last Dance seemed to be offered as part of the flight’s inflight entertainment options. Perhaps Sr. Mary Margaret Frances needs to offer some Jesus to the airline instead.
I also wonder if she was projecting — and felt guilty for watching Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek get all sexy with each other. (I mean, how can you not snoop that? They’re both so good looking that it’s unfair.) Maybe she wanted forgiveness for watching something spicy, which inspired her to jump into religious action.
Final Approach
A woman judged a fellow passenger for watching Magic Mike’s Last Dance during a flight. Cinematic tastes weren’t called into question — but, rather, morals.
The passenger handled the issue with class and pressed on with her saucy movie.
How would you have handled this situation? Let’s keep it civil and respectful.
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I am actually surprised when some airline entertainment systems don’t delete scenes with sex or nudity. I’ve seen more than a handful of scenes that should be handled no different than broadcast TV given the very public setting of a plane. Especially in economy.
I think they show a disclaimer at the start, but I remember specifically on a Virgin America flight someone watching “Wolf of Wall Street” on the onboard IFE across the aisle from me and pausing it on a scene showing a topless woman. It sat that way on the screen for some time. Nobody seemed to care.
I would have told her that I don’t believe in the supernatural, and to mind her own business.
Jesus is ultimate manly. He don’t need no sex
I would have looked at her, crumpled up the paper, and rolled my eyes. I care as much about someone’s religious beliefs as I do their political leanings.
Living in the Bible Belt, I’ve been proselytized to more times than I can count. Thanks, but no thanks.
It would be very tempting … considering the other passenger was invading your space … to smile and then whip out the laptop pc and show the movie that was on the memory stick that you just happened to find in the seat back pocket … which makes Magic Mike look like a cartoon. Tilting the screen downwards so that nosey passenger will go out of her way to see what you are watching! When she complains reformat the memory stick and clean pc of evidence of what was playing on pc. One should not have to use a screen saver yet every time I use my pc for work related activities and turn around I notice at least 5 people looking at what I am doing. Oh but wait there is more … a continuous video screen of various animals in reproductive activities!
This is just another example of the lowering of standards of morality in society. While I also would have religious objections (as a Jew), that kind of misses the point. Children should not be exposed to this kind of material regardless of their religion. This is one of several reasons why I wish that the airlines would remove these screens. The only good use I can think of for them are as a second screen for a laptop (although that of course could lead to even worse displays of lewdness than that which is being discussed here).
There is nothing in this post about children. If you don’t like seatback screens, you should fly a budget airline where you won’t have to worry about being offended by living in a free country where it is legal to watch commercially released films on an airplane.