When I pay extra to experience the movie in the theatre, with the big sound and the big screen, I am there for deep immersion. I plunge in head first because I want to exist in that world. Anything that pulls me out of it, dilutes--actually ruins--the experience. I would call it a religious experience, except for having to use a word I prefer to avoid. I am the same way in a concert hall or an art gallery. What trivia is as important as a deep dive into art and sometime even greatness?
I certainly can't argue with that! I'd only point out that many, many viewers want something different out of the theatrical experience. How can we find common ground? I wonder if simply advertising certain screenings as "no phones" or "phones allowed" might be a good way to handle it. Assuming you could get the theater owners on board.
The main reason people talking over movies annoys me is that going to the theater has gotten more expensive than I feel it deserves to be. I had better be able to follow the film at that cost. If I’m at home, I can always go back 30 seconds and the experience probably cost me less too.
I think comparing a movie to a concert or sporting event is appropriate. For myself, I find that if I am too busy taking pictures and/or playing on my phone it distracts from the experience.
I remember seeing The Phantom Menace in theaters and I was instantly 10 years old again. When the opening crawl came on the screen, I did a quiet clap to myself because I didn't want to make a scene. Fast forward to the last few years, I routinely now clap for certain entrances or experiences. The Resistance ship showing up in The Force Awakens? Check. The Avengers Assemble scene in Endgame? Check? Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire showing up in Spider-Man 3? Check. And the studios now openly celebrating these moments on their own socials could be construed as sending mixed messages. I do think singing is a bit rude though. But then again, I think someone singing in the car when we are together is a bit rude lol
Good thing we've never taken a road trip together!
I appreciate your stance on all this. It sounds like most of your most impactful movie experiences have come in the last quarter century, which would explain why you are more acclimated to this more interactive form of moviegoing.
I've softened a bit in my old age. It was an issue early in my marriage mostly because some people can't sing on key.
I would only occasionally see movies growing up - probably one or two a year when my uncle would take me out for the day over Winter and Summer break.
In seeing Wicked, during the Wizard and I, both Amy and I had an urge to clap for Cynthia Erivo's performance but we held back. Which is weird because on stage we would not thought twice about it.
I don't think we need to be overly precious about the filmgoing experience; I think it'd be fun to attend a screening like you describe in the past, throwing vegetables at the screen, booing the villains and cheering the heroes. But people using their phones to record all or part of a movie seems different to me; it's taking themselves OUT of that collective experience, and for what? are they really going to re-watch whatever poor-quality recording they captured during a screening? And as they're doing that, the glow of their phones DOES take away from the experience of others in the theater.
The fandom you describe sounds so boring and isolated compared to, say, "Rocky Horror" fans, whose creativity engages everyone in the theater. It's not just a sing-along... at various moments fans throw toast or playing cards at the screen, and engage in call & response with the film's dialogue. The sing-along aspect of the screening is part of the fun, and -- perhaps most importantly -- it's what everyone expects going in.
If the "Wicked" superfans were to put down their phones and make the screenings more of a fun, engaging, collective experience, that would be a reason to see the film in a theater. But as you point out, with the way younger people are so afraid of awkwardness (I'd go a step further and say they're downright uncomfortable interacting with strangers at all) I'm not holding my breath.
This is a real pet peeve for people who take movies seriously; some of them are just a couple of pings away from committing grievous bodily harm...
Back in the old analog days, the worst thing somebody could do like this would be to trick the management into staying for more than one showing a film, thereby ripping the theatre off financially. That, or staging a food fight with concession products (Boomer kids seemed to like this..). It was far harder at that time to make a "pirated" print of a film.
I sure appreciated this post... It made me think of 2 recent cinema experiences... Watched Here in a sweet little indie theater in Tacoma, the Grand Cinema (6 dollar thursday matinee), and was very aware of my noisy popcorn, which being the self conscious person I am, took away from my experience. Contrast that with total immersion at home watching My Old Ass. I had thought I could not have such an experience at home. Thank you for bringing up the issue and providing me a chance to contrast the two experiences and realize they can be different and an awareness of what I am seeking (in a particular film watching event) can answer the where and when to watch.
Here's the thing: Audiences have evolved even prior to film making. People shouted, insulted and spit on the floor at the main event. When my mother went to the cinema in the 1930s and 40s, they had live pre-shows, a dish give-away and a packed lunch. If I'm a cinema manager nowadays and I'm introducing a screening, I'll say "If you sing you will be escorted out""....
I remember my first sing-along movie experience, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, of course, when I was a college freshman in Berlin, coming from my sheltered hometown and had no idea what was about to happen. Singing, catcalls, cheers and hisses, costumes, and smuggled in alcohol was the scene. I rolled with it gleefully. Then there was "Kentucky Fried Movie," also in English in this German-speaking culture where we had never heard of the Wizard of Oz. Puzzling for me, to say the least. Only many years later, I noticed sing-along announcements for "Song of Music," which I avoided. But maybe the need for such expression, costume exhibition, bachelorette parties, and other group spectacles should get a closer look. -- How about if movie theaters set aside, say, the late showing for interactive communal revelry?
When I pay extra to experience the movie in the theatre, with the big sound and the big screen, I am there for deep immersion. I plunge in head first because I want to exist in that world. Anything that pulls me out of it, dilutes--actually ruins--the experience. I would call it a religious experience, except for having to use a word I prefer to avoid. I am the same way in a concert hall or an art gallery. What trivia is as important as a deep dive into art and sometime even greatness?
I certainly can't argue with that! I'd only point out that many, many viewers want something different out of the theatrical experience. How can we find common ground? I wonder if simply advertising certain screenings as "no phones" or "phones allowed" might be a good way to handle it. Assuming you could get the theater owners on board.
Might work. There are certain designated performances of Wicked in which audience members can sing along.
This is (yet another) fantastic piece. I was resistant at first, but you crafted a great case. Nicely done, Noah.
The main reason people talking over movies annoys me is that going to the theater has gotten more expensive than I feel it deserves to be. I had better be able to follow the film at that cost. If I’m at home, I can always go back 30 seconds and the experience probably cost me less too.
I think comparing a movie to a concert or sporting event is appropriate. For myself, I find that if I am too busy taking pictures and/or playing on my phone it distracts from the experience.
I remember seeing The Phantom Menace in theaters and I was instantly 10 years old again. When the opening crawl came on the screen, I did a quiet clap to myself because I didn't want to make a scene. Fast forward to the last few years, I routinely now clap for certain entrances or experiences. The Resistance ship showing up in The Force Awakens? Check. The Avengers Assemble scene in Endgame? Check? Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire showing up in Spider-Man 3? Check. And the studios now openly celebrating these moments on their own socials could be construed as sending mixed messages. I do think singing is a bit rude though. But then again, I think someone singing in the car when we are together is a bit rude lol
Good thing we've never taken a road trip together!
I appreciate your stance on all this. It sounds like most of your most impactful movie experiences have come in the last quarter century, which would explain why you are more acclimated to this more interactive form of moviegoing.
I've softened a bit in my old age. It was an issue early in my marriage mostly because some people can't sing on key.
I would only occasionally see movies growing up - probably one or two a year when my uncle would take me out for the day over Winter and Summer break.
In seeing Wicked, during the Wizard and I, both Amy and I had an urge to clap for Cynthia Erivo's performance but we held back. Which is weird because on stage we would not thought twice about it.
I don't think we need to be overly precious about the filmgoing experience; I think it'd be fun to attend a screening like you describe in the past, throwing vegetables at the screen, booing the villains and cheering the heroes. But people using their phones to record all or part of a movie seems different to me; it's taking themselves OUT of that collective experience, and for what? are they really going to re-watch whatever poor-quality recording they captured during a screening? And as they're doing that, the glow of their phones DOES take away from the experience of others in the theater.
The fandom you describe sounds so boring and isolated compared to, say, "Rocky Horror" fans, whose creativity engages everyone in the theater. It's not just a sing-along... at various moments fans throw toast or playing cards at the screen, and engage in call & response with the film's dialogue. The sing-along aspect of the screening is part of the fun, and -- perhaps most importantly -- it's what everyone expects going in.
If the "Wicked" superfans were to put down their phones and make the screenings more of a fun, engaging, collective experience, that would be a reason to see the film in a theater. But as you point out, with the way younger people are so afraid of awkwardness (I'd go a step further and say they're downright uncomfortable interacting with strangers at all) I'm not holding my breath.
No letter. I'm with you in uncertainty about what to do, and in choosing to avoid the cinema experience where it is likely to happen.
This is a real pet peeve for people who take movies seriously; some of them are just a couple of pings away from committing grievous bodily harm...
Back in the old analog days, the worst thing somebody could do like this would be to trick the management into staying for more than one showing a film, thereby ripping the theatre off financially. That, or staging a food fight with concession products (Boomer kids seemed to like this..). It was far harder at that time to make a "pirated" print of a film.
I sure appreciated this post... It made me think of 2 recent cinema experiences... Watched Here in a sweet little indie theater in Tacoma, the Grand Cinema (6 dollar thursday matinee), and was very aware of my noisy popcorn, which being the self conscious person I am, took away from my experience. Contrast that with total immersion at home watching My Old Ass. I had thought I could not have such an experience at home. Thank you for bringing up the issue and providing me a chance to contrast the two experiences and realize they can be different and an awareness of what I am seeking (in a particular film watching event) can answer the where and when to watch.
Good point. I had the exact same experience with My Old Ass, by the way. I felt like that movie was speaking directly to me on my couch.
Here's the thing: Audiences have evolved even prior to film making. People shouted, insulted and spit on the floor at the main event. When my mother went to the cinema in the 1930s and 40s, they had live pre-shows, a dish give-away and a packed lunch. If I'm a cinema manager nowadays and I'm introducing a screening, I'll say "If you sing you will be escorted out""....
I remember my first sing-along movie experience, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, of course, when I was a college freshman in Berlin, coming from my sheltered hometown and had no idea what was about to happen. Singing, catcalls, cheers and hisses, costumes, and smuggled in alcohol was the scene. I rolled with it gleefully. Then there was "Kentucky Fried Movie," also in English in this German-speaking culture where we had never heard of the Wizard of Oz. Puzzling for me, to say the least. Only many years later, I noticed sing-along announcements for "Song of Music," which I avoided. But maybe the need for such expression, costume exhibition, bachelorette parties, and other group spectacles should get a closer look. -- How about if movie theaters set aside, say, the late showing for interactive communal revelry?