Most of my good experiences in movie theaters involved engaged audiences. I watched La Bamba and The Commitments with audiences who sang along, I watched french and italian movies from the 1960s with silent people smoking (old times), and I watched horror movies where people jumped together from the chair. I believe the audience is a great part of the experience. How to create rules for all these different moments and movies? I don't know but I believe they start with love for the movies and respect for the people around you. Feel the vibe and go along. This way we all can be happy Movie Goers.
May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023Liked by Celia Mattison
I absolutely love an audience that talks back to the screen. I recently discovered my 8 year old has this in his DNA when we took him to see The Super Mario Brothers movie. He was loud enough for the whole theater to take in his commentary and his interaction with the characters on screen delighted me to no end.
Seeing Harry Potter movies on midnight openings with much of the audience cosplaying remains one of my all time favorite theater experiences.
Another time an older woman sitting alone next to me was so moved by a scene that she grabbed my hand. She apologized after the film but it meant the world to me that she had been so moved.
Seeing Django as half of the only white couple in a theater transformed what audience participation meant for me and how seeing a movie with different audiences transforms what you receive from a film.
I saw Crouching Tiger in a theater with what I could only describe as a daycare field trip. So many kids far too young to read subtitles never in their seats. Some too young to stay awake for more than two hours. But they did not distract me from experiencing that story. And occasionally it was even fun to watch them reenact the martial arts on screen.
The only time I can recall being upset by a loud audience would probably be on a screening of Superbad sitting next to a group of teenagers who snuck in plenty of alcohol to replicate the drunkest moments of the film and then proceed to compete for laughs with the action on screen.
Intentional disruption or distraction is the line for me (or maybe just obnoxious teens). That and don’t kick my chair. If you are engaged with the movie and not creating physical discomfort for me I will give a lot of latitude.
Some of my best experiences have been with an active audience. I enjoy it when people cheered the Lucasfilm logo. I liked it when the audience cheered at the end of the first Avengers movie. My favorite was the man across the aisle from me who was falling apart anytime the snake appeared in Anaconda. He was not having it, "noping" the whole time. Obviously, these activities are fine in popcorn movies, but if someone was cheering Reynolds Woodcock in The Phantom Thread I think I would respond differently.
The people who talk the whole time, chatter at the movie, or boo things, are annoying no matter what movie. Also, the guy that peed into his cup while sitting behind me that one time needs to be banned for life.
Love love love The Lure and so happy you wrote about it! I am also fascinated by all things mermaid related and am drawn to the new adaptation like a moth to a flame!
I pissed when all common sense, and common courtesy, has gone out the window. People do know better. We are highly sophisticated and sensitives beings--even those folks who claim they had no idea that what they're doing is bothersome. Let's see, some examples: If you're tapping the back of my seat with your foot, that is going to bother me. If you keep crackling your bag of pop corn over and over as you rummage through it, as if you were alone at home, that's going to bother me. And so on. Common sense and common courtesy go a long way and you can't blame Covid or current trends on being a pest.
Most of my good experiences in movie theaters involved engaged audiences. I watched La Bamba and The Commitments with audiences who sang along, I watched french and italian movies from the 1960s with silent people smoking (old times), and I watched horror movies where people jumped together from the chair. I believe the audience is a great part of the experience. How to create rules for all these different moments and movies? I don't know but I believe they start with love for the movies and respect for the people around you. Feel the vibe and go along. This way we all can be happy Movie Goers.
I absolutely love an audience that talks back to the screen. I recently discovered my 8 year old has this in his DNA when we took him to see The Super Mario Brothers movie. He was loud enough for the whole theater to take in his commentary and his interaction with the characters on screen delighted me to no end.
Seeing Harry Potter movies on midnight openings with much of the audience cosplaying remains one of my all time favorite theater experiences.
Another time an older woman sitting alone next to me was so moved by a scene that she grabbed my hand. She apologized after the film but it meant the world to me that she had been so moved.
Seeing Django as half of the only white couple in a theater transformed what audience participation meant for me and how seeing a movie with different audiences transforms what you receive from a film.
I saw Crouching Tiger in a theater with what I could only describe as a daycare field trip. So many kids far too young to read subtitles never in their seats. Some too young to stay awake for more than two hours. But they did not distract me from experiencing that story. And occasionally it was even fun to watch them reenact the martial arts on screen.
The only time I can recall being upset by a loud audience would probably be on a screening of Superbad sitting next to a group of teenagers who snuck in plenty of alcohol to replicate the drunkest moments of the film and then proceed to compete for laughs with the action on screen.
Intentional disruption or distraction is the line for me (or maybe just obnoxious teens). That and don’t kick my chair. If you are engaged with the movie and not creating physical discomfort for me I will give a lot of latitude.
Some of my best experiences have been with an active audience. I enjoy it when people cheered the Lucasfilm logo. I liked it when the audience cheered at the end of the first Avengers movie. My favorite was the man across the aisle from me who was falling apart anytime the snake appeared in Anaconda. He was not having it, "noping" the whole time. Obviously, these activities are fine in popcorn movies, but if someone was cheering Reynolds Woodcock in The Phantom Thread I think I would respond differently.
The people who talk the whole time, chatter at the movie, or boo things, are annoying no matter what movie. Also, the guy that peed into his cup while sitting behind me that one time needs to be banned for life.
Love love love The Lure and so happy you wrote about it! I am also fascinated by all things mermaid related and am drawn to the new adaptation like a moth to a flame!
I pissed when all common sense, and common courtesy, has gone out the window. People do know better. We are highly sophisticated and sensitives beings--even those folks who claim they had no idea that what they're doing is bothersome. Let's see, some examples: If you're tapping the back of my seat with your foot, that is going to bother me. If you keep crackling your bag of pop corn over and over as you rummage through it, as if you were alone at home, that's going to bother me. And so on. Common sense and common courtesy go a long way and you can't blame Covid or current trends on being a pest.