What's with all this cheering and clapping after a movie? (1 Viewer)

[Jim_F]

It's not the applause that bothers me, it's the fact that the actors never acknowledge the praise from the audience.

The nerve of some people!

I'd thought that it was only U.S. audiences that had forgotten that clapping and cheering are a form of communication from an audience to live performers.

 

[Carlo_M]

When the Star Wars films were re-released into theaters (the SE versions in the late 90's) people in the Mann Village in Westwood would hoot and holler at every intro of a character. Han would typically get the biggest ovation, but credit to Harrison Ford, he never broke stride and completed the scene as if nothing were happening.

 

[Ray Suarez]

Applause at a movie is a spontaneous reaction to something highly emotional.

I totally agree with Derek on this point. I haven't seen this happen too often but two instances of audience reaction stand out in my mind for very different reasons.
Rocky II: More than half of the audience (sold out show) stood and clapped for two to three minutes at the conclusion.
Schindler's List: No one moved, no one spoke and no one left until the credits ended.
I've never felt compelled to applaud during or after a movie but I can see where people may become overwhelmed with emotion that some form of acknowledgement is necessary; even if it is directed toward a screen.

 

[Jason Boucher]

I don't like it. I go to an arthouse theater every year to see Its a Wonderful Life. It always gets an ovation at the end. Happened again last night. It has always bothered me. A better sign of respect would be to read the end credits. However, I do understand applauding a particular scene in a movie. This is a spontaneous burst of emotion, but clapping at the end is not spontaneous. It is a planned, orchestrated example of symbolism over substance.

 

[Henry Carmona]

Symbolism, shmimbolism, I could care less what others do.
If I liked the movie Im clapping.
And i did clap for LOTR.

 

[Philip_G]

I've never seen an audience here applaud a film (and I was a projectionist for 2.5 years, I would have heard it from the booth, and it would have scared the shit out of me)

 

[Bill Catherall]

I went to a special screening of A.I. with an audience that had (mostly) participated in the internet game used for marketing the movie. We all clapped and cheared during the credits when familiar names or people came up. Then when more clues were given at the end of the credits everybody went into a frenzy with their wireless palm top internet connections.

 

[Cees Alons]

I've never seen it here. Personally, I wouldn't know who it was meant for (except on an opening night, when the artists are really present).
Now what struck me in the original post is this: in my country, after a play, people often applaud very enthusiastically, even almost always standing up to a "standing ovation". I regarded that as a sort of posing behaviour that I hated. Sometimes they actually cheer, and often the performance wasn't even that special. In my opinion they forgot what it was all about, I often mentioned the Brits, saying that even after a really exciting evening and brilliant performance (and theatre does have a very high general standard in the UK, as compared to several other countries I know), people almost always just applaud while staying seated in their chairs and then go home. Meaning they really enjoyed the evening.
So now you're telling me, you English Brits, the true connoiseurs of theatre in the whole world, are doing something silly like applauding after a film performance??
Cees

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I'd thought that it was only U.S. audiences that had forgotten that clapping and cheering are a form of communication from an audience to live performers.

U.S. audiences haven't forgotten anything. They just also remember that clapping and cheering is also a form of communication among the people in the theater. This is no different from folks yelling at the screen, high-fiving or what-have-you during televised sporting events. For that matter do you have a problem with people laughing during a filmed comedy? After all, the performers are not there to appreciate it.
I've see plenty of cheering in my time. The opening credits of Star Trek: TMP and The Empire Strikes Back drew loud applause and cheering (in both cases the return of a popular story after a long drought), the ending of the original Rocky, even All the President's Men (you had to be there. )
Actually it is the shared experience and communal reaction to a film in the theater (even more than screen size and clarity of the filmed image) that makes a public screening superior to even the best home theaters. This matters less for intimate dramas, but epics and comedies always seem to work better when you're sharing the experience with a couple of hundred strangers. And the applause and cheering is just a way of signaling to one another, "Wasn't that great?" People who are annoyed by this are being a little too literal in their understanding of what applause means, I think.
Regards,
Joe

 

[Dave F]

I hate clapping. Smiling too. Crying pisses me off. Don't even get me started about laughing. Everyone should just sit in complete silence until the end of the movie, at which point they should somberly file out of thie theater in single file.

-Dave

 

[Steve Christou]

Cees, are you saying that the Dutch don't clap at the end of a really good satisfying movie? tsk tsk.
We Brits are famously eccentric and I dimly remember a lot of clapping at the end of Jaws and at the end of all three Star Wars movies, and I was clapping and whistling during certain parts of Basic Instinct (and nearly got thrown out), recently though there hasn't been much of that.
There was a bit of grumbling at the end of the Lord of the Rings the other day, maybe some people expected all 9 hours of the film played out that evening.

 

[Cees Alons]

I was clapping and whistling during certain parts of Basic Instinct

Liar! I'm sure that wasn't why you were nearly got thrown out.
Cees

 

[Steve Christou]

Cees, come on now, admit it, the only time you Dutch clapped and cheered at a movie WAS Basic Instinct, eh what?
Hey hang on isn't Paul Verhoeven the director of Basic Instinct Dutch?
I must admit I grew restless during Basic Instinct, I'm sure the heating was on too high.

 

[Derek Miner]

It is a planned, orchestrated example of symbolism over substance.

Yeah, someone went around and convinced all the people in the theater that they should applaud at the end of the movie. How can you call it planned? And I'll add that sometimes applause at the end of a movie is thwarted. I've heard one or two people applaud only to have it trail off into silence. I still maintain that it's an emotional reaction of the particular audience.
If you want to talk about applause as symbolism over substance, let's talk about musicians who build their encores into their show. I find it ridiculous that a band or artist holds out one or two big familiar numbers just so that you know (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) they're obviously coming back. I'm sick of it. I've only known one band who eschews this tradition. They won't even do encores unless the audience really lets them know. Most audiences don't even deserve these encores anymore - they usually just dilly-dally around quietly because the encore is a foregone conclusion. When I want to see more, I let them know!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I saw it on Friday, and when it was over, a good portion of the audience did clap. I find nothing wrong with it, they saw something that obviously impressed them, they felt overjoyed, and they clapped, big deal. Let em have their fun I say.
If it still makes no sense to you, ask yourself this question "What's with all the laughter at a comedy!?"

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

Here in Japan, I started clapping at the end of the preview of LOTR that was attached to the Harry Potter movie I was watching. We don't get the movie until March 3 and I am really upset about that.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Tomoko, ! March 3rd! Man that's over two whole months before you get to experience the wonder that is 'LOTR's'!
This is what I would do if I were you, and i'm being totally serious here, catch the first flight over here, and see this film! It's that good!
Look at it this way, you'll have something to hold over your friends, "I saw LOTR's before anyone in the entire nation!"

 

[Mitty]

If it still makes no sense to you, ask yourself this question "What's with all the laughter at a comedy!?"

Laughter is involuntary. Clapping isn't. Unless maybe you're a sea otter.
I more or less see people who applaud at the end of a movie in the same light as those who talk to themselves in public. We all do it from time to time, until we realize we're doing it, then we stop.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Mitty, i'm not so sure about that. I mean if your excited enough, and are so overcome with happiness with what you just saw, I think that clapping can be involuntary, until you then realize what your doing and stop.
I know that when I went to my first NASCAR race, it was so exciting that I didn't realize I was cheering and applauding half the time, so it can be done.

 

[TheoGB]

Wow - I got quite a thread going here.
I would not equate laughing at a comedy and clapping in the same way at the cinema because, apart from anything else, the laughter is intended. They are trying to make you do it.
Moreover your whole life is filled with things that are trying to make you laugh - a mate's joke, silly emails. No such thing exists to make you clap - it's reserved for performance - to reassure a performer or speaker that they have said the right thing, thus it is meaningless to celluloid (unless you're clapping 'Good projectionist! That man really knows how to switch reels!' )
I just felt really uncomfortable with all these people around me clapping - kind of like I wasn't 'in' on what was going on here. Also when they clapped during the final combat - that kind of breaks the magic. It's like they're afraid to lose themselves in the movie...:frowning: Can't really explain.
(I still have no idea what on earth Cees is on about )