Say it is and @#$ing die!!!
Anyway, I recall in the lat 60’s and early 70’s that at the end of a movie (in the theater) the audience applauding.
Why? and to whom? There must have been an origin to this. By the late 60’s television was routine in most households. Nobody in my home clapped at the end of a TV show. Who did the audience in movie theaters think they were showing approval to?
Was this just a carry over of the live play days? Or just a courtesy thing that carried over to the movie theaters?
I don’t recall anyone applauding Jaws, Star Wars, or Superman:The Movie. By 1975 the clapping had ended.
I am 54 and have only heard applause at the end of a particularly emotional, exciting, or just really good movie that really draws the audience in, with a powerful ending. Definitely not every movie, or even most, regardless of whether it was the 60s, 70s, or whenever.
This is not because the audience is consciously showing their appreciation to anyone in particular. IMHO this is a Pavlov’s Dog response because people are conditioned to applaud at live performances that elicit this type of emotion. So they are conditioned to respond to what they feel, whether anyone is there to care.
ETA: I don’t find it obnoxious at all. What I find obnoxious is when people applaud at *weddings *as though they were staged performances.
I can’t remember the last time I heard it, though. It may be that younger generations are not exposed to as many live performances, or that people have just gotten habituated to movies like that.
I’ve seen it on occasion even quite recently. Usually it’s associated with a big “event” movie, where people wait in lines for hours on opening night. The applauding seems more like audience participation, “WOO that was AWESOME”, rather than an attempt to communicate anything to the filmmakers.
Going back to the an even earlier era as the OP, I don’t recall there ever being a general habit of applause in a regular film theater as a rule.
Always exceptions, of course.
Been to a few special showing when someone from the film was in attendance, e.g., a director, and applause was expected. Some campus classic film screenings would have it. There might have been one or two times people applauded a particularly good film in a theater but I’m not sure.
I do remember people applauding and cheering the trailer for “Star Wars” though. That was out of the blue.
I can think of exactly six times in my life when i’ve experienced this phenomenon.
At the end of “Independence Day”, on opening night.
At the end of “Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith”, on opening night.
At the end of “Fahrenheit 9/11” on opening night.
A pre-release screening of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” - the audience applauded when Douglas Adams’ name appeared onscreen, when the Guide appeared accopmanied by the theme song from the TV series, and at the end.
At a one-night-only screening of a concert film of the Who from 1970.
The post-credits trailer for “The Avengers” at the end of “Captain America: The First Avenger”, a few days after the opening.
I expect it is a holdover from live theatre - but it also used to be the case that the movie credits were at the start, and The End was quite an abrupt, finite moment, making applause a more comfortable response.
My friends and I all applauded when Kirk was given command of the Enterprise-A at the end of ‘The Voyage Home’. But that is the same group that sobbed hysterically when Spock died in ‘The Wrath of Khan’.
I have seen it at screenings of classic films at movie palaces, like when I went to see something like Destry Rides Again at the spectacular Akron Civic Theatre. It’s kind of a communal experience. At a regular mall cineplex, no.
I agree. The times I can remember people applauding after a movie it was a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movie. People want to release their excitement and share it with other members of the audience. It’s kind of like morse code for “I liked that movie! Didn’t you?!” and someone responds by clapping “Yes I also liked that movie. Hooray!”
That’s how I feel at least. I also disagree that my parents (early 60s) saw anymore live performances in their youth than I did in mine (early 20s). In fact I bet I saw more.
A comment on the wedding situation…Again it’s morse code for “Yay you’re married! Congrats!”
The midnight audience applauded at the end of Deathly Hallows, part 2 when I saw it.
The afternoon audience a couple of days later did not. Go figure.
I don’t applaud at films. I also don’t stand up when I applaud just because other people are doing it.
Applause has grown from merely a way to say “well done” to a live performer to simply a proclamation of “well done” regardless of whomever is within earshot. I think it’s fair to say we’ve conditioned ourselves Pavlov-style to clap our hands when we witness something that we think is outstanding.
I’m not an applauder at movies because I only applaud when it’s (a) genuine and (b) heard by the performer. But ever since I moved to Los Angeles, I’ve been wondering if it wouldn’t be appropriate to engage in applause at movies since you can’t throw a tennis ball in this town without hitting someone in the movie biz.
I do love a good applause at the end of a movie, though. I remember watching Machete at the premier, and we’d agreed to applaud during the movie because we’d been looking forward to it for so long, and were stoked as hell. But it was a bit awkward, so we hesitated. Just when we decided to go for it, Machete jumped out of the hospital window at the end of that guy’s intestines. The perfect timing!
Like others have said, it’s not to congratulate anyone involved with the movie, but rather a little ritual so everyone can know ‘yes, we had a good time!’ A bit like applause at sitcoms - it’s not there to make the actors feel good, but because people associate applause with a good thing. A good movie screening ends with an applause and everyone sitting during the credits to listen to the score and let the movie sink in, IMHO.
Yea, I think Slumdog was the last movie I saw where the audience spontaneously applauded at the end. But it does happen occasionally, and I haven’t noticed it happening any less recently then in times past.
I kind of like it. Its obviously not meant to congratulate the people who made the movie but rather reinforce to the other people in the audience that it was a really good movie. It would be annoying if it happened at every film, but the fact that its pretty rare makes it fun.
and to whom? There must have been an origin to this. By the late 60’s television was routine in most households. Nobody in my home clapped at the end of a TV show. Who did the audience in movie theaters think they were showing approval to?