# Applauding at the movies. why? And why did it end? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581 "2011-11-11T08:55:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/21 "2011-11-12T02:39:36Z")
Peer pressure, like standing ovations for live gigs, state of union speeches, etc. Useless. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/22 "2011-11-12T13:29:31Z")
I only applaud during X Rated films. Well . . . . at least I call it applauding. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/23 "2011-11-12T18:06:04Z")
> [@Dereknocue67](#): > > I only applaud during X Rated films. > > Well . . . . at least I call it applauding. “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/24 "2011-11-13T11:37:45Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > 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? . You’re missing something. Applauses aren’t solely intended foir the benefit of the performers. When a member of the audience is delighted, he _wants_ to express his pleasure, cheering, applauding, screaming, whatever… and if possible with the rest of the crowd. From this point of view, the movies are frustrating. I started myself to applaud a couple times at the end of a movie that I had found reaaly great, and was followed. We just needed to express and share our enthousiasm. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/25 "2011-11-13T13:50:35Z")
The audience at the Kansas silent movie festival in Topeka likes to applaud every time a character does something heroic. I don’t know why they do it, and I don’t know why it annoys me, but I live with it- it never drowns out the dialog. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/26 "2011-11-13T14:03:57Z")
We just saw TOWER HEIST last night, and several audience members applauded at a particular moment during the film. I think it’s a spontaneous way of expressing appreciation, like laughing at the funny bits, one applauds at the heroic bits. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/27 "2011-11-14T00:35:36Z")
About applauding at weddings, which aren’t _supposed_ to be a “staged performance”: > [@Gedd](#): > > Aren’t they though? There is a script, an audience, and usually they even rehearse it. It probably depends on the people; every wedding is different. But shhhhhhh! You’re not supposed to admit that! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/28 "2011-11-14T00:41:54Z")
I saw _Ides of March_ last week at a small movie theater with some 10 other people in the audience, and they clapped at the end. It wasn’t a particularly fine or stunning movie but they liked it so I guess they clapped. This irritated my friend for some reason but she spent the whole movie trying to be irritated at things, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/29 "2011-11-14T00:42:12Z")
One thing a good applause can do at a live performance that applause can never do at a movie: Result in an encore! Once, as a child, the folks took me to see Ethel Merman (ETA: And Russell Nype) live in “[Call Me Madam](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aI6LI4pNZQ)”. The duet “You’re Just In Love” (where the two singers, love-stricken male and older wiser “counselor” female sang two entirely separately songs simultaneously), produced such a thunderous ovation that they repeated the number about six times before moving on. [sup]“So this is the way democracy dies – To thunderous applause!” (Was it Leia who said that?)[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581/30 "2011-11-14T08:14:10Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > We just needed to express and share our enthusiasm. Yes. It’s mostly a “I REALLY ENJOYED THAT - DIDN’T YOU ENJOY THAT?!?!” “YES YES I TOO ENJOYED THAT - WE ARE SOULMATES!” Sort of thing. Loudest applause I’ve ever heard in a theater was during Thelma and Louise. I will spoiler this for anyone who has been living in a cave for 20 years. When they drove off the cliff. My theater employee friends and I were watching a late-night pre-screening and I said to my friend “It would be so awesome if they drove off the cliff.” Then when it happened we jumped up shrieking and high-fiving each other wildly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/applauding-at-the-movies-why-and-why-did-it-end/602581.md?page=1)