I’ve never experienced the applause phenomenon at a ‘normal’ commercial cinema in Sweden. However, occasionally (very rarely) the audience will applaud at the end of a movie at an independent cinema in town. The exception to this is at the annual film festival. Here, applause is common (assuming the movie was good). And, people actually stay until the credits are finished instead of rushing out of the theater as fast as possible. If the director/writer/producer is present, obviously the movie recieves applause at the end.
I also seem to have vague recollections of applause at some action movie (perhaps Apollo 13 as others here have mentioned?) when I lived in the US.
On a cultural note, I hear that Japanese moviegoers show their appreciation for a movie by being completely silent. Supposedly the first screening on Star Wars in Japan ended with the audience leaving in total silence, which freaked out the movie studio execus until they were told why.
I’ve always found it strange too. It just seems weird.
I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 over the weekend, and not only was there clapping at the end of the movie, but there was clapping going on throughout the entire thing. It was annoying, because there was more than one time when it wasn’t possible to hear what Moore or the person on screen was saying. Clapping is not the same as laughter either. This was in a big theater, and the clapping completely drowned out the sound system.
It’s more frequent at festivals, but for general movies, very rarely. The last two movies I went to where there was applause was the 2001-2 re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Fahrenheit 9/11. Actually, there was considerable audience response to Fahrenheit throughout the entire show. 2001 was rare in that others besides me sat through the credits and waited for it to say “The End”.
I don’t feel any obligation to clap, but I will if I found the movie particularly notable. It doesn’t really matter if there’s noöne there to hear it–it’s the thought that counts.
The first time I ever saw a film in America was Independence Day, when I was on holiday in Boston with my parents.
Not only was there applauding, there were some “WOO-WOO-WOOOOOH!”'s, a (cringe) “YeeeeHAH!” and a whole host of chanting of “U.S.A! U.S.A!”. By the end, I’d lost count of the number of times my dad and I turned to each other and rolled our eyes. I mean, jeez, it wasn’t even a very good film…
To this day, I’m still scared that when I go to a cinema in America, the audience is going to devolve into that bunch of morons. Thankfully it hasn’t happened since.
Yeah, clapping after a movie does seem pointless if no-one involved in the making is there - but it has its benefits. One, Americans seem to like showing their appreciation for things exuberantly and loudly; it’s just natural for some people. In a crowd setting, the feeling intensifies. And another, more practical reason to clap is that it lets the movie theater know which movies are getting the most positive response. If a film that the theater had given few runnings and hadn’t really counted on to be appreciated by audiences is greeted with tons of applause at the end of every showing, they just might add more show times. Finally, if enough audiences clap at enough theaters, you know the director/actors are bound to hear about it. Of course Peter Jackson found out that the first LOTR movie was getting wild applause, and it must have been great to hear.
So, yeah, silly perhaps, but not completely bone-headed useless.
I’m wondering if movie buffs tend to clap more than non-movie buffs? I belong to the CWRU Film Society and I can remeber starting AND adding to the clapping at the end of a film. You’ll also get the occational MST3K-like comment to the screen (we’re sorta “second run,” so chances are the other folks have seen it already and won’t mind as much). Even though the actors can’t hear the applause, you just clap anyway for something you like, just liked you’d boo or laugh when “required.”
Oddly, this is my experience in Britain. As several other posters have indicated, clapping is rare outside the US and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it here in a normal commercial cinema.
The major exception is that it occasionally happens at the National Film Theatre, where the atmosphere is otherwise rather strict and the audiences tend to be somewhat, well, either middle-class or academic. Indeed, there’s been at least some applause at all of the screenings I’ve been to in their current Marx Brothers season. The underlying reason is surely that some of what’s being screened is just great, great cinema. It’s difficult to respond to screenings of Singing in the Rain or Duck Soup other than to think that one’s just seen something truly remarkable and, in the circumstances, a round of applause seems a natural reaction to some people.
Silent films with a live accompaniment are a special case again. As a matter of courtesy, while I never clap for other films, I will always applaud at the end of such screenings to show appreciation to the musicians. (I have done this in Chicago after a showing of The Passion of Joan of Arc only for the person next to me to stand up and publically denounce the pianist for ruining a masterpiece; he did have a bit of a point.)
Indeed, the only time I’ve heard a British audience (wildly) applaud during a film was after the chariot race in the 1926 version of Ben Hur - Carl Davis conducting a Liverpool Phil. screening of it.
And the only time I’ve ever seen a film get a standing ovation at the end was in perhaps the most specialist audience of all. The anniversary screening of Brownlow’s restoration of Napoleon in London a couple of years ago coincided with a conference and so a high proportion of the audience were film archivists from around the world. It, of course, helped that Gance’s final reel is quite so rousing.
I feel like I’ve experienced clapping in movies more often in recent years than previous ones. Anybody else feel that way? (Or maybe it’s because I’ve seen movies in recent years at college in the Chicago area, Equipoise?)
Lately I’ve been to several movies where the audience probably liked it pretty well and some people will clap at the end, but it’s very short-lived/hesitant. Sort of like, “okay…I’d like to show my appreciation but this is pretty silly because it’s a movie and applause doesn’t happen much and other people in the theatre aren’t clapping and will also think it’s silly.”
Fahrenheit 9/11 was certainly the most recent one I’ve seen that had applause (and pretty hearty applause at that, no standing O at the theatre I went to though).
Another movie I remember getting VERY enthusiastic applause and cheers was Seabiscuit. It was just so much fun and so involving, and you knew from the response that the majority of the audience felt the same way about what they were seeing. There’s something kind of cool about that. Almost like you ARE having a communal experience with strangers despite sitting in a dark room without looking at or talking to one another.
I’ve been to several movies where the audience clapped at the end. I think it happens more for very emotional movies that put you through the ringer, or that get your adrenaline going.
I think it’s a form of release for the audience after going through the strong emotions. Like clapping at the end of a roller coaster run.
Everyone clapped during Spider-Man 2, even before the movie started. When the lights dimmed, a bunch of people clapped. Then, sporadically throughout the movie, people clapped. And everyone clapped at the end.
i’m not sure if my experience echos what had been said, but during my viewing of ROTK, there were audible groans (“It’s not finished yet?!”) during the umpteenth fade-to-black. when a huge “The End” came on screen there were many people cheering and clapping.
So, if clapping after a movie is wierd, is laughing during a movie equally wierd? Before anyone points out that laughter is involuntary, keep in mind that most people tend to laugh at a movie more in a crowd than they would in an empty theater.
I’m not really certain what point I’m trying to make here, but I’m pretty sure it’s a good one.
The ONLY experience of movie clapping I’ve ever had was when a birthday party when I was about 9 involved us all going to see “Rocky IV”. I’ve seen it since and it was, y’know, shit, but I seem to remember it was a work of genius at the time. At least, it manipulated our tender minds very effectively, and for us that was the whole point. We were actually stood up shouting to Rocky to win. Totally bizarre, I cannot imagine such a thing happening now.
Biggest problem was our modern studies teachers trying to convince us that the USSR hadn’t actually collapsed. But we saw it! Rocky won! The world is all better now! Hey, what’s the USSR anyway…?
Last time I was in an audience where people applauded was Monday, at a Spider-Man 2 preview. They applauded the end of an incident involving a train and at the end of the movie. Last Friday the audience at *Fahrenheit 9/11 * applauded WILDLY (our theater was about 1/2 mile from Tom DeLay’s home office too, so take that, Tommyboy).
I’ve been to lots and lots of screenings that got applause, most of them in Houston or Austin. I remember during multiple viewings of *Moulin Rouge * a few years ago, every time the “Like a Virgin” number was over the suburban multiplex audiences would burst into applause. I saw a revival of Dr. Strangelove once where the audience was obviously familar with the movie because everyone would start laughing *right before * something funny would happen. “Oh, right, *this * part…” There are few things better than a few hundred people wired to the gills for a movie and just eating it up.
I think movie audiences **should ** applaud if they feel moved to do so. What’s the point of having a communal experience if you’re just going to sit there like you’re dead? Some of the best moments I’ve had in theaters were ones where the movie was so intense that you began to notice the absolute silence in the room. No feet shuffling, no whispering, just people completely immersed in a movie. I miss that community when I watch movies at home.
