# What's The Deal With Standing Ovations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240 "2005-03-12T21:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/21 "2005-03-14T04:11:28Z")
When I saw Farenheit 9/11 in the theater, it got a standing o at the end, yet it didn’t feel forced. Some friends that went to another showing said the same thing happened there. I imagine it happened at many a screening of that movie. [sub]Ironic, since this was in Ohio…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/22 "2005-03-14T04:40:44Z")
I found that PBS special mostly unwatchable so I never got to the Sondheim bit - but I’d suggest that another contributing factor to the desire to feel a part of something special is the price of the ticket. Last year, my best friend got tickets to see Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in their return to the Producers. At the end, I thought - “What a nice little show. But if I’d actually paid the $125 face value of the ticket, I’d be pissed - not to mention the $400+ they were charging during their first go-round.” Admittedly, I’m a big bitch when it comes to film or theatre; I suspect that most people want desperately to assume that the show they’ve shelled out for is as good as the tickets would suggest. It’s not that different from designer clothing - $150 Diesel jeans just _have_ to be better than $19 Arizonas from Penney’s, don’t they? _ **Don’t they?** _ ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/23 "2005-03-14T07:10:22Z")
Customs change. People’s habits change. Society changes. The customary response at the end of a play changed? No surprise. There’s a certain intellectual laziness in taking preconceived notions about society (generally, that society is going to hell in a handbasket), using them to explain the meaning behind a social phenomenon, and using that social phenomenon as evidence of that preconceived notion. It’s just a custom, and it’s changing in some small respect. It happens. The way we show appreciation for a performance is a pretty minor thing, and the specifics of it are just due to the random nature of social customs. Getting upset about it means you’re taking it way to seriously, and reading stuff into it that isn’t there. I really fucking hate it when people clap in movie theaters, though. What the fuck is the point of showing appreciation to performers who aren’t there? Who’s hearing the applause? The pimply-faced teen starting the projector? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/24 "2005-03-14T10:26:26Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I have no idea what people would think to do for something truly exceptional. Levitate. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/25 "2005-03-14T14:38:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I recently found out that Robert Kennedy got a 20 minute standing ovation at the 1964 DNC. Who stands there and claps for 20 minutes?! I once heard that back in Soviet Russia, someone called for Standing Ovation of Stalin’s new (god-awful) decree. So everyone did including the poor announcer on-stage, so as not to appear unpatriotic to the watching secret police. Then, no one could be the first to stop for that same reason, as it went on and on and on and on. Eventually some old guy did stop after several minutes of this. He was purged and sent to the gulag a short while later, though it was never certain this was the cause. I personally wonder why he didn’t fake a heart attack. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/26 "2005-03-14T20:47:41Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Those of us who are approaching codger age remember back when the standing ovation was a most unusual event. I simply don’t remember ever participating in one as a youth. > > Something changed over the years, and now a standing ovation is seemingly the minimum necessary acknowledgment of a performance. I have no idea what people would think to do for something truly exceptional. Probably they have no idea either. I had the same conversation with hubby as we left a concert. I said, “After everybody stands up and applauds, what more can they do?” His suggestion: “Jump up and down and applaud.” -Myra ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/27 "2005-03-14T21:32:24Z")
> [@Myron Van Horowitzski](#): > > I had the same conversation with hubby as we left a concert. I said, “After everybody stands up and applauds, what more can they do?” > > His suggestion: “Jump up and down and applaud.” > > -Myra There’s always this: From [http://www.operaworld.com/special/verdi1.shtml:](http://www.operaworld.com/special/verdi1.shtml:) > [@](#): > > When Verdi and his librettist, Boito, walked on stage after the premiere of Otello, they received over 20 curtain calls; the audience wept from sheer emotion. At the end of the evening, Verdi’s carriage was pulled back to his hotel by the cheering crowd and he was serenaded for hours. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/28 "2005-03-14T23:03:34Z")
**Avumede** , that’s a great story. I think audiences of a century ago were a bit more emotional (if that’s possible) than they are now; remember that crowds rioted over the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rites of Spring. But if I’m moved by a high school drama club’s performance of _Our Town_ I’ll be damned if I’m gonna pull the star’s carriage home and serenade him all night. The obligatory Standing O is, of course, related to the obligatory Encore. What would a band do if they came out for their encore, and discovered that everybody had left? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/29 "2005-03-14T23:39:34Z")
> [@Flamsterette\_X](#): > > Reading my friend’s blog, I was interested in his description of a concert. Then he said that he wanted to know why people gave standing ovations if it wasn’t the best performance ever. It doesn’t need to be _the best ever_ before I stand… but it does need to be really good. I have occasionally been one of the few people sitting during the curtain calls. I’m ok with that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240/30 "2005-03-15T15:47:05Z")
> [@Can Handle the Truth](#): > > I was in London in the early 90’s ('91 or '92) and I went to see a production of Les Miserables. I wasn’t overly impressed with it and apparently neither was most of the audience, since the applause was only lukewarm and nobody stood. Then this stupid woman in the front row stood up and started clapping really loud with her hands way over her head. Then she turned around and faced the audience and started gesturing for everyone to stand up. A few people around her did. This silly lady continued to clap and wave her hands and dance around until she got half the damn theater to stand. I still shake my head every time I think about it. But don’t you think the performers noticed the ‘reluctance’ of this standing ovation? It likely was somewhat more embarressing than if the audience had just sat & applauded. By the way, did you discover which cast member this woman was dating? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-standing-ovations/294240.md?page=1)