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]
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?
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?
Levitate.
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. 
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:
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?
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.
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?