Buy Or Don’t Buy

In an age of rampant personalization, there’s something to be said for shared experiences. Movies are readily available for home-viewing on a television or computer, and television itself has become so segmented that there will never be another M*A*S*H (105 million people watched its series finale in 1983!)

In this quest for ultimate convenience, something gets sacrificed. There is the obvious factor that films are made for the theater – they are meant to be seen on the big screen, sans interruption, and without their edges cut away by artless editors.

But what really makes the theater experience worth it is the communal factor. Sure, sometimes it’s really cool when you and your friends find a theater all to yourselves – you can put your feet up, chatter, or yell at the characters when something stupid happens (I’m guilty of doing this repeatedly during The Family Stone). But there is something undeniably wonderful about sitting in a room with a few hundred others who you know are just as pumped up about the dimming lights as you are.

Would the Joker feel as wildly unpredictable if you didn’t feel the audience’s glee when he performs his “magic trick”? Would Tony Stark be as funny if you didn’t hear their laughter when he throws out a one-liner? Would Voldemort be as menacing if you didn’t sense the hush that settles over the room when he appears onscreen?

I believe the answer is no. Just like inconsiderate audience members can ruin a movie with their cell phone conversations and crying babies, good ones can make a great movie experience even better with their laughter, shock and appreciation for something of quality.

Is it sad, in a way, that the only things that can bring us together now are heavily marketed, product-placed million-dollar movies? Maybe. But lately the biggest blockbusters have tended to be really, really good blockbusters (I’m thinking Iron Man and The Dark Knight in particular). When a movie is genuinely thrilling, funny and/or balls-out awesome, it deserves to do well, and we deserve to experience it with people who feel the same way.