Talking during films isn't always such a taboo. Bruce Thomas' Fighting Spirit, a biography of Bruce Lee's life and work, touched on the plight of the Hong Kong film industry:
"Hong Kong audiences would openly jeer a film they didn't like, and were even known to attack the seats with knives if it was really poor."In a slightly more recent example, this reddit thread came from an /r/movies contributor asking about the concept of cheering and shouting during movies. As a Brit, this is an alien and barbaric concept: despite the show of appreciation and solidarity, you're clapping at a cast of people who can't hear you behind the magic window. But one commenter states:
"Watching a film in India is like attending a live sporting event."The thread goes on to say that during a Bollywood picture, the claps and cheers are joined by dancing. Dancing. In some parts of the world, this phenomenon seems like a pretty popular part of the moviegoing process. But it's a distraction, and distractions, to a lot of moviegoers, defeat the point of immersion.
This certainly isn't the case with everyone, and it's not the case when it comes to all films. I will only watch Road House with beer in hand and a house full of friends to rip the performances of Jackie Treehorn and Crazy Swayze to shreds. But woe betide the individual who utters a word during a moment of pure cinemagic: talking during Mufasa's death scene is the cinematic equivalent of someone walking into your house and casually pimp-handing your mother. It's a violation.
Whichever side of the fence you fall, there is no denying that the claps and cheers have their place - cheering during a blockbuster is a bonding experience with a group of strangers, and nowhere other than the cinema does that happen.
Just don't be these people.
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