No Applause?

[RIOT]

Alright, who needs an applause?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Personally, when I hear applause at the end of a film I like to think it's the *projectionist* who's getting the recognition. That film don't run by itself, you know (at least not in our house.)

 

[Jack Scorpion]

Why haven't I seen Wall-E yet? (The crowd cheered at Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D last night. I think they were applauding Dolby Digital technology this time.)

P.S. Did I see you, HappyLuv, at a Blue Velvet screening in a cemetery a couple weekends ago? If it wasn't you, he was equally as Dapper and Lee Van Cleef-resembling.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

I sometimes applaud at the end of a good book. Does that count?

You do not.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Speaking of staying through the credits, I almost always do and like to read them. Sometimes I recognize a name of someone I knew in theatre classes or summer stock. sometimes a sneak scene will appear at the end or something profound happens.

I recall sitting through the 1967 film, Blowup, when, at the end, as the credits rolled, the photographer protagonist who has possibly photographed a murder, but cannot prove it, watches two mimes "play" tennis on a tennis court in a park. The mimes had neither tennis rackets or balls, just miming the game.

At one point, a mime "watches" an invisible ball fly over the fence, then motions for the photographer to fetch the ball for him. The photographer obligingly walks over and picks up the nonexistence ball and tosses it back into the court, then walks off. At the very last of the credits roll across the screen, the photographer himself disappears just fades off the screen.

Considering what has happened during the course of the film, the ending was, to me, quite profound -- and I was the only one left in the theatre watching it, everyone else had left!

Yes, I applauded.

karol

 

[ShortClara]

Clara, I will definitely listen for your applause. And about being looked at strangely, would you even see someone looking at you?

Probably not! If I did I'd act more strangely so they could have something to talk about the next day besides the weather

 

[Slim Portly]

I sometimes applaud at the end of a good book. Does that count?

You do not.

OK, serious question. What's the diff? If we acknowledge the unlikelihood that anyone who was involved in the production of the movie will hear the applause, then we must assume one of two positions. Either we are applauding for the other audience members to hear our appreciation, or we are applauding regardless of anyone else agreeing with our sentiments or even being in the same room. In the former case it's sort of a "Hey, look at me, I'm applauding" kind of thing, which undercuts the entire point of supposedly showing appreciation for the effort of another person, and in the latter you may as well applaud anything all by yourself, from a good book that you just finished in the privacy of your own home to a particularly nice can of soup.

 

[Paisley]

...you may as well applaud anything all by yourself, from a good book that you just finished in the privacy of your own home to a particularly nice can of soup.

lol

I'm torn about inserting the applauding emoticon here.

 

[Hondo]

You were there?

He could see them applauding. As it's the only standard method of showing appriciation for a performance, the only alternative would have been something like a mass thumbs-up.

Yeah You could say that "I was there", like General Patton in WWII, over looking battle field (Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Caesar) saying "I was here" ghosts
I applaud live performance, not for myself but for the performers, excellent!

 

[Jack Scorpion]

OK, serious question. What's the diff? If we acknowledge the unlikelihood that anyone who was involved in the production of the movie will hear the applause, then we must assume one of two positions. Either we are applauding for the other audience members to hear our appreciation, or we are applauding regardless of anyone else agreeing with our sentiments or even being in the same room. In the former case it's sort of a "Hey, look at me, I'm applauding" kind of thing, which undercuts the entire point of supposedly showing appreciation for the effort of another person, and in the latter you may as well applaud anything all by yourself, from a good book that you just finished in the privacy of your own home to a particularly nice can of soup.

I just like making noise. It resestablishes me. Also, I don't applaud in theaters.

I might yell at the screen, though.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Makes you wonder if there is a real meaning to the act of applause. In many cases, we only applaud because that's just what you do. You aren't applauding because of the performance, screen, music or theatre. You're applauding because everyone else is. I've done it before.

I'm just going to throw this in for safety measures :eusa_clap

I'm virtually applauding a "thread" on a virtual website created by human beings that created it by typing in codes

Anyone else applaud at the end a film?

 

[Spiffy]

I'm in the film program at university, and they only time I've ever heard applause in a screening class was after Bollywood films.

But that could have been because most of them are 3+ hours.

 

[ADHD librarian]

... you may as well applaud ... a particularly nice can of soup.

Lord Man,
I never applaud canned soup, I will however stand to my feet and clap for a nice home made soup.

I think there may be an accidental analogy in that?

Movie = Canned Soup
Theatre = Scratch Cooking.

(oh, and I don't applaud for film {unless the writer, director, producer or Best Boy Grips is in he theatre})

 

[alexandra]

I saw Wall-E twice recently and both times the entire audience clapped. One was at an AMC 24 and the other in the Yorkdale Mall, both of which are those monster theater places!

 

[Edward]

Yeh- clapping is for a live performance, isn't it?

Maybe at weirdo costume gatherings,

lol It's perfectly common to applaud at a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. If there is a shadow cast playing with the film, then obviously they receive the applause, though typically any screening of the film even with no performance other than itself, will be applauded. That's the only time I've ever encountered that that I can think of, though. I like the idea of an audience showing its appreciation that way, but it's not something I would be inclined to do myself. Would be a nice social convention if it came back - I certainly wouldn't object.

I always sit right through credits... I think it dates to back in the days when I'd see a new Bond film and sometimes the title of the next one would be given away at the end (as opposed to simply "James Bond will return"). A recent film which interested me like that was the remake of Dawn of the Dead: audience members who left immediately the credits started to roll got an entirely different ending to the film than those who stayed.

That's what I've always thought. I applaud musicians and actors, but not their recorded performances. I don't give myself a hand, either. Why should I--for buying a ticket?

What really riles me is folks who applaud themselves - you know, people who win awards, score points on gameshos, etc.... such utter bad form.

Lizzie is right! depends, live performance or live Opera you would applaued, I just think it silly to be standing appauding after a film as everyone else is filing out, but its your call, you paid for your ticket, do as you wish.
I recall one of the last time Beethoven gave a concert,he was deaf, never heard audience applauding at the end, brought tears to many.

There's a guy working the British stand up circuit nowadays who is self-style as "Britain's only working deaf stand up." In his set he mentions that in most venues he can't actually see the audience due to stage lights, obviously can't hear them respond.... "Sometimes my wife will ask how the gig went, and I'll say.... I don't know... I don't even know if anyone showed up...." lol

Beethoven's experience blows my mind: he wrote that last symphony while stone deaf, so he never heard a note of his own work performed. An incredible mind to be able to pull that off, but it must have been heartbreaking never to be able to hear his own work, let alone receive the applause for it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was thinking about this thread last night at work, and when I heard applause at the end of the film, I asked one of our regular patrons about it as the audience exited. What she said was illuminating -- "We're applauding the movie, sure -- but we're also applauding that you guys brought it to us!"

And I thought that was kind of nice.

 

[tuppence]

I've bought some clothing here and there that has pleased me.
I've never clapped for the cotton harvester, the trucker, the processors, the manufacturers, or the retailers.
The day I clap for the sales-person at Banana Republic...:fing28:

Likewise, I won't clap at a live telecast of an event.
I'll woo-hoo, of course, but that's a gut reaction.
That's for me.

Plus, with the salaries that TV, movie, sports, and music performers pull in, the ticket prices they demand, and the often unfriendly attitude they take toward their fans, I feel they should be applauding me. If you're going to charge $20 for my wife and me to see The Hulk or any of the other 99% of movies that shouldn't have made it past "hey, I've got this idea to remake...", I'd like a thank you card as well.

Lefty does that mean $10 a ticket...... No wonder Aussies don't clap, It's around $16 over here

 

[anabolina]

I clap most of the time after movies, but it's only after someone else starts clapping, so I guess it's pretty common around here. It's just sort of what you do in southeastern Dallas. I guess it is showing appreciation for a good movie, kinda like walking out of a movie shows dislike for it (maybe not the best example since it's really because it keeps you from having to sit through an annoying hour or two). The moviemakers will never know, but what does that matter?

I don't know if I would applaud for Wall-e though. I talked to a couple of friends whose opinions I trust who saw it and they mentioned it was very 'save the enviornment' and PC. Not my cup of tea.

 

[Charlie Noodles]

Expecting a movie from Disney-Pixar to be staunchly pro-business and not politically correct is probably a little much.

Maybe they could remake Bambi and show the hunter feeding his kids much needed
venison from her mother?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I usually don't applaud at a movie although I do think YEARS ago as a kid in the 60s and early 70s people did. But those were the days of bigger theatres, getting dressed up to go to the movies, people had manners and didn't take cell phone calls during the showing, and there was entrance music, intermission music and exit music played by the studio orchestra who recorded the rest of the soundtrack.

And I *always* sit through the credits. One reason is, as others mentioned, see who might be mentioned that might be known from somewhere else or is on their way to fame, and as also already mentioned - you never know what kind of little jokes & such will be worked in, or if there's a special scene at the very end. The first I really noticed it on was Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Matthew Broderick comes out of the bathroom and tells everyone to get a life and go home. And Monty Python and the Abrams brothers are legendary for working silly credits in. If you left Napoleon Dynamite when the credits began to roll, you missed the surprise wedding scene.

But I really learned something about applause this summer. I helped out on weekends behind the scenes on a show some friends were appearing in at a local outdoor theatre. Standing in the booth, it was interesting how some audiences would applaude every song, every reprise, even some good lines, while other performances they would give no applause until the end. Some nights everyone lept to their feet for a standing ovation at the end, other nights it would be more sporadic, or perhaps more directed at specific cast members. Some nights the whole audiences would get a little joke and roar with laughter, other nights, nobody did and, as they say, crickets...just crickets. And all of the performances, outside of 2 or 3, were completely consistent, well done, and kept up the proper pace. So it puzzles me a bit why certain nights there was thunderous applause in so many places, and others, just a smattering of polite applause at the end.