Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Shhhhh....laughter?

This is topic Shhhhh....laughter? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 11-02-2003, 05:20 PM:

Everyone knows Thou Shalt Not Talk During the Movie. But surely laughter--not necessarily loud guffaws but quietly chuckling to oneself--is a normal audience response. Thus, is it acceptable to shush someone simply because one didn't think a given scene was funny?

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 11-02-2003, 05:37 PM:

No!

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-02-2003, 06:59 PM:

If the reaction to the movie is genuine (laughter, screams, applause), it is fine. If someone is just trying to draw attention to themselves, or impress their group with their antics, they deserve censure.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-02-2003, 07:59 PM:

Hmm. I suppose if the movie is "Schindler's List" and some nimrod is guffawing at something he/she finds "funny", that might be a case where censure is warranted. OTOH, if the movie is, say, "Gigli", and someone laughs at something not necessarily meant to be funny, that person deserves a gold star for recognizing crap when he/she sees it.

I laughed all the way through "Kung Pow: Enter The Fist". But few others in the audience found it that funny. On that basis, was I in the wrong? [Razz]

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 11-02-2003, 08:39 PM:

Is it wrong? I dont know, but it is extremely annoying to me. I hate when people laugh during movies, even if it's a truly funny scene.

I dont laugh out loud and for the above reason and people kicking the back of my seat, I will rarely watch a movie unless I am screening it alone. I don't even allow other managers or staff to be in the same auditorium with me.

[ 11-02-2003, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: Chris Hipp ]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-02-2003, 09:39 PM:

What's extremely annoying to me is:

People who laugh at stuff that's not supposed to be funny at all - like a person getting hurt in a serious movie.

People who keep laughing and laughing and laughing long after the funny scene is over. (Teenagers are the worst.)

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 11-03-2003, 12:09 AM:

I should also add that if for some reason I attended a public showing, I wouldn't tell anyone or try to get the people to shutup. People reacting to the movie is the norm, it jsut bugs me. Not to mention the smell of 600 people crammed into one auditorium.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-03-2003, 01:09 AM:

quote:
Not to mention the smell of 600 people crammed into one auditorium.

A properly built auditorium with adequately sized air exchangers wouldn't have a people smell.

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 11-03-2003, 03:41 AM:

What about laughing during a movie that just horrible? Steven Seagals' movies are a prime example.

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 11-03-2003, 03:43 AM:

Sorry, Double posting.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 11-03-2003, 05:46 AM:

i don't mind a bit of laughter _if_ it is restrained and doesn't obscure the soundtrack. there's a way to laugh when you're drinking with your buddies and there's a way to laugh during a film. they are different. i don't like people who laugh to draw attention to the fact they "get it". though i'm sure i've done it myself a few times.

as for applause, save it for live performance. it's great if you're enjoying yourself. you can talk about it later. i don't need to know as soon as the credits start. i will allow that clapping is appropriate under one circumstance: the director/actor/whatever is there in person, announced. but even then, wait till the lights come up.

bottom line: if you can't help yourself, don't feel too bad about it. if you can help yourself, please do.

carl

Posted by Christopher Seo (Member # 7) on 11-03-2003, 08:04 AM:

When I saw the original "Blair Witch Project", there was a group of teenage girls giggling throughout the whole movie. Obviously, this film was no "Citizen Kane", and definitely cheesy at times, but it was at least an honest effort (and I certainly wish I had made it as I'd be pretty rich now). I refrained from telling them to shut up during the movie, but afterward I went up to them, dying to find out why they were giggling so much. "Uh... we were laughing because they were scared," came the rather dim reply. [Roll Eyes]

I think the reason they were so annoying is that they were the only ones laughing... even though they weren't loudly guffawing, the fact that we knew they were laughing was distracting. They, as part of the social contract of theatregoing, need to be aware of the rest of the audience. If they are the only ones laughing repeatedly, then they should realize they are sticking out like a sore thumb and giggle quietly and aspiratedly to themselves.

Still, there has to be some give and take with laughing at unintentionally funny scenes. This seems to be true of older movies especially, where a shot, action, line of dialogue, scenario, etc., that was serious enough at the time is now dated or seems silly. One could probably say that entire styles of acting that worked in the 1930s now seem silly. Perhaps theatres could advertise certain showtimes as being for Serious audience members only! (but that will never happen). I had a friend comment that seeing "Jaws" at my theatre was a better experience than seeing it another theatre, which had a higher contingent of jaded, disaffected college types prone to laughing at the movie.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 11-03-2003, 11:12 AM:

quote:
Perhaps theatres could advertise certain showtimes as being for Serious audience members only!

you would have to offer alternative "explained showings for the hard of thinking" to avoid being counted as discrimenatory.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-03-2003, 01:27 PM:

There was the time I threatened to give an apendectomy to this guy one row back and four seats to the side of me for laughing during Star Trek First Contact, at scenes not intended to be funny to anyone.

He told me to go F*** myself, he paid for his ticket and he can do whatever the F*** he wants.

He however forgot the first rule of cinema, he who goes to the manager first, wins every time.

So out he went.

Ciao

Dave

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 11-03-2003, 08:02 PM:

GOing to Mel Brooks movies it,s almost imposible to not Laugh out loud [Big Grin]