lifehacker.com: Movie theaters are a nightmare. They’re expensive, they’re loud—but most importantly, I can’t start and stop the movie. At home, I rarely make it through a movie without pausing at least once for a snack refill and a bathroom break. That alone makes home rental better than the theater, MoviePass or no. One thing would change my mind: Intermissions at the theater.
4 comments:
I couldn't disagree more with this article. Intermissions are ideal in a single-screen theater where audiences are able to have a break and talk about the movie, but when there is several movies going on at the same time, its not as unifying, and it feels really forced. Also, I personally haven't had nearly as many problems in a theater as this person, her attitude suggests that movies should stop when one needs to use the restroom, where my solutions simply to use the restroom before. This article focus's on minutia such as creating an intermission because constant testers can have a break. The entire article seems to be coming from a place of extreme annoyance from a couple bad experiences at movie theaters, and I don't think that intermissions fit all people, it isn't helpful to movie makers because they'll have to create a definitive start and stop in the middle of their plot line, something that works in theater but not in most modern films.
I can only disagree with this idea. Sure, it is nice to be able to do whatever you want while watching a movie and that’s why you get a home theatre. But going to the movies is its own experience that can make a movie so great or so bad. It isn’t the same at home. It can be close but not close enough. One of the arguments made is that people who put movies together could just cut a scene or two but that’s not how that works. Every scene and piece of dialogue matters to some degree because it gives you a lot of information. A 30 second scene with a simple pan of the environment to the actor for a very subtle wink gives you a lot of information that you might need later on. That can’t just be cut out. It tells you the environment whether new or recurring, it sets up an atmosphere, the character, and maybe a signal later on in movie where the wink indicates something. Also, what would this person arguing say to their kid on a road trip; they are probably going to say to pee before they leave because they won’t be stopping. The same idea applies here. You know you are going to see a three-hour movie so take the precautions, unless you plan on stopping every fifteen minutes like the frequency at which commercial breaks occur on your road trip. Another argument being made is the idea that they sell large drinks; a simple solution to that is to either not buy it or buy a smaller one. Have self-control because it’s not the theaters fault that you bought and drank the largest soda they have to offer. I very much enjoy the way movies are run now and a three-hour movie isn’t that bad to sit through. There is an experience going to the movies and sitting next to your friends in the dark that is just so great and so enjoyable.
I have to agree with what this article is suggesting. I can see how this idea can be somewhat polarizing, as this idea would definitely come to the chagrin of modern-American-film enthusiasts who believe that this would infringe on our ability to enjoy the story in the way that it was intended. However, I believe that intermissions provided a much needed break in the action in the theatre, and find them to be incredibly relieving and anxiety-reducing when I know that I will have a short break halfway through. Not to mention the fact that intermissions often help us build the story in the theatre: they allow for the audience to break and discuss theories about what will happen next, it allows for individual audience members to build up anticipation, and allows us all to give in to our human needs to check our phone, get a snack or a drink, and use the restroom.
Adding intermissions in movie theaters would be really interesting, but also I think I would hate it. It would never be at the time that I actually need to go to the bathroom and the bathroom and snack line would immediately get exceedingly long, meaning you have to wait for people to get back to their seats like you do for normal theatre, which I don’t think would go over well for the busy culture that we have, nor would it go over well when there are 12 other movies going on at the same time, some of which would inevitably have intermissions together. How do you even know who is going back to what theatre? Do you start without people? Will people get angry if they were given a beak to go to the bathroom, didn't make it back on time because of line and then missed ten minutes of a movie? I think intermissions make a lot more sense in theatre since it is so much more disrupting for the actors when you leave in the middle of the show, not to mention awkward if they are using the aisles for entrances. While in a movie theatre the movie will continue to play no matter what you do. Also I low key hate going to the movie theatre because I love to pause movies excessively to talk about the movie with friends, take a moment to pause and contemplate and absorb what I just saw, and to get snacks (though lets be honest I just take my computer downstairs when I need something) none of which you can do in the movie theatre.
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