Question: Why Do People In Movie Theaters Choose To Talk So Loud?

[Gorefiend]

You can also come to Ecuador. A tad more cut up, I'll admit, but much cheaper than the Canadian stuff, and gets you just as full.

Seil, I'd never seen that or imagined it could exist... Wow...

And, down here we have the rows at perfect height for us to put our feet on the row below us if no one's there. So, often, I'll have someone further down the row and above me kicking or tapping their feet on the seat in front of them, and, well, I'll feel it. Annoying as shit, but not disrupting enough to warrant a yelling at. A pity, too. That on top of all the trouble you guys have. Though I don't think we've ever had sticky floors in the theaters here.

And, Seil, the Red, Dead Menace sounds fun.

[Lumenskir]

I feel I must be the lone dissenter and argue that in the right circumstances a kind of magic (movie magic?) descends on such experiences and forever enriches the memories created.

For the most part such magic (movie magic?) is restricted based on the type of movie you're watching, I'll admit. Loud crowds during, say, The Counterfeiters or other prestige fare is ridiculous no matter what, and definitely worthy of a "What movie did you think you were going to?" But I can't be the only one who's gone to a movie with almost the lowest expectations possible, expectations that were entirely deserved when all is over with, and emerged being able to say I actually enjoyed the experience, if not from the cinematic qualities than the atmosphere.

For example, although it has some deluded defenders, I would almost assuredly have walked out of Crank pissed off to no end if it hadn't been for the over-enthusiastic gathering of yokels who seemed to have been injected en masse with some sort of nonsense serum that would instantly kill them if they didn't react wildly to the slightest event on the screen ("Oh shit Chad, he's totally sniffing nasal spray!!"). And while the remake of The Hills Have Eyes is mediocre at best, it's great when the people all around you have apparently never heard about the concept of a horror movie, even third-hand, and have conversations about how they hope such and such a character will live to the end, even though such and such a character is clearly going to be the first up against the wall., then proceed with reactions that suggest they were in for a nice night at the theater and not some shock-fest slasher flick.

There is, however, one thing I absolutely cannot stand: You are not fucking Mystery Science Theater. I can stand innocent/sincere inane chatter during a bad movie, but you and you're douchebag roommates are doing no favors to the rest of the audience by commentating on the movie while it's running, no matter how hilarious your pointing out of things is.

[Thylacine]

Nobody talks at the movies I go see, ever. Even with full audiences, I've never had a problem with anybody talking. When I went and saw Iron Man I think the most reaction the audience had was laughing at Stark trying out his boots for the first time and maybe some other scenes of a similar nature. Snakes on a Plane, though, is a different story as it well should be.

My real concern here is why you stated question at the beginning of your question. I can clearly see by both the question mark at the end and the why at the beginning that this is meant to be an inquiry of the motivations behind people talking loudly in theaters.

That's almost as silly as putting an upside down question mark in front of the sentence.

Just kidding!

[katiuska]

See, the MST3K thing can be a fun group activity, in someone's living room where you're not subjecting random strangers to it. One thing people have to understand about commentary: there's a reason the show was scripted out. A lot of times, something in a movie will stand out, and you'll have a vague sense of why it's dumb and how you might highlight it; even if you're skilled, though, you don't necessarily have an instant, pithy remark that would be funny to people who aren't a) your friends and b) at least moderately drunk. If you are skilled, you might still do okay on-the-fly, but usually you have to work it out to get the most out of it.

Then again, some of us just aren't that good. I have friends who are; I am not.

Distractions don't bother me much, but I'm also kind of ADD. I get bored. For me, the best moment happened during some movie -- I don't remember what it was, but it came out in the late 90s -- which wasn't anything special, but there was a climatic scene with competing sides lined up to rush each other. They started to charge, and some random guy in the audience suddenly stood up and yelled, "SUUUURGE!"

Frankly, I don't see that sort of thing nearly enough.

Originally Posted by Thylacine

Snakes on a Plane

I'd agree that it depends on the movie; some are actually meant for this kind of atmosphere, Snakes on a Plane being one of them.

It also depends somewhat on where you are... theaters are a lot quieter in places where folks are kind of quiet all around.

[Demetrius]

I generally go to the latest showing of a movie that I can, this generally gets rid of the teens and the cellphone jackwads, and brings out the drunks. You have people passing flasks, yelling at the screen and having fun... Its sort of an expected thing around here, and I for one enjoy the loose environment.

If I want to go to a movie without that atmosphere I go to a different theater at a different time, if you go to the movies enough you'll find that the same sort of people tend to gravitate to the same movie showings and stick to that schedule. That allows you, as a movie goer, to sample as you will and find your niche in the movie watching flow.

[Justice Team]

people in theartres only talk loud around people who bring cams in to rip the movie off, which must mean you did that! OMG!!!!

[MasterOfMagic]

The crowds in the city where I go to college are usually really quiet, aside from the theater wide gasps and laughs (which only add to the experience, in my opinion), whereas back home, everyone talks through the damn things, completely ruining any movie.

I usually see all my movies here, in the city >.>

[FloralVikings]

Yeah...I don't buy sodas at the movies any more. Not because they're expensive, but because I always get thrown out for chucking it at some asshole who's chatting about how awesome the movie he saw last week was.

Fuckers...

Seriously though, I freaking hate people who think it is their duty to ruin movies for everyone by holding loud, pointless conversations. I go to movies a lot, ever since I was a kid I loved going, but I can't stand the damn talkers. Especially the ones who talk to the actors. Some people yell things like "Cut the wire!" or "Run!" My personal favorite is "Don't go in there!"

[/rant]

[Savage Thinking]

I went to the movies today and there's this guy behind me who was a bit annoying. He was a kind of loud, which bothered me, but not to the point to where I'm chucking my overpriced goods at 'im. There was something that really got me though, which was that he kept changing positions in his seat, 'causing his foot or leg or something to constantly hit the back of my seat.

All I had to do was look behind me for a second right after he did it basically telling him "Hey, you could, like, quit doing that or something?" Luckily, he wasn't a jerk about it and stopped afterwards.

[Kazturkey]

I can has a theory:

They aren't talking louder than normal people do. Your brain amplifies the noise as it is expecting to be allowed to hear the movie. Also the people who talk at movies (Especially my sister) are the incarnation of evil and are a blight on our lands and should be destroyed.