Rocky Horror Clause...

Like Santa but with fishnets and presents for the grownups.

Non-illness vibes to Angus.

My thinking on the cheering front is that there are movie theatres and then there are movie theatres, in the US. If I go to see something in a stadium-seating gigaplex, it's probably an Event Movie, and resultingly the audience will be attuned to the eventness of the movie (and probably screaming fanpeople to boot). Thus the whole audience whips itself up in enthusiasm for the event, and the response is tantamount to a rousing speech at a political rally. I mean, everyone there probably does think alike, as at a rally, but the alike-thinking is Wolverine is really hot or That was so cool rather than The rich deserve tax breaks or some such rot.

If I go to a film at a smaller venue and/or in a less-crowded film-house, the audience is far less likely to cheer anything.

And I have to say, even though I hated the special edition changes to Star Wars, when the new print first rolled and the Imperial ship came onto the screen, I was as excited as everyone else there, not least because I was among other excited people. Our roaring was as much an affirmation of our communal geekery as it was affirmation for anything on the screen.

I can't recall any specific incidents of cheering, despite the fact that unlike Nutty, I don't venture to the art house sorts of theaters. I'm generally at the multi-plex type. Still, I don't see too many films these days, and with the exception of the (sorry Angus, don't want to increase your ooginess) LoTR films, the ones I do see don't tend to be biggies.

Angus, all tolkidding aside, I wish you wellness.

edited to make a wee bit more sense.

YgigaplexMV. Maybe it's the fact that the gigas are 90% of the movies around here, so I'm not just there for big event movies, but I see very little hootin' and hollerin' in them. For that, we have midnight Barbarella showings at the Drive-in.

Well, speaking for myself I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with cheering and hollering, Nutty; it's just interesting that Aus./UK audiences don't seem to do it, even at Nuremberg rallies event movies.

I can't remember any Israeli audience cheering or hollering in a movie, and the Israelis are known as people who express their emotions easily and quickly. I'm not sure why - maybe it's fear of the exposure of the inner geek a cheering may lead to, I don't know.

As you can see Leigh has actually touched on a minor obsession of mine too!

It's fascinating, isn't it? I think I started wondering about it because I read something on the net (it may have been a Buffistas discussion, I cannot remember) about people who couldn't stand going to the movies anymore because everyone talked, and I was like whaaa? I love going to the movies and I think I’ve only been bothered three or four times by people talking, and someone usually told them to shut up pretty quickly.

Thus the whole audience whips itself up in enthusiasm for the event

Yeah, I suspect this is part of it, but even at opening day Star-wars, with the waiting in line for an hour, some people in costume, everyone excited -- it all mostly just meant that people hushed really well once the film began.

I think Canadian audiences are pretty restrained. (People stil won't shut up to their movie companions, though.) I've been to shows where there's been applause at the end of the show, but not to much during. People are more inclined to mouth off loudly at trailers.

The exception seems to be late night screenings of old chestnuts. When I saw Shaft at a late showing a few years ago there was much whooing, and cheering. Likewise with a Grease showing, there was singing along with the movie.

edit: Healthma is being sent your way Angus....

Jamaican audiences would put the black American speaking-to-the-screen stereotype to shame. We're a little interactive. Here, in the US, cheers have been commonplace for geek stuff. The first time I saw the Matrix Reloaded trailer, the crowd erupted. Legolas got a cheer for every kill in Fellowship Of The Ring, and X2 certainly got its share of united audience response, off the top of my head.

Angus - - I hope by this time (you know - 3 days later) that whatever it was is all cleared up and forgotten.