The 1930’s Created the Modern “Movie Experience”

English: Lesson 30

Would You rather watch a movie alone in a theatre or online if they cost the same?

The 1930s saw the beginning of “talkies”, movies with sound and actors speaking lines, and they were revolutionary. The sound allowed for an entirely new experience, with emotions being conveyed in multiple ways: through the tone of the actors, the score, and background sounds. Listening to and seeing a movie are equally important to the movie experience, and it is because of this that I would argue watching a movie in a theatre is better than online.

Watching a movie alone at home is fine for an evening where you want to cozy down, not go out, and be entertained. But, there are elements of the “movie experience” that are missing. When you go to a movie theatre you are going out in public. You clean yourself up, put on some nice clothes, grab your wallet, and drive to the nearest theatre that is playing the movie you wish to see. Being outside your home automatically puts you in a different headspace. This is a night out. You might take your family with you, go with friends, or with a date. This will be a fun evening where you spend a bit of money on entertainment and something fun to eat.

Then there is the theatre. Watching a movie in a theatre rather than at home means you have made the decision to pay attention to this movie. You got out of your house, drove a certain distance, and paid money for this, so you better pay attention. There are also the people. The “movie experience” is not complete without other people to share it with. You don’t have to talk to each other, you don’t have to look at each other, just sitting in the same theatre watching the same movie makes the entire experience more real. Every person is seeing the same thing, hearing the same thing, and feeling the same thing. The excitement, tension, hope, or joy is amplified by all the people being swept up in the same story together. Every single person in a movie theatre is there for the same reason: to escape to another world for a short time and be entertained.

In conclusion, watching a movie in a theatre is 100 times better than seeing a movie alone in the living room. You might have spent the same money for the same movie at home, but you are missing the elements that make up the “movie experience”. This is all thanks to the 1930’s and the invention of “talkies”.