"Sometimes, Troy, you have *got* to be kidding."
There's a second-run theater in Minneapolis that is super awesome to geeks. They host CSTS every year, they did the OMWF singalong before we got shut down by The Man, they had a LoTR weekend in December, and this weekend, they're doing seven Harry Potter movies. Today was SS, CoS, and PoA, and tomorrow is GoF, OotP, HBP, and DH1.
I understand that these are kids books, and I'd say the audience was about half under 18, though about half of the under-18 set was fourteen-and-up. It wasn't youthful exuberance, is what I'm saying.
Throughout the first two movies today, there was "spontaneous" applause. It started in SS, when Ron appeared on screen...then when Hermione appeared...then when Neville appeared...then when Malfoy appeared... And basically any moment of triumph. Each student that we saw be Sorted, Harry catching the Snitch, knocking out the troll, Quirrell's defeat. It always started from the same spot in the theater and then took over.
I reached my breaking point in CoS. There was applause when we first see Colin Creevey and Moaning Myrtle. WTF. At this point I was convinced some of it was sarcastic applause that devotees picked up on regardless. I'm not anti-Colin, but he has like, two scenes, is extremely annoying (that's in the book, that's not me editorializing!), and (eventually) dies off-screen. THIS IS NOT A SITCOM FROM THE NINETIES. COLIN IS NOT KRAMER. GAAAAAH. They were also hissing along with Harry when he spoke Parseltongue. THIS IS NOT ROCKY HORROR. DIAF.
It made me very frustrated (can you tell?), because I drove 90 minutes to this theater, and I cannot get into the movie at all because I'm constantly brought back to the here and now, and I don't care that much about the first two cuz they're soulless but they're going to ruin PoA and that's the best one! Is this going to continue when we reach the srs bizness part of the series? Will there be applause when we first see Mundungus Fletcher? Cheering when Harry escapes YKW in GoF while clutching Cedric's body? OMG STOP.
So I left about five minutes before the end of CoS, because the Great Hall scene is awkward as hale anyway, even without the applause that would inevitably erupt. I went to the box office and asked two employees if the general "they" could please do something about the unceasing noise interruptions. Because I am an old, cranky person at heart. They had made an announcement at the beginning "Please remember this is still a movie and treat it as such." but obviously that had been forgotten.
They had an employee repeat the announcement before PoA. There was two attempts at reviving the applause. I'm assuming these were people who missed the announcement, for that itself--in a fun but non-ironic way--got a lot of cheers. Which is FINE because the movie hadn't started yet. People shushed 'em, and it was perfect after that. Applause at the end, and when Hermione punches Malfoy, which I totally understand.
I made a difference, yay.
<----difference-maker.
And now to bed, for tomorrow's movies start at 10:30a, and, like I said, 90 minute drive. (One sentence.)
I understand that these are kids books, and I'd say the audience was about half under 18, though about half of the under-18 set was fourteen-and-up. It wasn't youthful exuberance, is what I'm saying.
Throughout the first two movies today, there was "spontaneous" applause. It started in SS, when Ron appeared on screen...then when Hermione appeared...then when Neville appeared...then when Malfoy appeared... And basically any moment of triumph. Each student that we saw be Sorted, Harry catching the Snitch, knocking out the troll, Quirrell's defeat. It always started from the same spot in the theater and then took over.
I reached my breaking point in CoS. There was applause when we first see Colin Creevey and Moaning Myrtle. WTF. At this point I was convinced some of it was sarcastic applause that devotees picked up on regardless. I'm not anti-Colin, but he has like, two scenes, is extremely annoying (that's in the book, that's not me editorializing!), and (eventually) dies off-screen. THIS IS NOT A SITCOM FROM THE NINETIES. COLIN IS NOT KRAMER. GAAAAAH. They were also hissing along with Harry when he spoke Parseltongue. THIS IS NOT ROCKY HORROR. DIAF.
It made me very frustrated (can you tell?), because I drove 90 minutes to this theater, and I cannot get into the movie at all because I'm constantly brought back to the here and now, and I don't care that much about the first two cuz they're soulless but they're going to ruin PoA and that's the best one! Is this going to continue when we reach the srs bizness part of the series? Will there be applause when we first see Mundungus Fletcher? Cheering when Harry escapes YKW in GoF while clutching Cedric's body? OMG STOP.
So I left about five minutes before the end of CoS, because the Great Hall scene is awkward as hale anyway, even without the applause that would inevitably erupt. I went to the box office and asked two employees if the general "they" could please do something about the unceasing noise interruptions. Because I am an old, cranky person at heart. They had made an announcement at the beginning "Please remember this is still a movie and treat it as such." but obviously that had been forgotten.
They had an employee repeat the announcement before PoA. There was two attempts at reviving the applause. I'm assuming these were people who missed the announcement, for that itself--in a fun but non-ironic way--got a lot of cheers. Which is FINE because the movie hadn't started yet. People shushed 'em, and it was perfect after that. Applause at the end, and when Hermione punches Malfoy, which I totally understand.
I made a difference, yay.
<----difference-maker.
And now to bed, for tomorrow's movies start at 10:30a, and, like I said, 90 minute drive. (One sentence.)