Quiet

I don't get out to the movies that often (mostly watching videos at home as I do), but I enjoy myself as much as anyone. That's not to say that I don't have plenty of complaints, but then who doesn't? One of the things that bugs me is in that very rich vein of gripes, human behavior. People do irrational things. Emotion comes into play much of the time, and I think that may be why people will applaud at the conclusion of the film.

Attending live performances often enough (and sometimes performing them), I'll grant that applause is quite welcome, although the nature of my performances is such that laughter in advance of that is desirable. Those things matter to me because I'm there and can hear them. If anyone has ever applauded my efforts while watching a video, I was not aware and never became so. It must not occur to most people that the actors and filmmakers whose work they've just been enjoying aren't around.

Actually, I'm sure that if you asked most people who applaud movies, they'd be quite aware that those people aren't there, but do they really understand it? I don't know that they do. I understand why they do it, I think. You get really worked up over a movie you like, and the emotions of it seize you. Maybe you don't know how to channel it properly, and so you release the excitement in the only way you know how, by clapping.

I guess there are worse ways of expressing your happiness. At New Years' Eve, it's common for people to fire guns into the air. I would not like that to happen. Can people not just contain their excitement over the movie, or express it in some way that makes sense? Something that I like to do is to wait until conversation with my friends is possible and discuss the film using glowingly positive terms with them, but that's just me.