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[parnett]

I recently had the distinct displeasure of going to a film at a movie theater in Hangzhou with my girlfriend. I have never experienced anything quite like it. It was a very violent American film, yet there were children galore (most of them running up and down the aisles). People were screaming on their telephones. The most bizarre thing, however, was each time there was a particularly bloody scene, most of the audience was laughing! It often made me wonder if we were watching the same film.

[7969]

I understand the talking on the mobile phones bothering you . . . drives me batty as well. But being bothered by people laughing at movie violence? Society is pretty much desensitized to this stuff in the 21st century. Many years ago back home I was a fan of the Lethal Weapon series. I remember these scenes from Lethal Weapon 2:

[Miles Smiles]

Sounds just like the U.S..

[parnett]

How so Miles?

[MisterButtkins]

When I was in middle school, my friends and I had a game when we went to the movie theater. We would intentionally laugh as loudly as possible whenever anyone died. We found it hilarious. Also, yelling random profanities during the film was great fun when I was 14.

In Austin, they have a special chain of theaters called the Alamo draft house. They sell beer inside and no one under 18 is allowed, regardless of what film it is. Everyone has to show ID. It's pretty nice.

What type of movie was it, anyways? Even today I can't help splitting with laughter during a Steven Seagal film when he kills someone in a ridiculous fashion.

[roadwalker]

I've been to the cinema once or twice in China, and thankfully didn't run into the situation you did, parnett.

Chinese audiences, in general, just aren't used to our sense of decorum. I tend to avoid going to any type of performance since people use the time to catch up on gossip, and make phone calls. But I've been lucky in the few movies I've seen here in cinemas.

[MisterButtkins]

The Chinese, in general, seem to have very little regard for 'being quiet'. Anyone who has taken a sleeper train has heard people talking on their cellphones after the lights go out right next to sleepers. Then at 6am little kids will be running up and down the train carriage screaming, but their parents do not tell them to be quiet despite 2/3 of the car still being asleep.

There are other examples of this, as well. Chinese will watch movies or listen to music in public places with no headphones. Lighting fireworks at any time of day seems acceptable. Then there are the infernal broadcast systems at Chinese colleges, which blare terrible music and propaganda when class isn't in session. It's almost as if, far from valuing quietness for its own sake, the Chinese are made uncomfortable by any real silence.

[7969]

Sometimes it's like a bizarro parallel universe. . . and the main reason I carry earplugs with me most times. They wouldn't help much in a movie theatre (unless I wanted to sleep) but they work wonders anywhere else.

[rogerwilco]

[Denim-Maniac]

The only time I went to a cinema in China was to see The Avengers. And I have to say it was a great film and very normal cinema-going experience. Just a lot cheaper.

My best 'cinema' experiences were in Africa though. I was working in a small town in Kenya and the 'cinema' was a big local draw. They would write the movie title on a blackboard outside and we'd file into this room at night and sit on wooden benches, to watch a big old TV and VCR which was wired into car stereo speakers. I watched The Terminator and T2 on consecutive nights and the locals would whoop and cheer each time something notable happened on screen.

[kev7161]

I just went to see "The Amazing Spider-Man" (in 3D! - - which is a total rip since most of the movie is filmed in regular 2D and then they just blur a scene here and there for a few seconds to give it a so-called 3D effect - - but I digress).

To be fair, I did go on a Saturday afternoon and it is a super-hero flick so a bunch of kids in the audience is to be expected. But, here is my rant. When the actual character of Spider-Man wasn't on the screen fighting the bad guys, then the kids couldn't be bothered. They would scream really loudly ("I want more sweet popcorn!" or something in Chinese), run up and down the stairs, run across the front of the theater, etc. Parents would talk to their children in full out voices, but not shushing them at all. Friends would talk to each other in full out voices and of course, the ringing mobile phones and chatting on the mobile phones and texting on the mobile phones was incessant.

Luckily I had already seen the movie with a "normal" audience back in the states and luckily my friend found online discounts of only 29 rmb for the tickets so not a huge loss. My one friend sitting beside me was the model of a good theater goer but my other friend two seats down was busy texting away like a good little Chinese movie goer should.

I feel some of the reasons for this movie theater phenomenon are thus:

1. Many can't follow the rat-a-tat English and so they rely on the subtitles to give them most of the movie dialogue and plot. They don't really need quiet to read and follow the movie.

2. Most of us are aware from teaching them that not only children, but teens and young adults (and maybe even older adults) here have a very short attention span. If there is not dancing and singing in our classrooms, we can easily lose many of our students. I would guess the same to be true with an imported movie. This could be why all those chop-socky movies are so popular here. When there are quiet, dramatic down times in a movie, only the most die-hard of theater buffs will want to get absorbed into whatever is going on.

3. Big budget "popcorn" movies from the states generally tend to follow the same formula. You've seen one, you've seen them all. Especially true for most of the superhero movies. Those that go to the movies all the time know what's probably going to happen. The little details of character development and plot twists don't really affect the typical Chinese viewer much. Can you imagine a movie like "The Help" (for example) playing here? We could probably claim that theater for our own!


Of course, saying all of this, I hear from my Chinese friends how much they love the US import movies and how they much prefer to hear the original speaking voices and read the subtitles as opposed to watching a dubbed movie. So go figure.

Next week I'm going to brave Prometheus (which actually starts today, 9/2). I'm guessing it won't have as much buzz as a Spider-Man or an Avengers type movie, so maybe less of an annoying audience. It only got average reviews in the states. But I'm a big "Alien/Aliens" fan so I have to see it!

[kev7161]

BTW: This thread probably should be in the "Off-topic" forum rather than here.

[kungfuman]

[7969]

[kungfuman]

Going to the cinema has it's challenges. I live next to Incity Mall and often go there for a movie.

Cellphones. The Chinese don't know how to live without them. I have yelled at people to be quiet when they start yelling into them during the movie.

It gets frustrating sometimes.

That and they are totally anal about the seat number printed on their ticket.

In the movie theater, maybe 25 people there so we just pick a seat. About 250 seats in this theater. About 10 minutes into the movie this couple tells us we are in their seats. I tell them take a different seat please as there are many to choose from. They leave and come back with an usher who tells us to take the seat on the ticket.

So we move. Once they sit down we move back and I sit next to the women. And lean close to her and sit that way. They move over two seats. So I move over also. Just to be a little richard. They move again - we move back to the original seats we had before they came.