In class today we briefly talked about how watching a movie with someone else is a different experience from watching alone. I’d like to add that there is a bigger difference when watching a movie at home than when at a movie theatre. In the theatre, watching a movie is predominately a solitary experience. The only genre of movies for which this isn’t true is comedies, where the usual silence from the audience is broken by laughter. By contrast, watching a movie at home is a more intimate setting. There is usually more talking during the movie, and it is easier to watch the reactions of your fellow audience members. Furthermore, I believe that our mimetic experience is changed by the fact that we are so aware of others’ reactions. A couple days ago I watched Last Night, a movie about a married couple led to temptation while apart from each other one night. A majority of the movie is comprised of suspense over whether or not the two individuals will give into their temptations. While watching, I found my own anxiety augmented when I noticed that my roommate had the same feelings.
According to Wikipedia, mass hysteria is the sociopsychological phenomenon involving the manifestation of the same or similar hysterical symptoms by more than one person. In a high-stress environment, it is so powerful that people can develop life-threatening physical conditions simply by watching someone else exhibit the same symptoms. Given that we can nearly kill ourselves by modeling others, it seems natural to think that something as small as our mimetic experience can be influenced by modeling the emotional experiences of our peers.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean about watching a movie at a movie theater as a 'solitary experience'. That is, because it does not seem solitary if there's is people around you. Are you saying that, even though there are people around you at the movie theater, they have no effect on your experience?
ReplyDeleteOr, are you saying that, even if, say, I bring my girlfriend with me to the movie theater, her presence would not have any effect on me at all?
What if I'm watching a movie at home, and the person I'm watching it with does not like people talking during the movie, would the presence of the other person watching it with me have any effect on me?
I think that even though there are people around you, usually they don't have an effect on your experience. In a theater, the room is dark enough and the seats are positioned in such a way that our eyes are attracted to the screen. By contrast, when I watch a movie at home the lights are dim, but I can usually see my fellow viewers from my periphery. I wouldn't say that other people have absolutely no effect on me when watching a movie in a theater; rather, the effect is significantly less than when watching a movie at home.
ReplyDelete