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Author
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Topic: Shhhhh....laughter?
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Christopher Seo
Jedi Master Film Handler
![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubbmembers/7.jpg)
Posts: 530
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 11-03-2003 08:04 AM
When I saw the original "Blair Witch Project", there was a group of teenage girls giggling throughout the whole movie. Obviously, this film was no "Citizen Kane", and definitely cheesy at times, but it was at least an honest effort (and I certainly wish I had made it as I'd be pretty rich now). I refrained from telling them to shut up during the movie, but afterward I went up to them, dying to find out why they were giggling so much. "Uh... we were laughing because they were scared," came the rather dim reply.
I think the reason they were so annoying is that they were the only ones laughing... even though they weren't loudly guffawing, the fact that we knew they were laughing was distracting. They, as part of the social contract of theatregoing, need to be aware of the rest of the audience. If they are the only ones laughing repeatedly, then they should realize they are sticking out like a sore thumb and giggle quietly and aspiratedly to themselves.
Still, there has to be some give and take with laughing at unintentionally funny scenes. This seems to be true of older movies especially, where a shot, action, line of dialogue, scenario, etc., that was serious enough at the time is now dated or seems silly. One could probably say that entire styles of acting that worked in the 1930s now seem silly. Perhaps theatres could advertise certain showtimes as being for Serious audience members only! (but that will never happen). I had a friend comment that seeing "Jaws" at my theatre was a better experience than seeing it another theatre, which had a higher contingent of jaded, disaffected college types prone to laughing at the movie.
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