When I was a boy, I loved to go to the movies. I always stayed in my seat and watched the final credits, while listening to the movie’s closing music. For me, the music and all those names are an important part of a film, and of the film-going experience. This is our chance to show our appreciation for all those people who made the movie, and to let the movie’s final scenes and impressions sink into our minds. The final credits are the cinema equivalent of stage actors coming out to take a final bow. Nowadays, however, everyone stands up to leave as soon as the final credits begin. Even worse, movie theaters usually close the curtains and turn on the lights as soon as the credits begin. The staff comes in to start cleaning the theater. If you try to stay until the end, the staff will stare at you angrily as though you are in their way.

How did this change occur? I think part of the blame belongs to TV. Getting up to leave the movie theater before the film is completely finished would never have occurred to people in the past, because they wanted to absorb every last minute of the entertainment. Then TV began showing movies during the primetime hours. Whereas movie theaters make money by selling tickets, TV stations make money by selling advertising. The advertisers want their products to be shown when people are actually watching, so of course they pay to have their advertisements shown during the entertainment programs. Any opportunity to squeeze in one more advertisement is another chance to make a little money for the station. And of course, the station also wants to advertise its other programs. One way to catch people’s attention is to advertise at the final moment of a movie or TV drama, when the audience is still watching. That is why a TV voice suddenly jumps in the moment the characters have spoken their final words, telling you to watch the game show up next, or to buy an LG product.

After many years of exposure to this advertising method, audiences have gotten used to it. We just expect the final music and credits to be taken over by advertising, so we are now in the habit of getting up to go to the refrigerator or to the bathroom during the credits. Out of a habit learned from TV, we have lost interest in the final credits and music. As a result, we ignore the music and credits even at the movie theater, where there is no advertising, and no reason to walk away. We have forgotten to show respect for the people who made the film we just enjoyed. And we have forgotten that the final music is the real conclusion of the film. The music is the director’s last comment on the story and characters he has presented. By closing the curtains, turning on the lights, and walking out, audiences are saying that they don’t care what the filmmaker wanted to say.

In this small way, as in so many other ways in the modern world, we are training ourselves not to give any consideration to the efforts and thoughts of other people. We don’t even care about the people who entertain us. They are just tools to be discarded when we are finished with them. This is just a small change in modern society, but it is a dehumanizing change. Civility suffers death by a thousand cuts.

by Daren Jonescu

Daren Jonescu  -

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