An Ethnography of Movie Theatergoers

Preface:

The group I wish to focus on is the group of movie theatergoers, the kind you may be

able to see almost all the time if you go to the movies. They seem to be a kind of group that

have a different personality or the same sometimes, it can be kind of interesting to see some

reactions. I have been seeing many kinds of those people whenever I go to the movies which is

almost weekly, either small or large crowds just to watch a feature film. For the past few years, I

go there for fun or for catching up on the biggest trends caused by a film, so I can see that there

could be different crowds. I’ve been to the theaters many times before, just about five as of the

time I typed this passage, and there was still different people there for a reason. It gives me at

least something to look at since I keep going to the movie theaters as like a fun hobby. I made a

list of movies that I’ll be watching this year. I have known that some of the moviegoers tend to

share a few reactions, though most of them can come from the children for they may be a bit

loud or whisper loudly just close to other people in some seats. Other times when I go to the

movies, there are crowds that appear for horror movies, and they tend to either scream or talk

during some of the intense scenes. For franchise films, there are some veterans like longtime

fans, families, or the general audience watching for any new events that displays on the film that

could impact the series they are watching.

Observation:

9th, March 2019 (3:30 PM - 5:50 PM) Captain Marvel (Superhero franchise film.)

For this movie it was a superhero one that of course got a few people, but for a film like

Captain Marvel, the 21st entry in what is known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was sure
to get a crowd. There were families around and even some elderly people, though most were

those that seem to be plenty familiar with the series they were watching as they were very much

prepared to watch this film. There were laughs gathered around and at a certain moment, some

clapped a bit when the movie showcased something quite spectacular as an accomplishment.

Because this was a Saturday, there was more families since they wouldn’t be busy with

schoolwork and it would be a joy for them to watch as a break and a journey to a big

continuation of the franchise.

16th, March 2019 (5:00 PM -7:00 PM) Captive State (Original film.)

Unlike the previous film I went to, this one had about the opposite kind of attention it got.

Captive State was a film that was a sci-fi drama genre, but it was an original production. While

those kind of films don’t tend to get ignored by the general public.They can generate their own

interests from either the people who work on the film or the actors, or director -sometimes it can

be tough to get a crowd for it. The six to eight people that came were adults, and they were

speaking for about a short moment just before the film began. There was barely any chatter

during the run time since they seemed to be looking at the film, though I could guess that they

weren’t exactly all that thrilled with what they were watching. From the low amount of people

inside a theater, this did speak out loud that the film wasn’t going to be obtaining a high rating to

some unlike a franchise or another type of original story.

Background Information

The List of Values (LOV), as made by Kahle (1983), covers nine which include Excitement, Fun,

Enjoyment, and even Accomplishment. (Marchand and Khallaayoune). From one of the two

movies I’ve seen, there seemed to be a few of the traits covered successfully. For Captain

Marvel, the trait of fun was pretty much successful since the audience laughed a bunch at the
film’s humor. Enjoyment also worked out since this film was crafted pretty well and came from a

franchise that has managed 21 films with success for a decade.

From Rokeach, the attributes of values could be shared between individuals of the same social

group. And two values, Terminal (peace or liberty) and Instrumental (courage and honesty) are

what he represents in a approach to measure someone’s value system. (Rokeach) It could be

difficult to operate a lifestyle with the terminology employed. Sometimes it could be expressed

through some expressions though it may not be seen since the people may be sitting far from

the viewer’s eyes.

While there may be an abundance of people today that come to see blockbusters, during the

2017’s May to Labor Day, ticket sales were at its lowest in 25 years with only 3.8 billion. The US

and Canada were treated to releases such as Baywatch and the reboot of the Mummy which

did poorly at the box office.The other reason could be the appearance of streaming services

being more common such as Netflix and Hulu (Plaugic). It certainly could be a possible reason

for why people don’t seem to be crowding around the theaters nowadays unless there are some

exceptions such as a highly anticipated hero film. Some of the successful films come from those

whose names are popular with the public or part of an establishing franchise.

Conclusion:

From everything stated here, it seems like even if there isn’t too much traction there are still a lot

of people who go to the theaters for different kind of films even if they aren’t a crowd or fans of a

certain type of genre. Even after the low ticket sales of 2017’s Summer, movie theaters are still
able to gather people around, and with 2018 films such as Black Panther and this year’s

Avengers: Endgame breaking the record of tickets sold on its first day show that things are

going to be at least more successful. Original IPs may not have a lot of traction but there’s

always a chance for them to be as successful much like the other stories being told on the silver

screen.

Work Cited

Plaugic, Lizzie. “Domestic Movie Theater Attendance Hit a 25-Year Low in 2017.” The Verge,

Vox Media, 3 Jan. 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/3/16844662/movie-theater-

attendance-2017-low-netflix-streaming.

Marchand, June, and Zakaria Khallaayoune. "'LOV and the big screen: a value-system

segmentation of movie goers." Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for

Marketing, vol. 18, no. 3-4, 2010, p. 177. Academic OneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A245806143/AONE?

u=cod_lrc&sid=AONE&xid=e8d12209. Accessed 14 Mar. 2019.

Extra observations:

23rd, March 2019 (3:45PM -6:00PM) Us (Horror Movie)

There were certainly more people than when I had checked the seating preview, and

they were impressive by the film. It was an original film though with Jordan Peele, who worked

on his previous successful film, Get Out, it managed to do pretty good. A bunch of laughs and
enjoyed the performances of the actors and actresses involved, and from the audience, I heard

one person saying they liked the film’s score which was treated pretty well.

23rd, March 2019 (7:00PM - 9:00PM) Shazam (Early Screening Superhero Film)

There were actually a few people here during the screening of a movie not released until

2 weeks since this was the only day for people to watch it early. They certainly had a fun time

with this one and while this was labeled as a film of the superhero genre, there was more to it as

another important focus of it was the family aspect. Even after release the movie managed to

succeed with the general audience, a good sign for the franchise that wasn’t exactly managing

well after a few films that didn’t succeed too well with sales.