Yesterday I went to see my first movie in a Spanish theater, and today I had the good fortune to see another. I'd like to share the experience as best I can. Most small things are the same as in the States, the theaters are similarly constructed and furnished for example, but other aspects of the theater are interestingly different. Here are the five I found most striking.
1.Snacks
You can bring food into the theater. This is a small thing, I know, but how great is it in terms of what it shows about customer perception. In the states, where we can't bring our own food, the message is loud and clear. The theater wishes to profit, and you are there as a vessel for that. You will go where you are supposed to, when you are supposed to, and if you happen to want food, you will pay through the teeth for it, and hopefully popcorn or candy is what you wanted at the end of your monetary root canal. Of course the theaters want to profit here as well, but I feel like a customer and not a meat-cow o be herded in one door and out another, lighter by a handful of dollars.
Sure you can bring your own food in, and very few theaters are going to affectively call you on it, but it's just not the same. If you wanted, you could bring dinner here. Who doesn't want to feast on a tasty burger, salad, or other goody of their own selection while they watch?
2. Voice acting.
For the most part, subtitles don't seem to be the vessel of choice despite as many as half of all titles being originally in English. The movies are dubbed over entirely in Spanish. I know this should be pretty intuitive, but I'm including it because of some of the situations it brings up. For some American actors, Spaniards have not heard their voice, and so go through life thinking that George Clooney sounds like a husky Spaniard. It's also fairly enjoyable when a voice is poorly cast. For big movies, like Mas Alla que La Vida, the casting is good, but in some the miss is just awesome. When we were in the hotel, bored and getting ready for another afternoon lecture, a kung-fu movie was on. Several of the short, Asian actors were voice acted by deep, gravely, baritone dopplegangers, and the result was jilting.
3.Touch culture
Cultural norms on body contact strongly effect understanding of a movie. One scene, seemingly meant to show romantic tension, was crowned by the female character shyly planting a quick smooch on the protagonists cheek. This would have a strongly romantic implication to an American audience, but here people say hello and goodbye with two kisses, one on each cheek. The greeting is very common and completely casual, so a big cheek snog has no real meaning here. There are hundreds of other small things like that, especially with regards to body language, so the meaning of many scenes changes with a Spanish audience.
4.Empty Theaters
You are essentially alone. The movie I saw first had three other groups in it, and the movie today had literally two customers aside from me and two friends. This seems a product of the recession Spain is currently in the grips of (which I am told is significantly worse than that in the states). Sitting alone in the dark and not even being able to wonder if people are bothered when you laugh is odd. There's almost a connection between you and the other four people there, and you have to wonder how much loss the cinema takes from electricity outrunning ticket revenue. Hopefully business picks up soon!
5.Gender Standards
Gender/dating culture is very different. For American films being watched in Spain this doesn't really come across, but I had the good fortune to watch a Spanish dating comedy (not in theaters) and oh boy was it different. Let's just say that for a culture that finds shorts to be exceptionally gaudy on women, there was a surprising amount of nudity (enough to put any American movie into a retirement home of relative pictorial conservatism).
Anyways, I have highly enjoyed the cinema going experience thus far and look forwards to trying it more when opportunity presents.
In the interests of disclosure I wrote this yesterday but couldn't post due to wireless constraints.
Best,
Tim
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