We went to the movies yesterday evening. The movie was fine, but while the trailers ran I spent most of the time with my fingers in my ears. The trailer for the coming movie about Dunkirk was not louder at peak volume than the trailer for domestic, and as far as I could tell non-violent dramas. Why? Why should a domestic drama have a trailer with bass notes at the volume of a freight train at twenty yards, or of a jet airplane heard from a house under the approach to the runway?
Do the studios wish to advertise their sound effects? Do they think that we lapse into a daze while advertisements and trailers run, and must be awakened to notice the name of the movie? It hardly matters. I'm too old to worry about how I look covering my ears in a darkened theater.
My mother is fond of making similar complaints. My husband is always keen to bring along to our cinema visits in her company the industrial ear muffs he keeps in the shed for exceptionally loud DIY jobs. Thus far I have prevented him. If you possess something similar, could that be a solution for you?
ReplyDeleteAn acquaintance, not quite my age I think but still not young, goes to louder clubs than I would, and takes along ear plugs. I have considered getting some to take when we go to hear a friend's band. These are inconspicuous, and wouldn't serve to make a point; but then who would see industrial ear protection in a darkened theater?
DeleteStaying home with some books seems to me the best solution to many of life's problems, including the noise one. The worst place for noise in my recent experience is actually restaurants. And, while ear plugs help, in that context they do lessen the sociable element of a meal. My brother reckons restaurants in Sydney deliberately rip out soundproofing to create a "buzz"
DeleteRestaurants in the United States notoriously set up to be loud--all hard surfaces, nothing to dampen sound. Whether any of the customers really think it adds to the excitement, I don't know. I loathe it. This has been going on for years.
Delete