Why would someone go see a movie
multiple times in the theater? On the
surface, the answer is simple: the
viewer had a great experience and wants to have that same experience again.
However, I believe the real reason to be more deeply rooted in the essence of
storytelling itself.
Seeing a film again is like going to your
childhood home after a prolonged absence. Things have changed and usually it’s
not as great as you remember it. This is usually not because your home has
changed or the street where you grew up is now in shambles, though that could
be the case from time to time. No, more often than not, the reason things are
not as great as you remember them is because you the viewer has changed. In
terms of seeing films again, knowing the entirety of the story and the final
outcome of the plot usually detracts from the suspense of discovery and the
catharsis found in the reveal of the ultimate question of the film. Will the
hero save the day? Yes, I know he does cause I saw him do it last Friday.
However, upon subsequent viewings
the great films contain new moments and new insights to discover and provide
the viewer with the ability to see things from a different perspective. A focus
on smaller details actually adds to the overall richness of the experience.
These are traits shared by all great films. They are better than their first
viewing can possibly allow them to be. Certain films demand multiple viewings simply
because the knowledge you have after seeing the film all the way through, gives
you a different perspective on seeing the same actions take place again. For
example, in The Usual Suspects (my personal favorite film), once you have seen
the whole movie and Verbal Kint has woven his tale to completion, you cannot
look at the events of that story in the same light on a second viewing. The
film is exactly the same, frame for frame, word for word but you the viewer
have changed and thus the events on the screen now have a dual or completely
different meaning than when you first saw them.
Films like The Usual Suspects,
Memento, Diabolique, 12 Monkeys, The Matrix, Vertigo, Blade Runner and The
Conversation all give the viewer a different experience upon a second viewing
because of how their stories unfold. The information given to the audience
later in the story colors how the
beginning of that same story is now interpreted. Almost invariably, this will
lead to an enhanced viewing experience. It’s a different twist on a Hitchcock
storytelling technique known as Dramatic Irony. Knowing something before a
character does, such as there’s a bomb under the table, not only leads to
heightened suspense but makes the audience feel smarter than the character. So
when watching a suspense film a second time, the audience knows what thrill is coming
but they get an enhanced view of how the character prepares, reacts and
conquers or fails against the obstacle. If the character did something prior to
the bomb exploding that the audience failed to notice the first time, then on
that second viewing the audience will get another intellectually cathartic
moment when they see how the character smartly dealt with that situation they
were unaware of on the first viewing.
The cathartic response that drives
people to the movies and drives people back to the same films can be
accomplished by sweeping action blockbusters or intimate dramas. The most
rewarding second viewing is the one that provides a new cathartic experience on top of the existing experience, thus
deepening the love of the initial response while at the same time creating
another response of similar and sometimes deeper affection. It is this enhanced second response contained
in the great films that rewards the audience with multiple viewings and separates
the great films from the mediocre. The
constant rediscovery of emotional response is an amazing thing and what keeps
most people going to the theater again and again.
