From the person who looks at you before a major plot twist, to the person who asks whether an actor is famous or not – it’s fair to say that we have all experienced a certain type of character in a film buddy. Whether these different characteristics are positive or negative attributes, that’s up to you to decide as we explore different examples of filmgoers that I have experienced when watching films with friends and family. And who knows… maybe you’ll find out you’re actually one of these yourself!
- The Spoiler vs. Spoiled Filmgoer
Starting easy, with the most common filmgoer that you’ll find, is the infamous ‘Spoiler’. Despite consistently warning them not to, they will somehow manage to sneak in a spoiler a few days before watching the film, or even exclaim a whisper right before the spoiler happens to “prepare you.” I’m sure they mean this in good spirit – but ultimately, it realistically looks like the ‘Spoiler’ had already experienced being spoiled for the film themselves, so they need to make up for this by inflicting this on somebody else.
- The Mum (or the IMDb) Filmgoer
When watching with your mother, or the so-called ‘Mum friend’, it’s assumed that they will ask you, “what’s that actor from?”, “I’ve seen that actor from somewhere!”, or “hasn’t that actor trended on Twitter recently?” Even if they manage to find their answer after mumbling to themselves that they’re sure they’ve seen that one actor in a film before (this will always be referring to Mark Strong or Beth Grant), they’ll innevitably find a new person to search up and find that actor’s entire filmography.
- The Letterboxd Filmgoer
This filmgoer will always try to mention having to log into Letterboxd after the film, as they immediately look at the cast and their filmographies (looking at everyone who makes Letterboxd their entire personality trait – myself included). As soon as the film ends, with the lights in the cinema not even turned on yet, you’ll see this person pull out their phone and instantly start criticising the film or saying how much of a masterpiece it is with a rating of 5 stars.
- The Analytical & Questioning Filmgoer
Questioning all the plots and subplots in every film ever, the ‘Questioner’ will overanalyse every little thing and continuously exclaim how ‘unrealistic’ a film is. They’ll always struggle to follow the story due to their frequent questions, essentially interrupting the narrative flow and somehow always ruining the film-watching experience.
- The Absent Filmgoer (from always running off to the toilet)
This is a direct callout to my father, as he’s the type of person to always want to pop to the toilet at the most important point of the plotline. It’s impressive the number of times he’ll excuse himself, and it’s no wonder why he’d come back and instantly start questioning every single thing occurring in the film.
“Cinema São Luiz” by Direitos Urbanos is licensed under CC BY 2.0.