Movies still possess this unique status as being both public and private activities, something people do on their own at home, with friends in a home setting, or with strangers at a public theater. No matter what though, there is always an element of both public and private to any viewing. One of the joys of seeing a movie in a theater is getting the sense of your co-viewers’ reception of the movie, and feeling the energy in the room shift and modulate as the movie progresses. At the same time, this can sometimes take you out of the experience of the movie, as you become aware of the people around you and become distracted by them, particularly if their response to the movie doesn’t align with your own.
There’s something about those glasses, though. Maybe it’s because everyone knows how ridiculous other people look in them and don’t want to turn to see the monstrosity that is a friend in stupid glasses. Maybe it’s that the screen looks so alive and the rest of the room looks so dark that removing your eyes from the screen is a prospect that doesn’t cross your mind as much. For me, in good 3D experiences, I feel like I’m watching the movie almost by myself, as if the glasses are akin to a nickelodeon or kaleidoscope that I’m gazing through by myself. The dark rims create a frame within a frame, and direct our attention even more intensely on what’s inside the innermost frame that we see. 2D movies don’t have this added layer of framing.
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