Going to the movies alone

[Quasqueton]

Are you willing to go see a movie by yourself, alone?

I just heard someone in my office lamenting that he can’t find anyone to go see a movie with him. I thought, to myself, “Geez, just go see the movie by yourself.”

I went to see a very popular movie this weekend by myself. I’ll go again another night to see it with my wife. Easily half the time I go to the movie theater, I go alone. It’s probably a movie my wife doesn’t care to see (a guy movie), anyway. And organizing a specific time to go with friends can get complicated. But just going by myself, once the kids are in bed, just requires me to just go. No real pre-planning necessary. Two hours later I’m back at home.

But just about everyone I know thinks this is weird.

Quasqueton

 

[Mark CMG]

Mostly I go alone. Scheduling to go with others can be difficult and usually means going when the prices are high and the theaters are crowded, both of which conditions I dislike.

 

[Elf Witch]

I often go alone. I have different taste in some films than my friends for example none of them like horror films or romantic comedies.

So I tend to see those by myself. I also don't work so I will often go catch a film on a weekday while everyone esle is at work.

I don't see why people need anyone to go with them ,sure it is fun to go with other people and then go out and dissect the movie afterwards. But I can't see letting having no one to go with you stopping you from seeing a movie you want to see.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I enjoy going alone, it is down time for me.

 

[Wombat]

I think I go to the theatre alone a little over half of my visits.

Then again, this may have to do with the kind of films I am going to see ... I don't have a lot of friends into subtitles or David Lynch films...

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I didn't vote. I'll only go alone if I both want to see a movie and need to be by myself. That's only happened maybe 2 times in my life (I can only think of 1 instance). So yeah, I'll do it, but it's pretty rare.

 

[Rykion]

I've never gone to see a movie by myself. Hanging out with my friends is half the fun of movies. (actually more then half in the case of a bad movie) With ticket prices at close to $10 for a non-matinee movie, I want to maximize the fun I'll have. If no one wants to see a movie I'm interested in I'll wait to rent it, or just buy it on DVD the first week while it's cheap.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My wife and I only get to the movies a few times a year, so there is always something we would both like to see.

My wife and I try to arrange for times to go out without each other, but since those are also not that common, I would rather get together with friends and do something with them than go see a movie by myself.

If I were single now with no kids I would probably see some movies by myself. Back when I was single, I would not have gone alone. I was more self-conscious back then, and I would have thought it strange to be out at a movie alone. I would have been equally unwilling to go have dinner in a restaurant alone, something I have become used to with business travel.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I will go alone, but I vastly prefer to go with someone else. I mean someone else interested in the movie here...not someone dragooned into it against their will.

I like to be able to talk about the movie afterwards. I can do this if I see it alone, but people are more apt to stare. Or sidle away.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I used to be one of those people that felt awkward going to movies by myself, then I just got to the point where I realized, if no one else is available, and I want to go, why not? Doesn't bother me in the least anymore, but I'm pretty comfortable being alone.

My friend is someone who can't stand going to the movies alone- if I don't feel like going to the movies with him, he'll get all bent out of shape sometimes. I'll ask him later if he went to see a movie he'd been dying to see and he'll respond "I couldn't get anyone to go with me so I didn't see it," which I find strange.

Like Quasequeton, though, a lot of people I know find it strange that I go to movies by myself. It is kind of an unusual phenomenon.

I imagine it has something to do with the socialization that goes on with the moviegoing experience from the beginning. I think all of us were probably first introduced to the movies through family outings and the like, and as we grew older, it became an experience that is shared (again, by family, or friends), so it is just kind of engendered into us that way. Like I said, I know there was a time when I felt awkward going to movies alone, but sometime in college I just got over it. I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with people feeling a need to be connected and not alone (though that may be a factor), but just something about the way we unconsciously come to view the experience.