Television versus Theater

Approximately three-quarters of American adults watch movies at home on television sets. Not surprisingly, adults who rarely watch video at theatres prefer watching movies at home too. At home, TV watching is a common phenomenon in every week for more that 71% of American adults.

Watching a movie is a significant mean of spending leisure time for many people. Be it a drama movie that requires the viewer to concentrate fully or a comedy movie that makes the viewer laugh throughout, movie has continued for years to be a superb hobby for almost everyone. Though watching a movie in a theatre has its own advantages, spending time at home watching it on a TV set has been even a better experience. One of the major advantages of watching a movie in a theatre over watching it at home on TV set is the large projection screens and the high frequency surrounding loud speakers. However, acquiring a powerful HD television has become affordable than it used to be over the past one decade.

Nevertheless, even without the HD television, the experience of watching a movie at home has its comfort that makes up for the lack of technological superiority that may be found in a theatre. One of the major advantages of watching a movie at home is that there are no strangers who may be distracting viewer’s concentration. It is easy to control any distraction such as noise and high volume. When watching a movie in TV one has control over the running of the program such as avoiding obscene scenes by forwarding. Taking a bath and snack break is not an issue since one can pause and resume the movie at will.

The cost associated with theatre in terms of tickets, snacks and travelling is no longer competitive as compared to that of using TV at home. Watching a movie at home is cost effective, since there is no entrance fee charged or other expenses on snacks and drinks are avoidable. While ticket prices for movies go up, the price for the high definition, TV goes down. This gives TV advantage of affordability and convenience. On a TV set at home, it is possible to watch what one wants at his convenience time.

Again, in most movie theatres there is a silence policy, which is an excellent policy especially where there is a crowd of people who react differently to different actions. However, most of the thriller watching experiences involves a group of movie lovers having a great time while talking. Such freedom would be unaccommodated in a movie theatre.

In case, a person chooses to watch movie at home, one of the pros is that it is possible to have time with a family member, watching a movie of their choice. Family privacy is maintained while sharing, talking and making a comment about the movie; and this can improve family ties significantly. Moreover, concentration on the movie is higher at home as compared to theatre considering the environment is familiar. The familiarities with environment give a sense of security, which would otherwise be jeopardized in case of watching movies away from home. Also, if there is a confusion or a point is a scene in the movie is complicated to understand for the first time, it is possible to replay part or entire movie for a review. Managing leisure time is much easy while watching a movie at home on a TV. There is no time restriction; such as time to enter or settle for a movie that is usually there at movie theatre. One does not feel time bound and can watch a series of episodes without imposed breaks that are imposed in movie theatres.

However, while watching a movie at home, it is possible to spill soda on the sofa which gives viewer extra chores while cleaning up. In case a person is going to the movie theatre, there is a feel of a hang of watching the movies while being surrounded by strangers, and at night view. However, it is dazzling and brilliant atmosphere to be in the midst of vast viewers. Indulging in the movie theatre experience is memorable. The main con associated with watching movies in a theatre is that one does not enjoy the privacy. The attendants have to respect and are aware of their surroundings. At a movie theatre, there are always rules prohibiting screaming, bursting, or shouting out during a movie. The limitation on reaction tends to deny the viewer full enjoyment that is accompanied by their reaction to the scenes in the movies. In case of making a comment, a person can only make a whisper quietly. Again, most public theaters are not comfortable as it would be at home in front of a TV set where viewer can lie on the sofa. Instead, in a theatre there are only provisions of seats some of which are not cushioned. While seating in theatre viewers are always cautious of people behind them to avoid obstructing their view, and reaction to such obstruction is not friendly most of the times. Some of the movies displayed in movie theatres are not up to the expectations of the viewer; therefore, it is at the viewer’s risk to buy a ticket and get a disappointing show.

There are some similarities between watching a movie at home and watching it at the theater; in both cases watching a well directed movie is always exciting and thrilling. There is stimulation of passion within the viewers. Watching a well directed movie arouses some interest and releases stress. While watching movie either on a TV set at home or in a theatre, there is freedom to eat snacks, though there is more freedom at home where one can eat food of their choice without annoying anyone.

For those who advocates for theatre as an optimal venue to watch a movie with agenda of socializing, the aspect of socializing has changed over the time. Nowadays, social media have met this need and people are able to meet more conveniently. Sometimes back, before the introduction of HDTV, movie theatres were associated with people of higher social status, who could afford the tickets. Theatres were known to be the first medium to display a newly released movie. However, this has changed since it is possible to access movie on the internet, download it and watch it online or on a TV set. Again, considering the vast number on movies that are produced at any given time, it becomes hard for the few theatres to display the preferred movie. The varieties of movies available have created varying preferences among the viewers. Therefore, it is easy to choose the preferred movie from a movie shop and watch it on a TV set at home rather than moving from one theatre to another searching for the best movie.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the comparison between watching movies on TV set and watching it at a movie theatre is that, at the theatre, the viewer needs to be aware of their environment. There is limited or no control of the movie for theatre attendees. On the contrary, while watching a movie at home, there is a lot of freedom to seat leisurely without being cautious of distracting anyone. It is possible to manipulate the view of movie without much restriction; TV viewer can pause the movie when attending to some other issues, such as answering a phone call, and resume it later. Despite of these two factors on where and what mean is used to view a movie, different viewers enjoy and get fun from either or both. However, most of the pros in watching a movie in a theatre have been and are still being replaced technologically by the development of HDTV.