Not too long ago, we discussed the use of props in Audience Participation (AP) specifically, throwing things at the Ghostbusters. We promised we’d get to one of the other famously fun parts of AP, which is yelling things. At the screen, with all your fellow moviegoers. Riotously funny things that compliment the action onscreen, things you usually can’t not say because you are so thinking them!
Now, for some folks, this sounds like a nightmare. The Minions have already been made painfully aware of this on multiple occasions. Rather than try and change anyone’s minds, however, we’re just going to take some time now to talk a little bit about audience lines in AP and why it works for Ghostbusters too.
Possibilities in Audience Participation – Part Two: Yelling Stuff
Why do you want to yell things at a perfectly good movie? This is a question that the Minions have been asked quite a lot now. We sense that there’s a connection for some folks between AP and either trying to improve upon something or insulting it. This connection is especially strong when we broach the subject of yelling stuff at a movie.
First of all, we’d like to make it entirely clear that we don’t really think we can “improve” upon the greatest movie of all time. We’d be silly to think that. Secondly, its true that sometimes the act of yelling at the screen is totally meant to insult the film. Take for example, the latest cult film making AP history, The Room. If you haven’t seen the film, Hurts So Good Films has an AP Guide to The Room that illuminates all the reasons why you might want to yell at the main characters and even walk out on them during their love scenes. Cheap cinematography, questionable art direction, and misogyny especially make for great opportunities to hurl insults.
And who hasn’t watched and loved Mystery Science Theater 3000? The gang from the Satellite of Love dutifully tore apart awful movies by hurling one hilarious joke after another at the screen. Growing up in the age of MST3K has made it pretty hard for most folks to think that yelling out during a movie could serve any purpose OTHER than insulting the film.
But while we may AP The Room because it is so unbearable otherwise, and while we may bust jokes at cheesy movies a la MST3K, it’s also true that we sometimes AP things we love.
This is absolutely the case for one of the newest and most vibrant players on the AP scene, Repo! The Genetic Opera. The Shadow Cats, the first ever performance group to shadow Repo! claim to have gotten their inspiration after a drunken night of filmcentric karaoke. Their “ultimate fan idea”, and weeks of hard work paid off on opening night when writer Terrance Zdunich attended the shadow premier of his own film Repo! And it continues to pay off as the Shadow Cats have actually spawned a grand new tradition and a worthy outlet for Repo! obsessed fans across the world, who now have access to regular screenings and comraderie with other Repo! fans as they gather to watch and shadow the film.
Why should Ghostbusters fans be denied such an outlet?
We love Ghostbusters. We’re not trying to improve upon its greatness. We just think it would be fun to interact with the movie we love so much. Why not? We don’t know about you, but we’ve always wanted to suit up, switch on, and chase some ghosts around town. Screaming riotously (at just the right moments) and enjoying something we’ve loved for many, many years in a new light, surrounded by other fans, in a party atmosphere sounds pretty fun to us.
Ok, so that’s it. Until next time when we’ll talk about costuming and what it means to watch a film in a “party atmosphere.”
Wait, you didn’t think we’d let you in on the actual AP script, did you? Now why would we do a thing like that? It’s true that part of the fun we’ve had these past few months getting ready to go live with this thing is coming up with a tentative blueprint for all the AP in our show. Yes, that meant countless hours of watching Ghostbusters, testing our wits to see who could yell the loudest and get the most laughs, all with popcorn in our mouths. Hard work, no doubt, but someone had to do it. But that didn’t mean that we thought we’d written some kind of definitive “Things to yell at the Ghostbusters!” which we could now put up on the blog to be ogled, adored, trashed, and tried at home. Doing it that way would imply that we think we’re a couple of comedians. Rest assured, dear Ghostbusters fan, we are not comedians! While we’ve managed to build a nice, solid backbone for a superb AP experience, the real fun comes when a roomful of fans come together in a studio in Manhattan, take the backbone that we’ve established, tear it to shreds, and come up with a solid list of suggestions for opening night. And speaking of opening night, have I mentioned that that is where and when the real, real fun begins?
So….keep those casting call RSVP’s coming in, folks!
