I see a lot of movies in theaters - typically at least 2-3 per week, depending on the time of year (i.e. Oscar season pileups). As a result, I see a lot of trailers. Or, to be more precise, I see a moderate amount of trailers many, many times over (even considering that I watch DVRed shows so I can skip commercials and I rarely watch trailers online). Aside from just being repetitive and rather irksome, this especially affects me because I seem to have a disproportionately receptive and sticky brain for trailers (and all the images, lines, and musical cues therein). I only have to see a trailer once to have it lightly etched into my memory, and by the third or so time every frame of it is burned there forever. Thus, when I actually see the movie in question, a phenomenon occurs where I am actively anticipating every microscopic fragment of the trailer. I call this "trailer bingo."
It truly makes me crazy. Symptoms range from noticing that a character is wearing the same outfit as a clip from the trailer and thus waiting for a certain line to come up, to realizing that the movie can't be over yet because a particular moment has not yet occurred. Even for movies whose trailers are mostly visual, such as A Single Man and Micmacs, I kept waiting for every single two-second closeup to appear.
For the most part, I can manage. The one truly unbearable studio, however, is Fox Searchlight. They mercilessly beat you over the head with their trailers (never more than one for the same film, either) for months. My boyfriend and I could fully recite and act out the trailers for The Wrestler, (500) Days of Summer, Crazy Heart and most recently, Cyrus. (He's not as badly afflicted as I am, though.)
I generally have a low threshold for repetition - even for things I like - so perhaps that explains it. I'm not sure what to do about it other than sit in the lobby like a sulking toddler for the entirety of the previews, which isn't a very appealing notion. Guess I'm destined to suffer forever...
Does this affect you too, or am I just completely insane?
3 comments:
I hate the "spoiler" moments in trailers. I'm the same way you are, thinking "Oh, it's not over yet...I haven't seen xyz."
One of the worst about was Quarantine. Think of the memorable scene of Jennifer Carpenter being pulled by her feet by something off-screen (hell, it's even on the movie poster). And that's the LAST SHOT of the entire movie! Ugh
Thou art not entirely insane
I luckily forget trailers fairly quickly, but I can empathize. I guess with such a good memory
it can't be much fun for you rewatching a movie, then?
A movie I'm glad I didn't see the trailer is the indie film Red (2008), the entire trailer is full of spoilers!!! So much that in my recommendation on my blog I advise you to skip the trailer.
For me at least, trailers can also be nostalgic, I've lost count of how many times I've seen the excellent 'Say Anything' trailer ( :
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