{"id":189,"date":"2019-08-21T15:18:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T14:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/cifr\/?p=189"},"modified":"2019-08-21T15:18:50","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T14:18:50","slug":"lets-all-go-to-the-lobby-how-concessions-shape-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/cifr\/2019\/08\/21\/lets-all-go-to-the-lobby-how-concessions-shape-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Let\u2019s All Go to the Lobby\u2019: How Concessions Shape Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Figure 1. Frame from Let\u2019s All Go to the Lobby (1957), an animated advert played before screenings or during intermission in the United States (credit: Filmack Studios). <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The thick\nwaft of buttered popcorn; the over-sized cupholder stuffed with empty sweet packages;\nthe stale soft-drink puddles you can\u2019t avoid stepping in \u2013 and who can forget\nthat endless chorus of chewing and slurping?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconsumption of food and beverages are, to say the least, heavily embedded in\nthe cinema-going experience \u2013 yet this is seldom acknowledged by film critics\nand theorists. In Anne Bower\u2019s 22-chapter Reel Food <\/em>(2012), which explores\nhow acts of consumption are involved in constructing national, political and\nsexual identities through film, only one chapter is devoted to the exploration\nof food as an essential aspect of the cinema-viewing experience. And yet, as writer\nJames Lyons observes, the consumption of food is one of the most important\nmeans by which audiences \u201cembellish and enhance the experience of film\nwatching\u201d \u2013 and, perhaps above all else, a crucial source of income for\nexhibitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post,\nI aim to survey how a careful consideration of the relationship between acts of\nconsumption and cinema might challenge the prevailing theoretical assumptions in\nthe study of film aesthetics, history and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food in Film Criticism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First of all, it is worth noting that our ordinary critical language typically associates food with cinema as a \u2018low-brow\u2019 or \u2018escapist\u2019 medium. The terms \u2018brain candy\u2019, \u2018visual feast\u2019 and \u2018popcorn film\u2019, for example, are used to dismiss films that do not warrant much serious reflection, not least academic attention. In perhaps one of the earliest critical uses of the term, The Daily Times <\/em>described Venom<\/em> (1982) as a \u201cspine-tingling brain candy\u201d to complement its value as an artefact of entertainment while admitting to the suspension of disbelief required to swallow its premise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prevalence of these food idioms in our casual critical language allows viewers to create an \u2018ironic\u2019 detachment that justifies the enjoyment of a film they didn\u2019t take too seriously. Like the junk food they reference, popular cinema is situated as an essentially harmless hedonic and sensory experience, as opposed to a strictly rational or intellectual one. This discourse, as I shall further explore, likely finds it origins in early film theory and exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 2. A street popcorn vendor in 1910s Illinois (credit: Kirn Vintage Stock \/ Corbis)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Concessions and Class in Early Cinema<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Throughout\nits history, the film industry has long tried to legitimate itself as an artistic\nand culturally-valuable medium, often adopting conventions and practises from\nthe more established disciplines of literature, fine art and theatre. From the\nearly 20th<\/sup> century, many film exhibition venues in major cities across\nthe world were designed to resemble opera houses and theatres, and further\nattempted to draw upon associations with the \u2018upper-class\u2019 spaces and\ninstitutions of continental Europe from the preceding centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1913\nprogram for the New Gallery Kinema in London\u2019s Regent Square, for example, imported\nbeers and afternoon teas were advertised to wealthy patrons, while the June 1934\nprogram for Edinburgh\u2019s New Picture House drew attention to the four-course\nlunch, smoke room and dining halls available in the venue. The consumption of\ncertain foods and beverages hence elevated cinema into a higher cultural domain,\nemboldening the growing industry with more \u2018genteel\u2019 food rituals and symbolism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, early theatres in the United States typically distanced themselves from the association of public eating spaces with the more \u2018profane\u2019 carnival and burlesque industries. The admission of confectionery could risk spoiling the cinema\u2019s theatrical rugs and carpets, and, more notably prior to the advent of sound cinema in 1927, would distract the audience away from the screen \u2013 and, worse yet, disturb the wealthier patrons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, as the film industry began to trade intertitles for dialogue, literacy no longer provided a barrier for working class audiences, while the Great Depression brought even greater interest in cheap entertainment and distraction. Cinemas slowly give up their former high cultural aspirations when they realised that they would yield greater profit from opening up to wider audiences. Although food vendors rented spaces in or outside theatre lobbies during this time, theatre owners eventually decided to cut the middle man and include food consumption in their marketing and exhibition practises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 3. A movie theatre snack bar in 1940s North Carolina (credit: Voyageur).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Emergence of Popcorn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As wartime\nsugar and chocolate rationing provoked exhibitors to look for alternative\nsources of revenue, a perfect solution was discovered in popcorn. Contrary to the\nprior assumptions of film exhibitors, this would prove crucial to the survival\nof the cinema industry: a theatre chain in Dallas is said to have installed\npopcorn machines in all but their five \u2018best\u2019 theatres, only for those five to\nclose within the following two years due to falling profits. Overseas\nservicemen brought popcorn around the world as a nostalgic \u2018luxury\u2019, making way\nfor American popcorn manufacturers to break into European markets after the war\n\u2013 something that has never really changed to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it is difficult to gather accurate data, Time<\/em> magazine reported in 2009 that concessions make up to 20% of a film theatre\u2019s revenue and 40% of its profits in the United States, since a large proportion of ticket sales goes back to the film studios, as well as funding staff costs and theatre maintenance. This data is loosely confirmed by private research and interviews with theatre owners, though some factors will inevitably vary in different locations \u2013 popcorn itself can gather 85-90% profit for every unit sold, with added salt motivating the additional purchase of soft-drinks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This provides an unexpected incentive: films with uncomplicated plots and narrative structure might actually yield proportionately greater profit for film theatres, even despite lower admission prices, as the audience are more likely willing to leave their seats to buy more food mid-way through the film \u2013 this no doubt goes some way as to explain why, as explored previously, food vocabulary is utilised in modern film criticism as such. Regardless, as Epstein has concluded cinema theatres are as much in the fast-food and advertisement industries as film distribution \u2013 a thought that might greatly disturb prevailing theoretical understanding of cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 4. Showcase Cinema De Lux, Southampton. Tickets and concessions are sold at the same desk in most modern cinemas (credit: Rosie Tapping).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Food for \u2018Alternative\u2019 Markets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although popcorn and fast food quickly became deeply embedded in the cinema experience after WWII, its absence was \u2013 and continues to be \u2013 offered as a hallmark of sophistication and originality. Post-war arthouse and independent cinemas across Europe and the United States began offering pastries and coffees in smaller, caf\u00e9-styled venues, as an alternative to the more infantile associations of sweets and refined sugar. As Lyons observes, popcorn in particular has remained \u201ca peculiarly emblematic commodity\u201d in the mobilization of cultural distinctions throughout cinema history; a totem for the \u2018escapist\u2019 associations that film exhibitors either attempt to capitalise on or distance themselves from. Today, individual cinema chains and film festivals continue to privately reconstruct cinema experiences through providing alternative and unique food-screen paradigms: the British Everyman cinemas, for example, claim that they are \u201credefining cinema\u201d by swapping soft drinks for red wine and pizza in their \u201cinnovative lifestyle approach\u201d to film exhibition, and the States-based Film Food Festival helps its audiences simultaneously taste what they see on the screen. These theatres and programmes, and others like them, thereby depend on the discourses associations that encourage the denigration of popular cinema as ‘junk’ entertainment to differentiate their services as unique, ‘event’-oriented experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 5. A screening of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (2013) in the Food Film Festival 2018 (credit: Emily Hawkes and Noah Fecks).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the other\nhand, the Planet Hollywood chain and its countless imitators somewhat invert\nthis process, embellishing the family restaurant experience with mounted props,\nsignatures and iconography from cinema history. Although this perhaps strays\ntoo far from my focus on film exhibition, it is no small matter that entire\nbusinesses are modelled on the premise that cinematic artefacts, sanctified by\ntheir participation in popular culture, can somehow enhance, or otherwise\ntransform, the more profane activity of food consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If it is true that acts of consumption are heavily\ninvolved in how films are experienced, distributed, assessed and situated in\nparticular socio-political contexts, then it appears that cinema cannot be\nsimply described as a matter of sight and sound (sorry, BFI!); but also, of\nsmell, touch and taste \u2013far from compromising its integrity, however, I would\nargue that this privileges cinema with comparatively unique opportunities as an\nimmersive and engaging public institution. Much might be said on this topic, of\ncourse, but I intend here to provide \u2013 if you forgive the pun \u2013 an appetiser\nfor further research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\u2018About Everyman\u2019, everymancinema.com.\nAvailable at: https:\/\/www.everymancinema.com\/about-everyman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018About the Food Film Festival\u2019,\nthefoodfilmfestival.com. Available at: https:\/\/www.thefoodfilmfestival.com\/the-festival<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avery, T., \u2018Popcorn: A \u201cPop\u201d\nHistory\u2019, pbs.com, 2013. Available at: http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/food\/the-history-kitchen\/popcorn-history\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bower, A. L., \u2018Watching Food: The\nProduction of Food, Film and Values\u2019, Reel Food: Essays on Food and Film<\/em>\n(Abingdon: Routledge, 2012), 1-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butler, S., \u2018A History of Popcorn\u2019,\nHistory.com, 2018. Available at: https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/a-history-of-popcorn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Capsule Reviews\u2019, Daily Times<\/em>,\n1982, p.16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epstein, E. J., \u2018The Popcorn Palace\nEconomy\u2019, Slate, 2006. Available at: https:\/\/slate.com\/culture\/2006\/01\/the-thirsty-moviegoer-fuels-the-movie-business.html<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geiling, N., \u2018Why Do We Eat Popcorn at\nthe Movies?\u2019, Smithsonian.com, 2013. Available at: https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/arts-culture\/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies-475063\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lobb, A, \u2018Why does that popcorn cost\nso much?\u2019 CNNMoney, 2002. Available at: https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2002\/03\/08\/smbusiness\/q_movies\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyons, J., \u2018What about the Popcorn?\nFood and the Film-Watching Experience?\u2019, in Bower, A. L. (ed.), Reel Food:\nEssays on Food and Film<\/em> (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012), 311-333.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuttle, B., \u2018Movie Theatres Make 85% Profit at Concession Stands\u2019, Time, 2009. Available at: http:\/\/business.time.com\/2009\/12\/07\/movie-theaters-make-85-profit-at-concession-stands\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thick waft of buttered popcorn; the over-sized cupholder stuffed with empty sweet packages; the stale soft-drink puddles you can\u2019t avoid stepping in \u2013 and who can forget that endless chorus of chewing and slurping? The consumption of food and beverages are, to say the least, heavily embedded in the cinema-going experience \u2013 yet this … <\/p>\n

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