Thousands of people have willingly paid money to watch this, often many times.
Which begs the question: why?
This is Tom Bissell.
Did you tell them how much you save them?
Of course, what do you think?
Mark.
A lot of the dialogue makes no sense.
-How much is it?
-That’ll be $18.
-Here you go.
Keep the change.
Hi, doggy.
-You’re my favorite customer.
-Thanks a lot, bye!
And there’s a table full of framed photographs of spoons for some reason.
There’s not often that a work of film
-by moment basis
It’s a famously incoherent piece of American cinema
a celebrity fan base,
Tell me everything.
I remember I saw it with Jonah Hill, actually, randomly.
And then,
and, like,
We became obsessed with it.
And there are still sold-out monthly midnight screenings
even 14 years after its release.
Why is a movie that’s so incoherent and so critically
The Room falls into a category that some call “paracinema,”
which comprises all forms of cinema outside of the mainstream.
Including,
but, studies show that a taste for trash cinema might actually indicate higher levels of intelligence.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical
They found that one of the main factors that draws people to trash cinema
Which are often the same reasons people are drawn to avant-garde art cinema.
One of the other reasons that people are drawn to trash cinema
Susan Sontag once wrote that
Just look at Rebecca Black’s viral sensation “Friday.”
It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.
It’s hard to deny that many of us like to collectively
Looking forward to the weekend.
which is a form of social currency that dictates one&39 position within a group.
And the screenings are a sight to see.
The mood ranges from
Go!
The fan interaction is similar to other cult classics
The Room, to me, shatters the distinction between
Do I think it’s a good movie?
No.
Do I think it’s a strong movie that moves me
Absolutely not.
But I can’t say it’s bad because it’s so watchable.
It’s so fun.
How can something that’s bad do those things
