“We had always hoped that would resonate, both as a story beat and as a striking visual, and when I heard all of the cries and gasps in the silence, it was just fantastic,” said Morris. “We realized that it worked. That’s never really happened in Star Wars before.”
The director wants you to feel the weight of the moment, the dramatic conclusion to a series of terrible events. It’s not the conclusion to the movie itself (there are, like, eight more battles after this moment), but it is very significant. Yet, AMC was apparently getting so many complaints they had to post a sign explaining the concept of cinema.
Comedian Paul Scheer posted the signage, which reads, “While the images continue to play on the screen you will hear nothing. This is intentionally done by the director for a creative effect.”
I mean. LOL.
Here are some other helpful signs that might help people get through the movie:
- When a character promises to do something, but we see a shot of their fingers crossed behind their back, they’re lying. The directer wants you to know this without them saying it aloud.
- Music may play over a series of events that seem to take place over many days. This is called a montage. The characters are not time jumping.
- A director may focus closely on a character’s face so their emotions are clear. You will not be able to see what else is happening around them, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the movie has disappeared.
- Porgs are not real.
According to The Wrap, AMC has gotten sick of exactly this sort of derision and has removed the signs from the 660 locations where it was posted. In fact, they claim the signs were gone before media coverage started. There will presumably now be someone at every franchise to handle these complaints customer by customer, beginning each convo with a brief history of the Lumière brothers and finishing by explaining how Adam Driver could be on the TV with Lena Dunham and in outer space.
