Abstract
Most scholars interested in movie-going have focused their attention on the early twentieth century, when going to the cinema was a common part of public life. More recently, however, sites of film consumption have become increasingly dispersed, encompassing both communal and private spaces. Examining ‘movie night’ – an informal, ritualised event in which contemporary families watch a film together at home or at the theatre – this article aims to broaden our understanding of the phenomenon of movie-going by recovering its present day practices. This analysis draws on the experiences of university students who recall movie nights as a set of comforting and enriching performances that had particular meanings within the complex network of their families. This essay argues that while contemporary movie-going practices are far less public than they once were, many of the fundamental elements of cinema's sociability that existed in cinema's classic era persist into the present.
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