End Credits

Do you know what happened earlier today? Well, I had gone to the movies with my friend, see, and the moment the screen dissolved into the final shot and the titles began along with the swelling score, my buddy got up and started shuffling towards the exit. And, to be fair to him, so did almost everyone else in the crowded theater. So of course I had to follow him out, but I did so with great reluctance because I don't, for the life of me, see why anyone would want to leave before the end credits are complete.

Even if you don't feel, like I strongly do, that everyone involved in the work that was entertaining you for the last few hours deserves, at the very least, your respect and attention as their name rolls by, there are, I would think, other somewhat more selfish reasons to not run out of the screening right away. For one, more and more films have been adding outtakes and gag sequences and hiding many other different kinds of Easter eggs during the end credits, and some even have nifty post-end-credit sequences that advance or better explain the plot. Also, for me, this is just a great time to collect and gather my thoughts about the movie I have just finished watching while I am still physically sitting in the same dark theater, not quite out of the spell the film has put me under yet but, at the same time, starting the slow and inevitable process of distancing myself to better appreciate and critically examine it, enjoying the soundtrack as I find out who that very unexpected and familiar face - the one whose name was on the tip of my tongue but I would be darned if I could remember it - doing the interesting cameo was.

But I guess that's just me. And I also guess that it wouldn't be any time soon that I would find a movie watching buddy who would share my passion for the end credits; but I certainly hope this doesn't mean that I would just have to get used to going to the movies by myself.