I was at the Friday night showing in Chicago and there was in fact an electric vibe.

Darwin wrote, "A theatre full of people able to sing enthusiastically along with an episode of a television show leads the observer to suppose that Americans have too few opportunities to sing together." Obviously, she is the "observer" and not a fan or she wouldn't have referred to OMWF as "an episode of television." Had she called it, "one of the single best hours of television magic in the history of the medium" then maybe her conclusion would sound more feasible to me.

alexreager | February 02, 22:26 CET

Made me laugh. That's how my partner feels when I expound on arcane Whedon'verse wisdom-and-trivia.

Darwin also suggests that those leading exclusively secular lives have few opportunities to sing in community, and I think she makes a good point. There's something pretty marvelous about coming together to sing en masse, whatever the level of expertise. It's uniting, and most of us could use more of that.

As Shiai, one of the blog commenters writes, "I was there on that cold Friday night, and all I can say is, if 800 grown adults could join together in imperfect harmony that way, maybe there’s still hope for us yet. "

QuoterGal | February 02, 23:16 CET

Hey my first post ever…. Cool
The power of song en masse can transform Americans had really have lost a bit of the community feeling of singing. In my opinion I am always most moved by the musicals that allow for the audience to sing the final refrains of the last song. I did a production of Hair where the audience had an opportunity to sing and dance on stage with the cast during the final chorus of “Let the Sun Shine In” and it was always the most magical moment for me. Singing together provides a sort of catharsis that is rarely found in modern life. I wish that I lived in a place (I'm in New Mexico) with enough Buffy fans to put on a screening (I guess I’ll just have to settle for the ones I have in my living room).

slayer_ofbunnies | February 02, 23:38 CET

Said it before and I'll say it again, attending a OMWF sing-along is on my list of things to do before I die ;)

MySerenity | February 03, 00:00 CET

Personally I am a great believer in people singing whenever they feel like it, so I agree that none of us get enough opportunities to sing together. Unfortunately, it sounds like the fact that it is an episode of television bringing people together to sing is what is making her feel that Americans must be desparate to sing together. I wonder if she would feel the same way if she had attended a sing-a-long of The Messiah. She might attribute it to being a religious event, or not think it is strange because the music is so respected. I wonder if the fact that it is just incredibly fun music to sing would come into it. Because that is the bottom line. People do these things because they find them fun.

I had a great time in a packed bar in Dallas, Texas many years ago where a couple pianists were leading sing alongs for every television theme song ever. Even the really old ones got people going. It was music people knew that was presented in a fun way. Longer ago than that I went to a John Denver concert by myself that was a sing-a long from beginning to end. Again, lots of fun.

I'm not sure why the OMWF sing-a-long is an indication of anything except people enjoying and appreciating something and wanting to share it with each other. I am looking forward to getting to one. (My friend who is watching BtVS for the first time has just watched "Hush". 1 3/4 seasons to go before we can try to go to a sing-a-long.)

newcj | February 03, 02:19 CET

Newcj -- one of my favourite Christmas moments this year was walking up Church Street in Liverpool (UK) and hearing a busker singing the theme to Cheers with so much passion I had to sing along. Because sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.

feelinglistless | February 03, 02:32 CET

Author has a point. Singing together is one of the most important human experiences there is, considering that music is one of the most pure expressions of the soul that we have (and singing, no less, is probably one of the first forms of language we experienced firsthand.)

And not to belittle the fandom or anything, because it's good for you no matter the situation, (unless of course you're singing National Socialist anthems...) but our societies could use a lot more experiences like this in our communities in general.

If you think Buffy sing-alongs are impressive, wait until you witness a tribal ayahuasca ritual. That's something that'll really impress you.

[ edited by NekoDono on 2007-02-03 06:30 ]

NekoDono | February 03, 08:29 CET

I agree on the cathartic nature of singing--and the mention of "Let the Sunshine In" reminds me of how that was used in The 40 Year Old Virgin to a similar cathartic effect, standing in for...well, a catharsis of a different kind.

WilliamTheB | February 03, 20:18 CET

Hey QuoterGal, thanks for...um, quoting me! :P

Shiai | February 03, 23:18 CET

I'd love to go to a British OMWF screening. And not just because I've been told I do a passable singing Xander.

And the random quote-a-tron at the top right of this page just rolled over to "Silly, silly British man."

Craig Oxbrow | February 04, 00:07 CET