I'm stuck on thinking about the person saying, "Why are they shooting at that dog?" during the opening scenes of The Thing. It's a funny story, but I can't help realizing how many modern movie producers think the same way.
The modern producer would watch that sequence and have notes. Put in an explainer, he'd say, and have the Norwegian lines in English or at least subtitled so the audience can understand what's happening. The dog should get hit by a bullet with a close up so we can see it heal, that way the audience really knows what's up! And he'd pat himself on the back for how much better he made it.
I find myself connecting this to movies more and more trying to keep the plot under wraps, so secret even the actors don't know what they're filming! The audience will really be wowed with the surprise of learning what happens in the plot! That's what suspense and mystery are, after all - not knowing a thing and finding it out. Nothing to it.
There's something to it, this new idea that keeping the plot secret is suddenly hugely important while simultaneously insisting everything is always explained. There can't be a moment anyone knows what's happening before paying for the movie, and there cannot be a single second a paying customer is unsure, or even a little worried, by anything the second they've parted with their money. If you pay your shot and punch your ticket you get everything delivered to the base of your brain in a cup of easily digestible slurry.
Anyway, not all movies and all that, but I think a whole bunch of producers are pleased as punch these days at how much better they are at suspense and mystery.
Also, the person in the audience asking out loud "why are they shooting at the dog" isn't doing anything particularly egregious. Most of the time, from someone in the audience, that shows they're engaged with the film. It's not a question they expect answered, it's an exclamation of excitement and not a negative experience. But for someone like a producer, whose only concern is delivering a profitable product, that becomes a negative. A good product is something everyone can use and understand immediately. Any hesitation or uncertainty by a consumer is a chance they might stop to think and not make a purchase. Suspense is a barrier to buying into the movie, so it has to go.
The average filmmaker would probably love hearing someone in an audience urgently whispering, "why are they shooting at the dog?" knowing what a ride that audience member is about to go on. But when the producer looks at the dailies and says the same thing, it's a whole other context. A good filmmaker knows those are two completely different questions, but a good businessman thinks they're exactly the same.
