What films are boring?
Watching a film on mute without captions is not necessarily boring. It depends on what kind of film you pick. A truly interesting film is always interesting no matter how you turn down the volume, while a totally boring film is always boring no matter how top-notch your stereo system is.
Therefore, the film you pick plays a crucial role in this experiment. Here are a few suggestions to make sure your subjects will get bored:
- Don't pick the film your subjects have seen before. If they've already known the plot, they can deduce what's going on from memory and fill in the dialogue blanks.
- The more dialogues appear, the more boredom your subjects will suffer. That is, a dialogue-centered film is more effective in boring your subjects than an action-dominated film. Try not to pick a blockbuster, a comedy, a thriller, a cartoon, an animation, an action film, etc. What's more, don't pick a silent film because it's filmed to be silent.
- So what is an ideal boring film? My ideal one would be old, highbrow, foreign, and monochrome, but I don't wish to recommend any particular films. Find a boring film for your subjects, and maybe you'll be bored before you finally find the perfect one.