13523 谈看电影
TOEFL Topic: Seeing a Movie
谈看电影 20130608 China
20081031 North America
谢振礼 Jeenn Lee Hsieh
ielts360toefl@hotmail.com
TOEFL Writing Topic:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is more fun to see a movie in the cinema with other people than see a movie alone at home. Use reasons and specific examples (from your knowledge or experience) to support your answer.
TOEFL Example Essay (Jeenn Lee Hsieh):
Are theaters dying as movie-going is a less optimal way to spend your time for fun? A new study has found that only three percent of today's consumers (compared to 30 percent about a decade ago) consider movie-going as "a frequent source of entertainment". Suddenly, it seems, enjoying a film alone at home becomes much more attractive if you think that going to the cinema is expensive and not that fun of an experience--bad crowds, bad seats and, above all, bad movies.
What if many people hate going to movies? It is not that the movie industry in particular is in trouble, to be sure; but that rather expensive movie theaters in general probably are. For one thing, you are paying a certain fee for expecting the effects of the dramatic sights and sounds; but, as often is the case, a bad movie can end up ruining the night out. Fortunately, however, most bad movies are quickly killed on social media, lessening people's desire to venture out for one of their apparently infrequent trips to the theater to try it out. In comparison, seeing a movie being equal, a home-theater does not carry a price-tag. Imagine, when you choose to see a movie alone at home, the fun is all yours, free of charge.
Seeing a movie with other people might become an experience you certainly do not want to repeat, considering these days some people have no idea about how to be respectful of others. Sometimes in the cinema it is just your luck to sit next to bad crowds, not to mention lousy (although expensive) movies. For example, you might remember once someone yelling at you before even the previews started because your phone vibrated, perhaps by accident. At this point, your feeling was hurt and as a result your fun immediately went away. Remember also the other time, a boy and a girl sitting close behind you might be loudly and endlessly complaining about the bad seats (which is nothing but the truth), nevertheless the rest of people in the theater had to put up with the noisy conversation throughout the movie. These kinds of things, which are far from fun and hard to control, can never happen to you, quietly sitting in front of the screen at home, alone.
On the whole, the decline of the movie-going population is partly because of expensive tickets and partly because of bad crowds, bad seats and bad movies. This decade begins to witness the beginning of the end of theaters, but certainly not the end of the movie industry with. Nowadays, if you want to really enjoy the fun of seeing a movie, there is no place like home. (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh)
