When we talk about cinema or film, surely many imagine the sweetness of popcorn which seems to be synonymous with the two words. Still, have you ever wondered why it has become a culture for us to eat popcorn while watching movies?
In the mid-1800s, ‘popcorn’ was a very popular snack at carnivals and exhibitions. When the first steam-powered cornbread machine was produced in 1885, street vendors were able to produce these snacks easily and then sell them by the roadside.
However, many cinema owners at the time did not want to have anything to do with this snack. They make every effort to maintain their good name so that the use of the exclusive name of the theater is not tarnished.
They don’t want to be associated with noisy food when chewed and causing the stage area to litter as the show progresses.
But in 1927, films were no longer just for the elite. People started visiting cinemas as part of their daily activities.
Smithsonian Magazine
At the same time, the Great Depression or the collapse of the world economy was going on and Americans needed cheap entertainment and were able to help them get out of the real realities of dark life at the time.
Because these snacks are produced at a low cost, they are sold at a cheap price of around 5 to 10 cents per bag.
This has indirectly made these snacks popular during the Great Depression as people were willing to spend money on cheap products like cornstarch and movie tickets where these two industries helped each other.
Although at that time the cinema building was still not equipped with tools or machines to produce popcorn, street vendors wisely took the opportunity by selling directly to customers.
Unconsciously, the sale of this popcorn has spread everywhere. Vendors were eventually given permission to sell these snacks in the stage lobbies directly for a small fee to the owners.
However, owners who refuse to follow the ‘trend’ have to face big problems because these cheap snacks are in very high demand. Even more, interestingly, a movie theater owner has lowered the price of movie tickets just to encourage people to come to buy popcorn.
For these owners, the only way to survive during the Great Depression was to give people what they wanted.
Since then, this ‘trend’ continues to this day where popcorn has become a mandatory food not only for those who watch movies at the cinema but also those who watch movies from home as well.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Serious Eats, Origin of Everything, History of Yesterday
