Movies

The American Crowd is a film cliché which appears mainly, if not exclusively, in Hollywood films, generally of a comic or light dramatic genre.

When main characters of a film have some kind of scene to play out in front of a crowd of people, wherever they are, the crowd watching or listening will display certain characteristics completely unlike that of a real crowd, generally displaying much more altruism and patience than anyone would ever encounter in real life.

For instance, in any scene where opposite sex characters are having an argument in front of people, in a subway train for example, the people will listen attentively, perhaps giving verbal encouragement to one or the other side. No embarrassment or annoyance is ever displayed. Sometimes the crowd members are capable of super-human feats, for instance a crowd at a sporting event will be able to hear and see the relevant characters at all times despite distance and noise in order to cheer heartily at the plot resolution. Also, the crowd members are instinctively aware of whatever context is necessary to understand said resolution, regardless of how personal the conflict was.

A particular sub-genre of American Crowd are the American Wedding Guests. These guests will sit in a wedding, and be completely unfazed by the romantic male or female lead dashing into the church and disrupting the ceremony, often for several minutes. Only the officiating priest will attempt to get the ceremony back on track, all others will happily sit and watch while romantic entanglements are resolved, and if/when the resolution ends in a kiss, they will always applaud loudly, even if the bride or groom has just been publicly rejected.

Other similar examples of film crowd behaviour include the NASA Cheer.