Scent and the Cinema

Abstract

From the very earliest days of public cinema (moving pictures), there has been consideration about how odors and scents might influence the viewer’s experience. While initially this was primarily a concern with how to eliminate the malodor of the cinema-goers themselves, in more recent times, there have been a number of well-publicized attempts to add synchronized pleasant (and, on occasion, also unpleasant) scents to “enhance” the cinema experience. While early solutions such as AromaRama and Smell-O-Vision were beset by technical challenges, low-tech scratch and sniff ( Odorama) and, more recently, Edible Cinema-type solutions (where the audience get to consume flavourful, and often aromatic, morsels in time with the events on screen) have proved somewhat more successful. Nevertheless, there are a number of key psychological factors that will likely inhibit the uptake of scented cinema in the future, even should the technical and financial issues (associated with retrofitting cinemas, and providing the appropriate fragrances) one day be satisfactorily resolved. These include the phenomenon of “inattentional anosmia” as well as the “fundamental misattribution error,” whereby people (who are, by-and-large, visually-dominant) tend to attribute their enjoyment to the action seen on screen, rather than to smell, and hence are unlikely to pay a premium for the latter.

Scent in the Context of Live Performance

“…There can be little doubting the widespread interest in developing a more multisensory theatrical experience, be it involving immersive theatre or virtual reality (see Urwin, 2020, for a very recent example). The introduction of scent in the setting of the cinema, museum, and/or art gallery has, though, often not been successful, nor has it necessarily been positively received (see Spence, 2020bSpence, , 2020cSpence, , 2020d. However, that being said, it is important to note that there is a profound difference between live performance and the cinema.…”

“…More recently, Blankenship (2016) has written of scented performances that “Several current productions are employing it right now, and their examples underscore both the rewards and frustrations of tickling an audience member’s nose.” On one hand, the recent resurgence of scent in theatre can be seen as hinting at an attempt to compete with movies and television (see Banes, 2001). At the same time, however, there has also been increasing interest in scent in the setting of the art gallery/museum (see Spence, 2020b, for a review), as well as in a musical context (Di Stefano et al., in press; Spence, 2020c). Alternatively, however, it might also reflect nothing more than a general resurgence of interest in the sense of smell (e.g., Henshaw et al., 2018; McGann, 2017).…”

“…The majority of the press interest in scented entertainment has tended to focus on the technological release/control of the context of cinema (e.g., see the extensive coverage in Gilbert’s, 2008 book, What the Nose Knows ; and Spence, 2020c, for a recent review). There has been parallel interest in scenting the theatre, though, as we will see later, the challenges and opportunities in the context of live performance are very different from those of the plastic arts (e.g., Henshaw et al., 2018).…”

“…And while the entertainment potential of a scented accompaniment in the setting of the theatre and cinema might, at face value at least, appear similar, it is important to recognize that the approaches, and the media, are fundamentally different, as will be discussed later. This may well, then, help to explain why it is that the incorporation of a scented element into proceedings has been so much more successful in the theatre (as I hope to show later) than in the cinema (see Spence, 2020c, for a review).…”

“…At the same time, however, there has been growing interest in the deliberate use of olfaction in an entertainment context (Banes, 2001), with some commentators talking of the emergence of the theatrical scent designer. Elsewhere, Blankenship (2016) writes, “Let’s call it ‘aroma-turgy’—the conscious use of smell as a part of theatrical design.” While the deliberate incorporation of scent has had a brief and troubled relationship with cinema (see Gilbert, 2008; Spence, 2020c, for reviews), it has had a rather more successful, not to mention much longer, role in the context of live performance—primarily theatre, though, as we will see later, also occasionally in ballet, musical, dance, and opera too. That said, I have yet to come across any mention of scent being used in the music halls or vaudeville shows that were so popular around the opening years of the 20th century (e.g., Arce, 1979; Jackson, 2019).…”