Here is a common situation: I’m sitting in a movie. Completely involved in it. So much that it feels real. The movie ends, just after an intense moment of closure. I prepare to bask in it all.

Suddenly, the credits come up and an awful, totally inappropriate pop song comes on. Wasn’t this a World War II movie? It’s the worst when it’s a movie that only featured beautifully composed, original music throughout and suddenly ends with a song from a Disney channel girl band.

Why would they do this? It completely kills the mood that had been set for the last 2 hours and snaps you so quickly back into reality that you get entertainment whiplash. After all we were just sitting in a dark room for 2 hours watching an enormous screen like drones.

Maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s for people like me who otherwise would be unable to emotionally separate themselves from the story. Like waking up from a vivid dream where you aren’t sure what is and isn’t real anymore. In that case I guess I should be grateful.

Or maybe it’s a strategy to get you out of there stat so they can turn the lights on and clean up. Maybe the movie theaters make producers sign contracts to find the most inappropriate, thematically clashing credits’ song for the movie so people won’t linger longer. In that case, well played.