Trouble following movies

[Jimbo]

Anybody have trouble following the storyline of movies?

I can watch a movie all the way I through and can't tell you a thing about it afterwards. I have trouble keeping up with who is who and what they are trying to do throughout the movie. Not sure if its just that my mind is constantly wondering or because its fiction and I'm not interested.

I am able to watch documentaries and history and learn a lot. I have also always loved sit coms, but when it comes to movies I'm lost.

 

[buckyboy14]

Yes. I learned it's because of a combination of Nonverbal Learning Disability and Auditory Processing Disorder. I hate movies for this reason; I can never tell what's going on because I can't understand what the characters say or remember who's whom.

 

[Judge]

It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's exasperating to me if I don't seem to fully understand what a movie was all about.

 

[Aspieistj]

I have great difficulty following movies with a lot of different actors. I have Prosopagnosia--I am face blind and can't recognize the leading character from one scene to the next. Actually, I can't recognize anyone unless there is only one male or female, one person of color, one hugely over or underweight person, only on person with dark hair, in uniform, with an accent--you get my drift, facial recognition doesn't happen for me so if I can follow a movie at all it is because the actors are all very different looking. I do love to read.
Nancy

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

2 words......wiki-pedia

 

[clg114]

Anybody have trouble following the storyline of movies?

I can watch a movie all the way I through and can't tell you a thing about it afterwards. I have trouble keeping up with who is who and what they are trying to do throughout the movie. Not sure if its just that my mind is constantly wondering or because its fiction and I'm not interested.

I am able to watch documentaries and history and learn a lot. I have also always loved sit coms, but when it comes to movies I'm lost.

Until I read your post, I had never thought about it before but you are right. If I am watching fiction I have to closely pay attention to be able to follow the story line. With documentaries it is easier to follow. Think that just goes to show that facts make a lot more sense that fiction.

 

[unsurewhattoname]

I can't tell which characters are which unless they all look very different. I watched age of ultron yesterday and couldn't tell a lot of the men apart. I could tell black widow because she's a girl, and thor because he has a beard but the others just all look the same to me which makes it hard to follow. I'm better with cartoons because cartoons really do look all the same so the people who make them make it so you're able to tell them apart by having distinctive features - they wear the same each day, too. So yes, movies are hard to follow. I have no idea who is who without context or anything to distinguish them (like their suits or the fact that hulk goes big and green). I also cannot recognise anyone if they get a haircut or change anything I use to distinguish them from others.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

Do you all struggle to recognize people in real life too then (i.e faces) or is it just within the realms of fiction??

 

[Crossbreed]

There's different types (levels) of prosopagnosia. I recognize people that I see regularly (like family), celebrities (in media) and my action dolls. Other times, when I see a store owner in a different place than their store, I either don't recognize them at all or I can't put my finger on where I know them from.

 

[tfwo]

If the main characters in the movie are not well know actors, and they don't have obvious differences in appearance, such as skin or hair color, race, gender, or age group, I can never remember who is whom.

 

[King_Oni]

For me it's a good way to gauge if I think the movie is any good. When I drift of the movie isn't really interesting IMO and it does add to me being unable to keep track of it. And I dare say the bar is raised pretty high for me to keep focused.

Aside from that, and it's something someone touched upon in this thread; I do have a certain degree of facial blindness so unless said characters are all pretty different types in attitude and appearance, I'll most likely screw that up. I mean, Ihad no trouble keeping all characters from Guardians of the galaxy apart... which probably gives away a certain degree of an extreme spectrum what they should be like, lol.

And then there's subtitles. No subtitles is pretty much a no go. I can do a lot better if I have visual clues to what exactly is being said and string those sections together than purely auditory information. But then again; I'm living in a country where every movie not in dutch has subtitles (even if they are often poorly translated ones)

 

[Flinty]

It happens on rare occasions when I can't tell characters apart. Often Robert Altman and his giant casts are to blame; it's why both MASH and Gosford Park are among the most overrated movies of all time for me.

 

[buckyboy14]

Do you all struggle to recognize people in real life too then (i.e. faces) or is it just within the realms of fiction??

Yes. I went to a small high school (about 500 people), and I still couldn't put everyone's names to their faces when I graduated. People would make fun of me when I asked who a certain person was.

 

[NovaScotia Aspie]

There's different types (levels) of prosopagnosia. I recognize people that I see regularly (like family), celebrities (in media) and my action dolls. Other times, when I see a store owner in a different place than their store, I either don't recognize them at all or I can't put my finger on where I know them from.

I am the same way . It is hard because someone might give you a wave or a hello and if you don't respond before they are gone ,they just think you are being antisocial .

 

[NovaScotia Aspie]

Anybody have trouble following the storyline of movies?

I can watch a movie all the way I through and can't tell you a thing about it afterwards. I have trouble keeping up with who is who and what they are trying to do throughout the movie. Not sure if its just that my mind is constantly wondering or because its fiction and I'm not interested.

I am able to watch documentaries and history and learn a lot. I have also always loved sit coms, but when it comes to movies I'm lost.

Anything I watch whether it is a hockey game or a tv show / movie,I watch with a tremendous amount of intensity and it can take a lot out of me . I am pretty selective about what I watch because of that .

 

[watersprite]

I found out that while watching a fiction movie if I narrate outloud, it helps me keep track. But, of course other people do not want me to do that.

 

[unsurewhattoname]

Do you all struggle to recognize people in real life too then (i.e faces) or is it just within the realms of fiction??

Real life too. Someone who was friendly with me cut her hair and it took me about 10 seconds to figure out who was saying hi to me. I figured it out on her voice and glasses. It gets better the more I see two people who look alike as I find more differences, but it's never with their faces - just seems like I'm missing that part of the brain and using other visual parts to compensate for it.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

I found out that while watching a fiction movie if I narrate outloud, it helps me keep track. But, of course other people do not want me to do that.

Kestrel- "Han solo sets off in the millenium falcon and races to Luke's Aid and then....."
Everyone Else- "SHUUUUUUT UUUUUPP!!"

LOL

Real life too. Someone who was friendly with me cut her hair and it took me about 10 seconds to figure out who was saying hi to me. I figured it out on her voice and glasses. It gets better the more I see two people who look alike as I find more differences, but it's never with their faces - just seems like I'm missing that part of the brain and using other visual parts to compensate for it.

I occasionally fail to recognize faces (actually I'm terrible with someone I haven't met many times before as it takes a few for me to recognise that we know eachother), the funniest time was when I was visited by a team leader in my store and I initially treated him as a customer (having already met and spoke with him days earlier), but likewise I can also amaze myself by recognizing people (people I've not seen in man years or more) just by seeing them from behind or sometimes just hearing their voices or something else other than their face.

Anything I watch whether it is a hockey game or a tv show / movie,I watch with a tremendous amount of intensity and it can take a lot out of me . I am pretty selective about what I watch because of that .

I'm guessing you couldn't do a subtitled foreign film then?

 

[Beverly]

I do okay with movies I'm actually interested in but, last night was an case of details killing the movie for me. Went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Not that I'm not a Star Wars Fan. I am a huge Lucas fan actually so, of couse I love the saga he created.

The trouble was my date insisted on seeing it in 3D, you know that movie has an amazing number of barely vivsible, slightly glowing, flaoty things in it and, just when you are sure you've seen them all, the melinium falcom tries to land on your head or, a Tie Fighter or X-Wing buzzes you. Still don't know much except that Finn was a Storm Trooper that went AWOL and, Rey will be the next Jedi Knight, and some ugly dude that was a wanna be Darth Vader tried to kill Han Solo but, not sure if he's really dead or not or who that ugly freak even was.

Beyond that, no clue what happened in the movie or why.

 

[Hopeless_Aspie_Guy]

Beyond that, no clue what happened in the movie or why.

Ahem ;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Force_Awakens#Plot