Did you ever miss out on "unacted" plots in a...

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jc6chan
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30 Mar 2010, 7:47 pm

...movie?

As most of you should know, people with AS has difficulty with receiving nonverbal messages and cues.

I was wondering if anyone had or still has trouble with following movie plots or plots in a TV show whenever certain things that are implied to have happened are never acted out.

I remember in the past, I sometimes had to ask my brother or parents about whats going on in a movie because I failed to understand that some plots are not acted out. I am not sure if it was because I wasn't paying attention though. I realised that I have improved on that but I think I still have some trouble and can't always follow everything thats happening. I watch mainly TV shows though, which has commercials in between so its easier to pay attention.



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30 Mar 2010, 7:54 pm

Yes; that's part of why I prefer books. I'm way better with the connotations of written words than I am with the subtle actions of actors. Actors are still easier to read than regular people, though they are harder to recognize (they all have very similar faces; I'm usually relieved when somebody has interesting hair or a different race so I can tell them apart).

I am learning, somewhat, about the conventions of television because I go to tvtropes.org a lot. It's a very interesting site about the way people tell stories, and has branched out from TV to literature and games as well. It's gotten quite popular... I still remember when it was tiny. Ah, nostalgia.


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sketches
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30 Mar 2010, 8:03 pm

Ohhhhh yeeeah.

In movies and in long TV shows (like hour-long shows, such as House or Psych) I tend to miss out on the hidden plot. For example, a lot of times there is tension between characters, which I am just annoyed by since it's unrelated to the main story; however, everyone else is like, "Did you see their argument?" Or, "Are blah and blah breaking up?" It's usually something like that, I always miss.

My friends think I don't pay attention. I used to think it was because I wasn't paying attention, but later I had found out there were hidden plots or hidden messages.

On the contrary to Callista, I prefer watching movies over reading books. But I still used to miss out on "implied" plots in books or "hidden messages" when I did read books. Actually, did anybody see that South Park episode where the boys wrote a book and all the adults thought it had hidden messages and political correlations? That's what I hate about books. No NT takes a book for the literal storyline, I think. The same goes for movies.


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sinsboldly
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30 Mar 2010, 8:40 pm

sketches wrote:
Ohhhhh yeeeah.

In movies and in long TV shows (like hour-long shows, such as House or Psych) I tend to miss out on the hidden plot. For example, a lot of times there is tension between characters, which I am just annoyed by since it's unrelated to the main story; however, everyone else is like, "Did you see their argument?" Or, "Are blah and blah breaking up?" It's usually something like that, I always miss.

.


I agree! I could never understand (and only do now because I have been told it is happening) when boy met girl and they somehow looked into each others faces and bonded, I mean bonded BIG TIME! I could never understand how that happened (matter of fact I thought it was just a Hollywood compression of time that they got to know each other, etc)

Now, books. . .they never left ANYTHING to site gags! I could understand intellectually what they are doing and why because it is printed right there, in black and white.

Merle



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30 Mar 2010, 9:19 pm

I find that I often miss big chunks of the plot in movies. When something isn't acted out I tend to miss it, but even more problematic for me is when there is no narration or dialogue to cue me in- then I might miss what's going on even if it is acted out.

Like Callista, I am much better at decoding the subtleties of words than I am with the subtle expressions and actions of actors. I find that the problem extends even further into visual information in general. There are times when I find myself completely disoriented when watching a movies because I can't make sense of the movements on the screen. Like my brain is lagging behind.


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Aimless
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30 Mar 2010, 9:27 pm

It never occurred to me that there were parts of the plot that were not acted out but implied. I always figured I had missed something or misunderstood something. I have particular trouble with thrillers.



sinsboldly
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30 Mar 2010, 9:32 pm

GreyThorn wrote:
I find that I often miss big chunks of the plot in movies. When something isn't acted out I tend to miss it, but even more problematic for me is when there is no narration or dialogue to cue me in- then I might miss what's going on even if it is acted out.

Like Callista, I am much better at decoding the subtleties of words than I am with the subtle expressions and actions of actors. I find that the problem extends even further into visual information in general. There are times when I find myself completely disoriented when watching a movies because I can't make sense of the movements on the screen. Like my brain is lagging behind.


oh, thank you GreyThorn I always attributed my non - sense making of the rapid movements on the screen to my fading vision. I can rarely go to 'action' movies, because my head hurts early on.



tenalpgnorw
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30 Mar 2010, 10:50 pm

I very rarely will watch a movie with any sort of complexity to the plot without first reading at least most of the plot online.

This does not spoil the movie for me because I am most entertained by a film by analyzing good individual artistic elements such as cinematography, score and special effects.



jamesongerbil
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30 Mar 2010, 11:00 pm

Same. Stuff will happen in books that I will just not get. Especially with emotional responses. With movies/tv, I have my bf to translate for me. I am fortunate. If I watch alone, though, and there is a non-verbal subplot, I'll probably miss it.

Quote:
This does not spoil the movie for me because I am most entertained by a film by analyzing good individual artistic elements such as cinematography, score and special effects.
yeah, same! Glad I took that film course, so now it's even more fun. :D



JetLag
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30 Mar 2010, 11:17 pm

Yes, I sometimes have difficulty in keeping up with the subtleties of the plots and subplots of movies and television shows as well, especially if the shows are going faster than my comprehension can follow, which is probably the reason that I prefer watching them alone and on either DVD or VHS tape. But the wonders of the closed-caption, pause, and rewind buttons on my remote make it possible for me to see rather quickly what I thought had missed.


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ASgirl
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31 Mar 2010, 10:19 am

YES all the time! I thought it's just me!
Before watching a DVD, I HAVE to look it up on the internet and read the plot/synopsis first. The more detailed the better. I need to know who's who in the film and how they are related to each other. Even who's the bad guys and who are the heroes.
People find me weird doing such thing as it spoils the enjoyment of it all if I found out the ending and all the ins and outs beforehand. I am not into "surprises", I get impatient and lost if I did not know in advance what's going to happen next. I have particular difficulties if the story line is complex, eg going back and forth between the present and past. One of the films that I didn't quite get recently was the Time Traveler's wife.