Do you have a bad memory for TV episodes and movies?

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There are a lot of movies and TV episodes have watched over and over.
And have heard other people on the spectrum say the same.
I know at least part of it has to with liking repetition.
But also I find that when I have only seen a movie or TV episode once, my memory of it is vague.
Maybe is because of autism don't get all of the plot first time and things happen to fast?

I remember all the words and visuals but I don't always understand what has happened.

Like, I may remember that two characters had an argument, but I will not necessarily understand why one/both characters were angry.

I don't always memorize the words.
I remember, when I was little, I memorized many, many Spongebob episodes, and when I went to Germany and watched it in German, I was saying the words in English with it, and I didn't know German. I'd also always quote the beginning of a lot of video games randomly, because I used to play the first level of games over, and over, and over again, and I'd watch the intro videos for them and memorize those. I also memorized books before I could read. I used to watch movies twice or three times in a row.

I don't do all of these as much anymore.

Ever since I was a kid I either amazed or annoyed people to death with how well I can remember almost everything that happens in my favorite movies, TV episodes, cartoons and books. But that's probably because I watched them at least ten times. But ask me to remember all the multiplication tables I was forced to memorize day and night by my parents and teachers in Grade 3 and I'd be clueless without a calculator. I can remember the strange or unusual names of characters in books like Harry Potter or the Narnia books, and I even memorized Lewis Carol's Jabberwocky poem, but I'm lucky if I don't forget a real person's name or my own phone number. Seems I can only remember the useless stuff.

Can recall many small details but not so much large ones,
sometimes a memory of something will pop into my head and I will fixate on it.

One of my special interests is a tv show - I keep watching it over and over (sometimes with long breaks in between) - every time I watch it I pick up on something new. It's possible that it's because it's just written so well that there are that many layers to unpeel, but it's also possible (my theory) that the reason we get special interests so obsessive in the first place is because it takes us that long to figure stuff out or to cement it in our brains in a more than fleeting manner.

What is the show?
Is it in a different language?

I'm a cheap date -- you could take me to the same movie five times and I wouldn't remember what had happened. I can't sort out who's who. Right now "The Americans" on TV is driving me insane because they disguise themselves all the time -- they're spies, so of course they do -- but I have to keep asking my husband "Is that Elizabeth [the female lead character]?". Fortunately he doesn't mind explaining this kind of thing.

Many of my special interests are TV shows and movies, and I can replay the scenes in my head, like I'm watching them. I can hear the dialogue in my head, too, and it's fun to recite the lines. It's a great way to kick boredom. But I do often discover social meanings after watching something many times, sometimes even years afterwards.

I love watching and reading things over and over, I always will watch any of the harry potters and read them. I watched the rocky horror picture show about 15 times in a month.


I do find that its like watching it for the first time every time, not with everything though I do have to be attached to it.

I posted a list on my wall last summer.



I kept track of how many times I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian with the actors' commentary (6 times) and without (also 6 times). I probably watched the movie a couple of times in August, and the rest of those tallies were from July.

...Narnia was my July 14-November-ish obsession.

Like Aloysia, I remember most of the visual, some of the words, but most of the time, I have difficulty telling what went on.