Difficulty Understanding Films

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Hi all, I'm going to start this off by saying I've not been diagnosed with autism however have several symptoms that make me think I may be on the spectrum to some degree.

I'm not sure this is related to autism at all but I've explained this to people before and they don't seem to relate.

Essentially, as a kid I struggled with films that were either a weird concept I.e. Wizard of Oz, Never Ending Story or a film that was made decades before I was born so was visibly old like Mary Poppins (was like having my eyes and brain tapped to a time machine). These films I struggled to understand them, like they would completely play with my brain, just struggle to comprehend the plots or them being visibly old and their storyline even older.

I realise that might be something kids struggle with but looking back it seemed like that happened a lot with me, it's almost as if trying to understand the concept of them dehydrates my brain. Still as an adult this happens but not to the same degree. I'm just curious if anyone can relate or if this is just a personal thing? Like I'm known to take things very literally and can be very argumentative due to the need to be right and I'm not sure if struggling to understand or fully comprehend certain concepts within film and television is related to that.

I realise this may not be on the list of most difficult things to deal with but it is a complete mindf**k so any ideas would be welcome.

This films are made for emotional people who enjoy once the things become better for other protagonists. Normal people develop an emotional binding to the protagonits that makes them enjoy the 'happy end' once the protagonist succeeds at the end. It's the same with boring love films that mostly only woman enjoy.


PS: You should try it this way to get the films. If you are watching a film try always to imagine to be instead of the main hero in the film. What would you do? What do you think the main hero should do? Once you are doing this you'll start to feel yourself a little like the main hero in the movie and to feel for the problems of main hero. This is what most people do if they are watching films and what you need to do to get the message of the film.

Last edited by quite an extreme on 26 Sep 2018, 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

It may be necessary to watch a film more than once. For instance, I watched Crazy Rich Asians as a Romantic Comedy. Then I watched it again to pick up the cultural nuances, as they did a very good job of depicting all the little things ...

I suspect that when I was very young, I took horror films quite literally. I remember the 1954 film called "Them" which was about giant ants. This film began in the countryside in the dark of night. Since I lived in the country at the time, it added an element of reality to relating to the movie. They used the sound of crickets to convey the approach of danger (the giant ants). Since I lived in the country and chirping crickets often occurred at night time. I was a little terrorized at night when the crickets chirped believing an attack was imminent.

I have a hard time with films and TV shows as well.

I over-analyze both. My wife has responded to my many film/TV related character questions countless times: "It's just a TV show/Movie!!" I want to know how story lines end even if the script doesn't intend for that to happen.

Just as a theoretical example:

Picture a TV show with a scene were two main characters are talking and some other supporting character sees a woman he's enamored with and is heard saying: "I'm going to ask her out." He moves toward the woman and is seen in the background talking with her. The main characters continue with their conversation and the scene ends and moves to an entirely new scene. I'm left thinking: "Well, did the woman say yes or no to that guy that was going to ask her out?????"

Or, two people are sitting at a table getting ready to order and the waiter says the special is fish. One of the characters says: "I loathe fish more than anything else on the planet!" or something similar. Cut to another scene. I'm left thinking: "I want to know what the guy ordered if he hated fish so much!!"

Those kinds of things to me are loose ends, where I find that most other people don't seem to think of things that way and think it's odd that I do.

Also, fast moving complex films? Forget it. There was this movie Memento starring Guy Pierce if I recall. I saw it with my wife. I had NO idea what was going on in that film. It was totally lost on me. If I watch a film or TV show, I will often think about it for days or even off and on for weeks afterword to figure things out about it.

Last edited by Magna on 26 Sep 2018, 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Films are typically shot and then edited into what will appeal to audiences. Most of the time there is no money to shoot scenes again.

Some films I can enjoy, but not many. There are two main reasons, I think...

Firstly, there are just the same problems as I have in real life conversations; working why characters are behaving like they do, or the hidden meanings in what they say, or which character knows what about some other character. If there are too many characters, I usually give up pretty quickly, because the plot becomes meaningless.

Secondly; I'm too perfectionist about plot-holes, historical or scientific accuracy, using technical jargon wrongly, ridiculously contrived coincidences etc. I do annoy other people sometimes because I can't help blurting things out.

I think this is a more person-by-person basis than a symptom of autism since there are people in the Hollywood industry who are autistic. For example, I'm a screenwriter who has aspergers and I know Anthony Hopkins has it as well. So does Stanley Kubrick. I oddly find not being like NTs has actually benefited me since I view them as a unique species to study and try to analyze. Dan Akroyd has it too.

I'd say this is many people - on and off the spectrum - this reminds me of my Dad who's an NT and gets confused by many science-fiction films; he can't even follow the Matrix.

My NT friend has trouble with films and TV shows that have a weird concept. I don't have a problem with that but I do have a problem with understanding the motivation of the characters and am frequently baffled by the way they interact at times. One of the things that annoys me most about film and TV is when characters don't say what they mean, but I guess that's just like real life for many people.

There has been criticism that Crazy Rich Asians is nothing more to many viewers than straight up romantic comedy when it could be so much more. But, I think that is why it has been so successful. There are enough people who just want sit back and enjoy something they can easily understand that is up to the production standards of Hollywood to make the film a success.

I don't think I have a problem understanding films but since getting a dx and exploring ASD there are social interactions and non verbal communication in films that I don't get.

I used to just ignore it and not let it spoil the enjoyment of the film but now I'll ask my GF WTF did that mean