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I have one question for you guys!

Do you understand movies, may sound like a insult but isn't.

Most of the time... Yes. I can get issues where characters look the same as I have faceblindness... So some movies can be confusing... Especially when the bad guys ad the good guys have similar looks!
Some very technical films can lose me in the plot, but most films I am ok with.

I think that I actually get what you're asking.

I suspect that many autistics are impaired in understanding movies to varying degrees. Things get laid between lines in drama.

I remember mom gently coaching me on how to interpret a moment in a movie once- to look at Paul Newman's face, and not be deceived by his character's words- to "get" the scene. Probably the most important single lesson any elder ever taught me (now that I think about). In one moment I learned how to watch movies, how to be cool with other folks when watching movies, and ...how to read folks in real life (as well as to read characters in movies), just in that one brief conversation with mom while we were all watching an old movie on TV.

It took me a long time to understand complex movies fairly well.

Maybe I answered with the wrong take on the question.

I do get a bit over emotional sometimes. Like I will have tears running down my face over something that others will not have even thought about. Like a car that was crashed needlessly for the making of the film.

Most of the time.

I am face blind and as a result, sometimes when there are too many miscellaneous characters, it is hard to keep them straight. This is especially true if all the characters are another nationality, like Japanese.

Also sometimes if the scene has people speaking quietly and at the same time the music is loud, it is hard to hear what they are saying or if multiple people are speaking at the same time.

For most movies I can figure out the plot within a few minutes into the movie.

I only really have problems understanding movies when there are two (or more) characters that look too similar (I'm faceblind but can identify characters by hair, clothing, etc. unless those are too similar), or when multiple realities or multiple timelines are involved (then I mix up what happened when, who is the "real" character and who is their alternate-reality double, what "actually" happened and what is part of another timeline where something else happened instead, etc.). I also have trouble following long series like Star Wars or Harry Potter because I forget a lot of what happened during the earlier movies. But most movies, I understand with little or no difficulty.

I find them boring, usually, and absorb (visual) details too much, my mind becomes obsessed no matter how hard I try to forget.

Maybe I don't understand it fully in the moment, as I have too many details of it in my head that my mind is processing. It takes time.

During movie-watching time I become fixated with certain aspects which nobody else cares about, and that bothers me.

E.G. Avatar made me angry with aspects, as my mind was noticing and absorbing the underlying themes, while people were only paying attention to the characters.
my mind didn't like the implications of the themes, so it was trying to tune out and getting angry at the movie for having those themes or making points I didn't agree with, and the laziness in plot (pocahontas-derivative) got me super mad. As I don't agree with Pocahontas either. That movie was pure propaganda.

I reflect on stuff a lot afterwards, it becomes over-obsessed.
My mind. So it knows now, the pattern with plots and characters, it has a structure for fiction.
So I understand better now.

Then when discussing it, people always say, 'i didn't think of that. that is a good point' etc when I do, so my guess is that I do understand most aspects..


I just take time to formulate that understanding into words, or for my mind to come up with the understanding.

Sometimes I predict things, which happen exactly as I said and people didn't think it would.
Since my brain was mulling over certain points more, fixated.

Their brain just accepted those parts, and didn't realize the inconsistencies or links.

Last edited by blooiejagwa on 02 Jan 2020, 12:15 am, edited 2 times in total.

I have a very difficult time watching movies because I can't pay attention very long, I'm face blind -- so I have no idea who anyone is, I can't understand characters' motives, and the problems usually get too complicated. I can watch up to the inciting incident but then I lose interest until there's a big fight and everyone lives happily ever after.

Can you get by with their voices and clothing/body shapes etc?

Motives are easier to understand after talking and reading about movies a lot, then one absorbs the patterns, the soundtrack changes for different feelings and characters..
To realize what movie-makers are trying to say.

If one is interested at all (i wasnt but my family was, endlessly discussing, and my mom would always shout and scream at me if I tried to leave or ignore it and not participate)


Books are better though. Esp for face blindness.

I can't be bothered most of the time to sort out clothing etc. I can't even recognise characters in animated film, other than the protagonist or main supports. I'm usually zoned out in the first ten minutes. I'm not much better with television. I have to watch a movie or series several times before I have any clue what's going on, if I even get the interest to care.

That was my case most of my life. You stated it concisel
trained self to be otherwise, mid twenties, to a degree, read about it a lot after watching to get it.

But it was not natural, so maybe my answer should be deleted.

It became a learned skill from constant necessity and being forced to sit and talk during movie discussions.

Maybe mom's way of training me to be more socially adept . She is essentially, an angry/emotionally unstable autism therapist, I realize

I remember watching Sleeping Beauty and being like "What the heck?! Why are there dragons trying to kill each other? What's going on? I thought it was a love story??", and in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer I would be thinking "Why is there a giant snow monster here? Who's that guy with the pick axe?" I was so confused.

On another note, yes I'm being formally tested for ADHD in February. ^

I remember thinking similar thoughts.
Sleeping Beauty made me angry from how weird it was (I didn't get it at ALL), and I just ran away and did my own thing when people watched it. The fairies fighting about the dress, that's when I really got mad. Welbutrin is great for attention, this is a recent introduction that also improved everything else including ability to watch movies before storming out.
Lion King, that had to be explained to me in every moment, but it was worth it.

Actually my self -awareness SUCKS...because I just realized I negate my own response. I only fully get movies if I think about them, ask, hear them being discussed, and read about them (esp online).

My XH used to get mad at me for leaving every time he wanted to watch a film or TV show with me.
I only stayed to watch TV shows if he kept asking...since they were shorter and one can tune out.

He also didn't like the stuff I fixated on, such as hairstyles and made dumb comments throughout...I would try not to talk then he'd see me rolling my eyes and close it.
Maybe he was a saint in many respects...

I get fixated on small details too, like a character's hair clip ... and then fifteen minutes have passed and I have no idea why all the characters are shooting each other. I can't do "big picture" or make predictions because I'm too busy checking out the kitchen curtains or the song in the background. There's also waaayyyy too much dialogue in film. I don't know anyone who talks as often, as insistently, or as passionately as anyone on screen. I get lost in the words and subtext. It doesn't help that I have no ability to read non-verbal body language from the characters.

with movies like Avatar, you just get the gist straight away from the idea of a spaceship, new planet, invasion, lying man is supposed to be a hero.

..specific words gave away as it is the same words and ideas as in Pocahontas.
I never even saw Pocahontas properly, only the songs. (Cousins had it on all the time).

Also the guy who was supposed to be the 'bad guy'--you can tell by the music. There's always a dramatic sound for bad guys.

He was actually rational and correct and honourable in EVERYTHING that he did and said,
while the 'good guy' was a sneaky traitor (intending to be, from the outset).

I need to look away to grasp the dialogue better (no visual stimuli) while perhaps everyone else is thinking about which person sounds more 'likeable' or something.

You're right, films are a mess really esp with what you mention..

It's actually bad when the music, decor and scenery is too good,
as it diverts attention towards the beautiful aspects. Like I watched the Angelina Jolie film with XH and i understood NOTHING. Except that her dresses and jewellery and hair were nice.
I don't think I have face blindness, at least as long as the people have similar clothing/hair, so it's easier for me.

My lawyer always changed his clothes and hair. Things you wouldn't think would change (sometimes big shoulder pads, raised shoes that made him seem tall, different glasses), so I always thought I was talking to a different person and they were just brothers of similar ages, pretending to be the same person.

Plus his eyes became bigger with glasses and he behaved nicely with glasses. Then if he took them off he would treat you like he wanted to kill you with flames shooting out of him (vibes).
That in itself is confusing. So maybe that's face blindness, or maybe just plain confusion?

In Harry Potter, the characters are easy to mix up, since they're in the same black garments (except for Ron and Hermione since their hair is SO distinct compared to others, and Harry who always has every scene focused on him.

If camera wasnt zoomed in just on him, i had a hard time keeping up, as his hair blended with other people's hair/colours.

When they change out into 'Muggle clothes' and I didn't recognize them (except logically and by picking up what they referred to each other as), then got used to it (due to clothes)

The body language, too, I think I have an easier time with than you. Like I notice when someone is hunched over.

Cinemas are torture chambers. My mom and dad used to force me to go and yell at me for wanting to leave or crying (quietly) and 'not enjoying it' ...