The Power of Movies

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Looking back, I really do think that the hundreds of movies I've ever watched, some multiple times, have made a difference the development of on my social cognitive and intuitive faculties. Not a complete substitute for firsthand interaction by any stretch, but it helped me understand certain nuances of interaction, where I was otherwise shunned from getting firsthand experience (the classic Aspergers' vicious cycle).

I recall here and there some posters talked about movies they'd seen that made a difference, but the names escape me. Someone recommended Dazed and Confused, sure, if you want to come across as more laid back, I guess you'd just have to avoid the 1970s jargon (yeahhh...groovy). I also think that anything with Tom Cruise can help Asperger guys come across as more NT, more smooth in dating situations even (have tried this to some effect).

One area of the movies that I have been kind of challenged by is seeing hidden agendas of the characters, or being the last one to figure out what really is going on - OK, this might fool most people, like in The Usual Suspects or the 6th Sense, but in most cases, I find that my NT friends or spouse who are watching a movie with me say things like "he/she is going to do ___ now" and they're right - and I had no idea how they reached that conclusion until I check out the plotline on wikipedia and piece it together vis-a-vis what I just saw. Actually, I have found wikipedia to be a great supplementary guide to deciphering nuances and hidden intentions of characters in movies - it all makes sense once I read it.

Over time, I have gotten better at deciphering motives and predicting next steps over the years - maybe it's because I've absorbed so many cliches - but once in a while I still get tripped up by some read-between-the-lines aspect of a situation. All in all, I do believe in the power of movies to help stimulate this kind of semi-dormant thinking in myself in my daily interactions. I'm sure others here share the same sentiment and similar experiences.

Reading fiction also had the same effect on me. Maybe even more than films.

The kind of movies that I hate to watch are exactly those with a lot of hidden plotlines, etc. And it's really odd. Because I do think that the films were designed to be obvious. OK, some films require a lot of thinking, but even small hidden clues can be difficult for me to work out.

If it's really bad, I feel completely helpless. ^^ But most of the time, I can enjoy a film without getting "those things". And it does get better with time, I completely agree.

But I feel that maybe it's better that way. If I got a lot of these hidden clues, I'd see that it's all just recurring themes and I generally find this very limiting and depressing. Because then I'd know "all about it". That's why I love films that engage in alternative thoughts.