Using movies to develop social skills

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rpcarnell
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28 Mar 2025, 9:38 pm

Does anyone else use movies to develop social skills?

I use movies for the following:

(1) Face blindness. I am kind of face blind, so movies help me practice. I try to recognize every actor. Where have I seen him/her before

(2) Gestures. I try to examine every gesture the actors/actresses are making. Is the person nervous? Perhaps trying to hide something? Is the person insecure? Cocky?

(3) Can you tell who the antagonist is? Or who is an a**hole? Perhaps a liar. What kind of person each character is?

(4) What would you say to the antagonist, or the jerk, if you were in the movie?

I think movies help a little, specially if you are a wannabe writer like me.


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BTDT
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28 Mar 2025, 9:48 pm

I watched Edge of Tomorrow over and over again. It has a good progression of the main character as he learns to become a leader.



ToughDiamond
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28 Mar 2025, 10:47 pm

I think it can do some good as long as we don't forget that it's fiction and that real life can be rather different. I always like watching genial, friendly characters, the kind that make others feel respected, safe, entertained, etc. I also like watching characters who give people bad news in ways they can more easily cope with, and characters having arguments that they end up resolving. I don't try to directly copy their behaviour but I think some of it rubs off on me naturally, and I find myself absorbing some of the principles that their behaviour underscores. Conversely I see characters I don't like and I think I learn to avoid behaving like they do, at least to a degree. There's a lot in novels as well as movies and television. But fiction is by definition a lie, so I think it's important not to lean too heavily on it.



uncommondenominator
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29 Mar 2025, 12:22 am

Movies and TV are not real life.

The people in them aren't acting that way cos that's how people act - they're acting that way cos that's how they're written and directed to act. Things work out the way they do because the script says so, not cos that's how reality actually works.

Using it as a tool to help with face blindness is a good idea. But I'd forget about any notions of emulating or internalizing or even believing any of it as being representative of real-life.



rpcarnell
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29 Mar 2025, 2:26 am

Most characters in fiction are too black-n-white to exist in real life. Many characters are too altruistic, or too evil, or too funny, etc. So developing a psychological profile of any character can be too easy compared to real life.

But their gestures can be legit at least.


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Diving Parrot
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29 Mar 2025, 3:42 pm

I was doing that when i was a child, but the only thing i have learnd was masking.


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MrsPeel
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29 Mar 2025, 11:26 pm

I do believe movies can be helpful like that, because they are easier to learn from than real life, which is more subtle.
Books are good too, I learnt a lot about behaviour and dialogue from books.