Problems Following Movies

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Yesterday, I went to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with my daughter. I do not go to the movies often (the last time was about a year ago).

During the movie, I noticed having problems following:

a) Who was who - There were a ton of characters, with different names. And, somehow, they expected me to remember the names of characters the first time they were introduced. Such that, in future dialog, when referring to those characters, I was expected to remember who they were talking about. Also, unless there was some marked difference (visually) between the characters (say, skin color, eye color or sex), I had a difficult time figuring out who was who. Fortunately, there was only one female (who was the heroine).

b)Where was where - They continually shifted from one place to another. And then, expected me to remember the names of these "outposts" (or whatever they call them).

I don't know - maybe I am getting old. But, I found the movie very difficult to follow. I am now wondering if this is the reason why I don't go to the movies. As it takes a lot of focus to watch these things.

Anyone else have these challenges?

It's not you, it's the movie industry.

Movies are all about explosions and special effects these days. There is no plot to follow or any characters to remember.... in the end, you kind of wish they all died.

You could always try to watch it a second time...I have seen some movies where it is hard to catch on to all that is going on the first time you watch it. I have certainly had movies make more sense the second time around. I have not seen this movie yet so not sure how much I would struggle with that particular one or if it has a strong plot to even follow in the first place.

Same here. Especially with action movies. I generally can't tell what's going on in them.

I absolutely have the same issue following a lot of movies, but I have pretty severe face blindness so I try to understand the story and less who is who.

Prosopagnosia and Auditory Processing Disorder make following movies almost impossible for me. I've watched a total of two movies this year, and that was two too many.

Based on what my wife tells me - normal people have problems following movies these days. I think the issue is with the plots and too many characters.

Big franchises like Star Wars and X-Men assume that the audience has been keeping up with the previous movies, and it doesn't occur to the screenwriters that some exposition is needed to explain things to the uninitiated. There's also pressure to include as many characters as possible so they can sell more action figures and t-shirts. Smaller and more personal movies are naturally going to be easier to follow. These are usually original (non-franchise) movies like Drive, but not always. Sometimes a movie like Creed or Mad Max: Fury Road will come along that's a sequel in a long-running series but is easy to follow because the filmmakers cared more about telling a coherent story than pandering to geek culture and selling Taco Bell collectible cups.

I have trouble following plot, characters, scene changes. It's all just a confusing blur to me. I suspect my 'normal' visual experience is basically like being on LSD.

I can usually follow a plot very easily, but I can't keep up with characters. Every white man with short brown hair looks the same to me unless he's overweight or has a scar or something that makes him stand out. Unless there are a variety of looks represented, I'm lost. I rely heavily on voice/accent to distinguish characters.

I don't know, it would make it pretty cumbersome and redundant if they back tracked too much in movies like that to catch people up whenever they release another.

I mean take Lord of the Rings, that is only a trilogy but yeah the movies are around 3 hours long not sure how they would have fit in a bunch of back tracking to make sure people who hadn't seen the first movie are caught up with the third movie. Each movie can be entertaining as a stand alone movie, but it certainly makes more sense when you watch them all in order. I certainly would not wanted to have to sit through a bunch of back tracking in the second and third LOTR movies, I don't think it would have been as good.

Usually, I'd have to watch a movie or TV show several times before I can fully understand it. Plus, I read spoilers and visit the forum of said piece of entertainment. It helps me understand too.

Yep. This is why I dread watching new movies. I have to watch it more than once to fully "get" it. I have a low working memory and I also can't keep track if there are too many characters. I watched Lost in Translation a few days ago and was able to follow it better because it was a quiet movie with really two main characters and the other characters only made appearances every once in awhile.

I think this might be more of an issue with Rogue One, I saw it too and thought the story was pretty weak and confusing myself

from The Addams Family (1991) --
Wednesday: I don't want to be in the pageant.
Gary: Don't you want to help me realize my vision?
Wednesday: Your work is puerile and under-dramatized. You lack any sense of structure, character and the Aristotelian unities.
Gary: Young lady, I am getting just a tad tired of your attitude problem.

You didn't take a loved one, to a fantasy movie, for the semantics.

But, if you meant to be a critic, writing is technically a discipline. It can be poorly-written.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unities

That isn't exclusive to us.

My wife is no where near the spectrum, and probably smarter with a better memory... but she can't track movies at all... and 3 months later she will have forgotten it in its entirety... I have as much trouble with names and characters as I do IRL, but once I have them I have them forever, whether I need them or not. I realized I know who Dengar is earlier this year when I saw his picture, and I have no idea where that knowledge came from.