Fiction movies vs. documentaries | ADHD Information
I generally have a tough time in movie theaters. I like to go but it's one of only two times I bite my nails (the other is driving). I think it's some kind of boredom. At movies, silly putty is a lifesaver. In the car, either silly putty or I keep a pair of drumsticks there that I play on the steering wheel while driving.
At home, I generally cannot sit in front of the tv without having something else to do. This is why my wireless laptop is great. My hubby can watch fine and has grown to be used to my 'business'. I can read and watch a movie, pay bills, organize piles of papers, basically do anything but just sit and watch the movie alone.
Documentaries are interesting, however. I find them to be the one type of movie (if it is historical, non-animal, and interesting) that I can sit through without doing something else. I love history and true stories and anything real. Michael Moore's movies are great (but I chafe at his boldness in confronting everyone). One I saw recently about Jaimaica and the IMF and globalization was incredible. I want to see The Corporation. I also saw an interesting one on the Salem Witch Trials, Jewish athletes in Germany during Hiler's reign, and I've caught bits and pieces of various historical documentaries. Working for the police department is great because everything about everyone else is interesting. It's like a documentary every day.
Fiction? I saw The Constant Gardener recently. It was a powerful movie. The romance/suspense part didn't really register with me. It was the incredible illustration of life (the harshness thereof) that hit me. Titanic was interesting but it was incredibly by-the-book as far as the storyline. I have a hard time with too-true-to-life stories of human suffering. Saving Private Ryan was amazing but I'll never watch it again. I often think I could have written most screenplays so much better than the movie writer because I hate to be told what things mean. Movies that assume a certain intelligence to the audience are so much better than those that feel like they have to explain it in plain language. That's why I like The Wire on HBO. It's accurate and they don't dumb down things. They use the lingo, show the work and don't make any effort to explain it. (Here I am digressing again.)
If I suspend belief before I even walk into the theater, I am entertained by movies like Armaggedon, Independence Day and the Bourne Identity. But, I'm writing the next great crime drama turned screenplay... too bad I won't get it finished...
I can't suspend disbelief long enough to watch most movies. For instance, that scene is Sweet Home Alabama (gag, puke!) where she's at the altar, about to get married and someone rushes in with her old divorce papers she "forgot" to sign. HELLO! Simply signing the divorce papers does not make you divorced!
It's stupid unrealistic scenes like this that make me unable to sit through a movie. I feel like my intelligence is being insulted, like "I'm supposed to believe THIS????"
[QUOTE=LostintheStatic]Some movies that I think sucked: The Star Wars Prequels (*ducks from the incoming hunks of concrete*), Face Off, The Matrix (although we stopped the movie half way through), Princess Mononoke, Snake Eyes, Elephant, the list goes on....
Ok well enough rambling for one post.
[/QUOTE]
Add to those... Did he say Star Wars prequels???? They SUCKED!... Pearl Harbor (I hate when people try to develop the next best thing... Titanic as WWII)... Bad Boys II (was Bad Boys I palpatible)... working in law enforcement makes these rediculous movies almost unbearable... now I can't watch anything with Tom Cruise (a man who makes ADHD look even worse than it can be)....
I rented Sahara expecting it to be bad but I found it interesting just because it was set in a place I knew nothing about. I liked seeing what it looks like in a place like Mali even if the crux of the movie was a stupid bad-guy-genius-kills-to-make-money-in-a-rediulous-play-on-no -one-cares-about-the-third-world. I also liked National Treasure because the Declaration of Independence stuff was interesting. (I'm trying to read 1776 right now but it might take me a while to get through it. I didn't realize that King George III who was King at the time of the Revolutionary war was the same king portrayed in The Madness of King George.)
So, Jonesie (please tell me if that grates on you or makes you smile, ok?), please tell me what you do for a living and how filmmaking fits in there. I'm interested because, as I implied, my dissertation will be focusing on storytelling and filmmaking is storytelling done visually.
What you wrote sounds a LOT like something I'd write except that I'd probably reverse editing and shooting--assuming I was given quality footage to edit. As I've gotten older (60 in Jan.--oh my!) I've gotten much more cerebrally than physically active. Plus, this awful fibromyalgia (or MS, whichever it turns out to be), makes movement painful, so... Sure you're significantly younger than I. (I'm one of those "I'll start taking better care of myself when I'm older--oops, how did I get to be THIS old so fast?" types. By the time you realize "older" has come, it's sort of too late. Mention it in the hopes you, too, don't fall into the same trap.
I was always a well-behaved child but no meant NO (when it did come). When I was 3, my Father insisted (in true Southern gentleman style) that I address his by "sir." I refused and never relented. Lots of other examples like that although I've always been fairly realistic about consequences and focused more on war than battle-winning. (I think, although haven't analyed that enough to make sure it's a true statement. Know what I mean?) Anyway, would that qualify me for ODD even though I was always a pretty cooperative kid and adult? Don't know enough about ODD, really. Suspect I've got this bad fibromyalgia, though, for all the anger I've been stuffing for so many years, though, at all the stupid crap people asked or imposed on me.
Back on task... 
(or, get ready for a hard cut!)
Are you a scriptwriter, too?
sachetm38661.4041319444 [QUOTE=paritthead]I can't suspend disbelief long enough to watch most movies. For instance, that scene is Sweet Home Alabama (gag, puke!) where she's at the altar, about to get married and someone rushes in with her old divorce papers she "forgot" to sign. HELLO! Simply signing the divorce papers does not make you divorced!
It's stupid unrealistic scenes like this that make me unable to sit through a movie. I feel like my intelligence is being insulted, like "I'm supposed to believe THIS????"
[/QUOTE]you are going to hell for that paritthead!!! i love that movie
..[QUOTE=sachetm]
Anyone else? I really would appreciate input here, guys, since this topic is related to my dissertation. I really would like to hear what your experience is. It would be awfully helpful to me.
Pretty please w/ yummies on top?
here goes: some documentaries interest me, some bore me... some movies interest me, others bore me...
it depends on what mood i am in..
sometimes i like reality, other times i like pure stupidity - zoolander is one of the greatest movies ever!!
i don't think its dependent on adhd, i think its purely personality types and interests..
I can sit through documentaries more easily than I can a fiction movie. I absolutely MUST have something else to do while I watch a movie or I'm bored silly. The best fiction movies are ones with a lot of action and either is believable or doesn't pretend to be believable. I don't watch romances unless they have a great comedic bent. I also like 'stupid' movies and zoolander is relatively good. Dodgeball gets funnier and funnier everytime I watch it. I especially love the one-liners of the dodgeball announcers in vegas. I've made every attempt to use the word 'schadenfreude' in a conversation and I still don't necessarily get the line, "... here we've come to separate the wheat from the chaff, the.... and the awkwardly feminine from the possibly canadian.." It doesn't make sense but it is funny as hell. TV to me is like background noise that helps me focus on other things. I think I already mentioned how bored I get in movie theaters and then I chew my nails. The silly putty thing is great for alleviating that boredom when I can't escape the theater.
Oh, and the documentaries have to be about people and I'm most drawn to historical documentaries and ones that show us how we've devastated the third world. Life and Debt is one the best I've seen recently.
(And, the only fiction flick that's kept me totally engrossed recently was The Constant Gardener. It was an amazing movie that had at its heart a look at the conditions in parts of Africa. It was supposed to have a romance in it but the reason I cried at the end was simply because it reminded me that my life here is just a small part of a much greater world and that there is so much to be done to alleviate the suffering of others.)
When the kids were a little younger, I did that too. I also do it at times when they just need me nearby. My laptop is a place I can escape to without anyone looking at me like I'm crazy. Now I've found you guys and it's like I've found home!
[QUOTE=Davidornado] [QUOTE=Brookelea] [QUOTE=paritthead]I can't suspend disbelief long enough to watch most movies. For instance, that scene is Sweet Home Alabama (gag, puke!) where she's at the altar, about to get married and someone rushes in with her old divorce papers she "forgot" to sign. HELLO! Simply signing the divorce papers does not make you divorced!It's stupid unrealistic scenes like this that make me unable to sit through a movie. I feel like my intelligence is being insulted, like "I'm supposed to believe THIS????"
[/QUOTE]you are going to hell for that paritthead!!! i love that movie ..[/QUOTE]I like the music in that movie.
[/QUOTE] I've been told I sound like that movie
!
[QUOTE=sachetm]Hum... Now that I think about it, I wonder what makes our ability to hyperfocus kick in.
Any ideas, anyone?
[/QUOTE]well for me, it is doing something i enjoy with no pressure. (has this been said already? i didn't read all the posts.
something i enjoy with no responsibility attached, because attach repsonsibility and i can get anxious and the enjoyment level goes down,
oftentimes something that has no point or possibility of seriousness/relevance but is challenging and stimulating to my brain. like a computer game with levels of difficulty/challenge of coordination/fast stimulation/but NO PRESSURE on a real level. i enjoy the faux-pressure, i guess.
escapism. i can hyper-focus on escapism. be that reading books and going into an escapist world; be it doing crosswords or mental iq challenges; be it working out how to do something; but the INSTANCE there is any pressure and i cave - suddenly i don't want to/can't do it at all/would rather do anything else.
something i noticed here in LA is that my little studio has been non-stop immaculate. absolutely, i enjoy keeping it tidy and that 'factor' in my brain that normally wants to keep in me in chaos is not kicking in over that at all.... anymore. and i wonder how much that has to do with no pressure (ODD) nobody expecting it to be tidy, nobody pressurising me... the moment that pressure goes, is the moment my brain will stop being so mulish about it.
it all comes down to my brain in the end. it is so difficult (i get completely bored by the patience game spider but if i have some editing to be done i will spend 2 hours playing stupid game after game --- i have done so many now i actually found one i couldn't work out, i have saved it!, so i can try to get it to work out in the future)
omg, the phone is ringing!! of course, i am not going to answer it! oh phew, it was only my dad....
so where was i? yes, i would rather piss about on this forum or play spider --- until i start the editing and then i really enjoy it. but i can't start it because i get overwhelmed by anxiety because there is pressure attached.
i can work under pressure if it is physically right there --- for example, filming is great because the constant physical activity doesn't let your brain get frozen but EDITING is a nightmare to start because it is not a right here and now situation... actually being on a shoot and doing the filming is the bit i LOVE. you can think and change things right there (no, move that light, change that table, come in a bit closer all that sort of stuff and it is all right in the moment, and i am a kinda right in the moment sorta person) and it is so immediate.
with editing i can't start - then get into the spiral of not answering the phone, missing deadlines, hiding under the duvet, hating myself and so on and so forth... all the while STILL not doing it. and beating my head against a brick wall going just do it, just do it, just do it you fool/you idiot/you irritating useless waste of space.
and well ADDeling... we all know. we all been there.
what it is? why it is? who knows...
lately i have been waking up early and actually praying to be less slothful so i'll let you know if the power of prayer has any good effect!
i am beginning to question the whole ODD thing, though. i would never have thought i have that because i have always been so willing to help out but it is true, if something feels entirely my choice, then i am happy to do it no matter how hard the work...
so maybe there is something of that too. i don't know.
self-discipline is essentially the thing i don't have. i realise non-ADDers don't have the same level of resistance that i do but i still feel it is something i might be able to overcome. possibly. one has to look into the causes of these things.
O'malley, I told you we were twins! When I put my son to bed at night, I have to lay with him til he falls asleep, so I take my laptop and put it on the floor and play on the internet til he falls asleep! [QUOTE=sachetm]
Miss Frizzle, if you're still reading, why do you think the line between fact and fiction is thin? I'd like to here your reasoning on this and expect it to be quite interesting.
Consensus seems to be building toward documentaries over fiction. My guess at an explanation is that AD(H)D folks are keener on the pitfalls of crappy storytelling (which most fiction is) and feel intellectually insulted by it more often, resulting in unsuspending disbelief. (Every knowledgable storyteller knows that once that happens, you're dead in the water!)
Comments welcome!
[/QUOTE]
I feel like with documentaries, I have to be on guard for silly facts and reasoning. It scares me to watch documentaries when I don't know who the researchers are, and how careful they are, and whether they have an agenda. If there is a topic that I know about or care about, and the documentary is outdated, or the experts are silly, I'll get anal.
Then, I guess that if there's one little glitch in something I am familiar with, and I wanna watch a documentary about something new, I don't know what to trust.
With fiction, I don't mind when people lie to me, because it's called fiction.
I don't like history documentaries, because I don't think stories are ever true.
Poorly made fiction makes me laugh.
it depends. (always the right answer!)
like true and real over most hollywood stuff. holllywood has trouble making people and situations either believable, or even connected to real humanity.
as far as watching....
sometimes the stuff i like is not enough to get me to park and watch. i never know what will get me hooked in long enough that i don't notice the world crashing in on my perception.
fiction that reflects reality is best. watch 'once were warriors'. a new zealand film about a modern Maori family. heartbreaking, riveting, sad, and hopeful. powerful. haven't seen 'titanic' and not curious. it's the acting and script that add realism. i don't really care if the doorknobs on the stateroom doors match the ones ballard filmed on the real titanic at the bottom of the atlantic.
Documentaries have become very popular in recent years, due largely to Michael Moore's provocative ones. Just saw a rather astounding one called "The Corporation."
Since I'm ADD w/ virtually no "H," I don't have a problem sitting through them (as long as they're well done, they maintain my interest just fine). I am wondering, however, about you ADHD folks. Do you have trouble sitting through a documentary? Even a good one? For that matter, do you have trouble sitting through a fiction movie?
If it catches my attention, I could sit through someone scratching their nails on a blackboard!!! BUT, it has to be interesting to me. Any diversion which seems more pressing, more interesting than the present, or just less boring tends to get first priority! Time constraints, personal endeavours, interpersonal relationships, etc. get delegated to the next time slot (when I get bored or distracted by something more prominent in my enviroment).All the more reason, it would seem to me, to do life planning so you've got a clear idea how things fit together and something not as interesting fits with and supports something that IS interesting--the ultimate interesting goal.
Does that make sense? Of course getting an AD(H)D person to figure out the goal and do the planning in the first place is a whole different ball game!
Hum... Now that I think about it, I wonder what makes our ability to hyperfocus kick in.
Any ideas, anyone?
[QUOTE=LostintheStatic]I generally can't stand fiction movies unless they are very, very well done. There is too much in fiction movies to blow the suspension of disbelief for me. I absolutely love documentaries and movies that are 'based on a true story'. There is much less need to 'believe' in those movies and since they are about real life they are much more interesting to me. [/QUOTE]
Did you see Titanic? If so, how was that for you? Cameron certainly went to great lengths to maintain authenticity and plausibility. Did the fiction in it create a problem for you?
What are some fiction movies you enjoyed that enabled you to keep your disbelief suspended?
[QUOTE=sachetm]Did you see Titanic? If so, how was that for you? Cameron certainly went to great lengths to maintain authenticity and plausibility. Did the fiction in it create a problem for you?What are some fiction movies you enjoyed that enabled you to keep your disbelief suspended?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, Titanic was good for me because I knew that they basically stuck to a historical context. Obviously we can't know all of the personal stories of the people onboard, but what they presented wasn't completely unbelievable either. The overall story was true of course, so I wasn't waiting for the next shoe to drop. Many movies will for some unknown reason have parts that are just plain unbelievable. When there are too many instances of unbelievability the whole movie is blown for me.
Another example similar to Titanic that I really loved is Gangs of New York. Overall, the story was pretty historically accurate even though they had to insert personal stories in order to make a movie that people would want to watch. I should also say that if I know going into a movie that it is based in a fantasy world, like the movie Hero or Spirited Away, I can thoroughly enjoy it. BUT, the movie has to be very well done.
Some examples of movies that were based on a true story that I really loved: Gettysburg, Glory, Apollo 13, Gangs of New York, Catch me if you can, The Aviator, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Mind, Donny Brasco, Monster, Fahrenheit 9/11, Fog of War, Bowling for Columbine, Troy, Alexander, I could go on...
Some fiction movies that I really liked: Kill Bill 1, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hero, Spirited Away, Forest Gump, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Get Shorty, Be Cool, It's more difficult for me to think of these...
Some movies that I think sucked: The Star Wars Prequels (*ducks from the incoming hunks of concrete*), Face Off, The Matrix (although we stopped the movie half way through), Princess Mononoke, Snake Eyes, Elephant, the list goes on....
Ok well enough rambling for one post.
The gap between fiction and documentary isn
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I like all of it when the time is right.
Wow Heidi... as I sit here this morning on my laptop with CNN in the background I'm so amused. My hubby has finally gotten used to my need to be doing something else while I watch TV (usually a movie and not a show). Most often, it's my laptop (with wireless networking) that keeps me entertained. I keep it under my side of the bed and pull it out pretty much always to check email, read this board, read the news, etc. The kids use the desktop downstairs (with its super-duper-internet controls).I love documentaries. I often feel like if I'm watching TV, I either have to be learning something or laughing my ass off. I watch alot of CNN for the first reason, although I really don't know why cause they're always pissing me off when they cover one story all day, and I'd like to maul Wolf Blitzer with something heavy and painful. Jack Cafferty often puts him in his place quite satisfactorily, though. Anyway, I digress. I like fiction all right but I usually have to have my laptop on my lap while I "watch" which sometimes pisses the hubby off cause he doesn't think I can give my full attention to the movie/show if I've got my laptop :)
But yeah, documentaries -- I like Michael Moore's because of their outrageousness, I know he can twist truths to fit his needs but its like education and entertainment in one. Well, Bowling for Columbine wasn't so entertaining. Ermm. I love comedies, I love to laugh. My husband knows I'll say yes to a comedy any day as opposed to one of his sci-fi movies :)
[QUOTE=sachetm]Documentaries have become very popular in recent years, due largely to Michael Moore's provocative ones. Just saw a rather astounding one called "The Corporation."
Since I'm ADD w/ virtually no "H," I don't have a
problem sitting through them (as long as they're well done, they
maintain my interest just fine). I am wondering, however, about you
ADHD folks. Do you have trouble sitting through a documentary? Even a
good one? For that matter, do you have trouble sitting through a
fiction movie?[/QUOTE]
No problem at all, if you let me have the remote...
It's stupid unrealistic scenes like this that make me unable to sit through a movie. I feel like my intelligence is being insulted, like "I'm supposed to believe THIS????"
[/QUOTE]you are going to hell for that paritthead!!! i love that movie..[/QUOTE]I like the music in that movie.
Miss Frizzle, if you're still reading, why do you think the line between fact and fiction is thin? I'd like to here your reasoning on this and expect it to be quite interesting.
Consensus seems to be building toward documentaries over fiction. My guess at an explanation is that AD(H)D folks are keener on the pitfalls of crappy storytelling (which most fiction is) and feel intellectually insulted by it more often, resulting in unsuspending disbelief. (Every knowledgable storyteller knows that once that happens, you're dead in the water!)
Comments welcome!
Anyone else? I really would appreciate input here, guys, since this topic is related to my dissertation. I really would like to hear what your experience is. It would be awfully helpful to me.
Pretty please w/ yummies on top?
[QUOTE=Davidornado]
Topic: Fiction movies vs. documentaries
my I's saw Friction movies...
[/QUOTE]
Isn't a friction movie a kind of documentary?
Or is it a class of it's own?
...the kind of documentary
that you can only watch when you're grown?
Wow! Friction! Just the topic for the ADDer!
Unless the movie is super, duper enthralling, I can't sit through it....
OK, I did great in Gladiator, but Russell Crowe in a short skirt was the reason
Topic: Fiction movies vs. documentariesmy I's saw Friction movies...
[QUOTE=sachetm]Since I'm ADD w/ virtually no "H," I don't have a problem sitting through them (as long as they're well done, they maintain my interest just fine). I am wondering, however, about you ADHD folks. Do you have trouble sitting through a documentary? Even a good one? For that matter, do you have trouble sitting through a fiction movie?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I'm all AD w/ no H, too. I love documentaries. Pretty much I like any movies that make me think because it will hold my interest. I generally lose interest in action movies pretty quick unless they have a good plot.
well, um, er,, adhd is the "new" designation for the "old" add.. sorry to add to the confusion .. [QUOTE=bugzappers]well, um, er,, adhd is the "new" designation for the "old" add.. sorry to add to the confusion .. [/QUOTE]
Don't know if this was regarding my post above, but by "no H" I was meaning that I have none of the hyperactivity side of adhd (i.e. inattentive type).
Back on topic, I like to watch documentaries but I might not be able to answer questions about it later :)