Sometimes My Brain is Annoying...

[borgmama1of5]

I can’t say exactly when it happened, but over the last few years my brain has made it nearly impossible to just sit back and enjoy a movie or story.

Because even as I’m trying to enjoy the epic space battle or badass fight between the hero and the bad guy, a little voice in my head is going:

“Ten minutes ago they were complaining about how hard it is to fly the Klingon ship they stole because they can’t read the controls…and now the communications officer is able to manipulate them to fine-tune an alien signal and adjust for what it would sound like if it were being broadcast through water without any hesitation…”

Or

“This character has just been stabbed with a foot-long blade, thrown over a cliff, landed on rocks and broken his arm…but when his partner is pushed off the cliff as well, the hero manages to grab his partner’s arm and pull him to safety…” I understand the need to physically traumatize the protagonist to show how heroic they are…but can the limitations of the human body be taken into account just a little?

Or

“They walked into the house in the daylight, there’s been one conversation and no indication that any other time has passed, but now it’s dark???”

Or

“Yes, that spaceship looks impressive, but it makes no sense from a practical standpoint why you would have what looks like miles and miles of twisty corridors that you have to run through to get from the bridge to the engine room…”

Or

What reasonable person would, upon being told the bar they’ve entered is a cellphone-free zone, complacently drop their cellphone into a basket full of other cellphones without asking for a receipt or at least reassurance their phone is secure? I know, the hero needed to not be accessible by phone for the story to work, but come on, there are other, more believable ways to do that!

Yes, I know that these are visual and storytelling tropes to make the story more exciting and that I’m not supposed to think about it…

But I can’t help it.

Would it be so hard for the writers and filmmakers to take a minute to look at their stories from a logical perspective and throw in a line or two so it makes sense given the reality of physics and the human body? Or look at the set they are building with a modicum of consideration for what would be a practical layout and not just put in design elements because they look cool even though they make no sense? (And yeah, I’m looking at those ridiculously complicated spaceships in all the Star Trek movies.)

Conversely, could my brain just shut up and let me enjoy the story without pointing out all the implausibilities???

Of course, I was the kid who, whenever I got involved in a good book, would wonder in the middle of it when did the main character take time to go to the bathroom.

Maybe it’s not such a new problem…

Comments

Hah.

[sandymg.livejournal.com]

It's funny. I do that too. But ONLY when the story isn't great. If the story is compelling enough then I hand wave away everything.

Re: Hah.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

What bothers me is that I used to be able to overlook inconsistencies if I was wrapped up in the story. But now watching movies I used to love I see the holes.

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

We are the same person!!!

Supernatural does that ALL THE TIME. Suddenly morning is night, or in one scene the guys are in suits and the next, presumably moments or an hour later, they're in their standard garb. Plus, their forearms are never scarred!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Yes, without specifying I did have SPN--both episodes and fanfic--in mind...

[meus_venator]

I'm doing that more and more, especially if I watch a movie a second time, it's like the little writer in my brain won't shut up. And I keep thinking of ways they could have easily fixed the plot holes.

And it took me years to realize that the Impala should be the most noticeable car in all these small towns, and one of the loudest, but no I went with the story, but once the writing went downhill that's all I think about is all the plot holes and how easy they would be to fix.

[fanspired]

That's the worst of the later bad writing. It makes you more sensitive to the little things in the early episodes that you never noticed before because you were so involved in the story :(

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

And I think for me that sensitivity now carries over into non-SPN things I watch :(

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I have always wondered about their Fed suits--around season 5 they got very well fitted and are always beautifully pressed...How do they manage that???

[meus_venator]

Dean finds ironing very relaxing. Helps him think.

[hezio2.livejournal.com]

my husband and i do that all the time. I feel like it's lazy writing, directing or editing. like maybe the story was fine but because of time they had to hack out a scene and now it's night instead of day.
We've become such consumers because there is so much product that we don't want to accept garbage.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

maybe the story was fine but because of time they had to hack out a scene and now it's night instead of day.

That could be true sometimes...but you'd think the editors would notice the problem :/

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

So, now I wonder if something is wrong with me because most of the time I really don't think those questions or wonder about holes and such. There are times that I question things, but its never a big thing in my mind, I just more or less go with the flow.

So I'm thinking since I don't do that and you and all the previous commenters do as well that maybe I'm a little off or something is wrong with me given I don't question while I'm watching? Maybe it's a writers' thing. But then again, my brothers do that to me all the time, we're talking about a movie, I say I really liked it but then they go on about how its just a recycle of this or that, or that this was dumb, or that was unreal. Am I just a dolt because I don't question and just enjoy? I may think about things but it doesn't usually become a big issue for me, unless its a really big plot hole, discrepancy, or totally unrealistic. Oh well.

I say, be your usual question away self. I'll continue to be my little enjoy the show/move without really questioning self. And we'll be happy little clams.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

You aren't alone - I'm pretty good at just absorbing things, my main exception is with SPN. I'm still fine with the early seasons, but once we get to (probably) season 8 onwards, my brain won't shut up because of all the inconsistencies and contradictions, and how the bad writing (or maybe just lazy writing) throws me out of the story.

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you. :) It is nice to know I'm not the only one out there that doesn't come up with a million different questions while watching a show.

I agree with you about SPN. It is worse in the later years about all the inconsistencies and Canon changes, which always makes me go "HUH???" It does throw me out of the story and I become disinterested really in anything I'm watching. I try real hard, because I love this show so much, but sometimes I just can't help it.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

*Nods hard* so much this.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I didn't used to be like this--what has made it really noticeable to me is rewatching the Star Trek movies which I used to watch without reservation and now even though I want to enjoy them I am seeing inconsistencies.

You are lucky that you don't have this problem and can just enjoy what you're watching!

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I do question things, or think to myself that it is totally unrealistic, for example the Furious Five movies. All so totally unrealistic, but I just enjoy the spectacle of the movie and the fun of it all.

When my brothers start talking about a movie and begin to critique it, I recognize those things, but don't really say much more than I liked it. Listening to them sometimes makes me feel stupid because I'm not as much of a critical thinker as they are. Oh well.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha I have a similar issue but mine's usually part way through a new SPN episode and I realise when I've finished watching and get online that there was a good reason I was thrown out of the story - terrible writing. Other than that, I'm usually good at suspending disbelief until after the show's over, which is when my inner critic usually activates.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

The worst part is I'm annoying myself!

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

I'm usually pretty good at suspending disbelief and immersing myself in the story I'm watching, but I think all of us have things that will throw us out of that story immersion experience. Sometimes we have expert knowledge in an area and watching a Show or movie get something factually wrong grinds our gears (never watch Dr Sexy MD with an actual MD!!!) And sometimes the Show's writing team forget their own canon, which is sloppy, annoying and jarring, and sometimes the writing just isn't good enough to provide the sleight of hand that lets you gloss over the practicalities and you're left thinking...no-one would do that...why did he do that? I think we all analyse what we're watching to an extent--the extent probably just depends on what kind of brain you have. Perhaps we've seen a general decline in writing and production standards over the last few years which makes the flaws more obvious to us? Or maybe we've just become more savvy media consumers over the years so we're seeing the wizard behind the curtain more than we should? Maybe a bit of both!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

'Seeing the wizard behind the curtain'--Sometimes it's so obvious that the writer had an idea for a really cool scene and didn't bother to figure out a logical way to get to it so just wrote the fastest way to get to the big scene without any logical thought :/

[fanspired]

You're not alone. But I also have a bad habit of sharing my irrits with other people and spoiling it for them, too. I just can't seem to suffer in silence though :D

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I used to annoy my ex...but now I only annoy myself LOL

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, same here! It was Mamma Mia 2 that really annoyed me as it was filmed in a completely different location yet we all had to suspend disbelief and believe it was the same!

What reasonable person would, upon being told the bar they’ve entered is a cellphone-free zone, complacently drop their cellphone into a basket full of other cellphones without asking for a receipt or at least reassurance their phone is secure? I know, the hero needed to not be accessible by phone for the story to work, but come on, there are other, more believable ways to do that! EXACTLY!!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

How many ways could that scene have been done in keeping with real life and Dean's character??? Sigh...

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[tyrsibs.livejournal.com]

Yep, I get it. It’s details like these that can pull you right out of a story—and then for the rest of the time you’re puzzling over them, or seeing new problems everywhere. In my house, it’s my husband who never fails to point that stuff out!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

It's annoying to myself now because I'm rewatching the Star Trek movies which I used to accept without question and now every other scene bothers me--and I really just want to enjoy them!

[superbadgirl]

LOL, having just recently done a rewatch of Eureka, I then tried to follow it up with Warehouse 13. Which I never got into when it aired because I thought the whole premise was stupid. "Let's save the world from all these powerful artifacts but instead of destroying them so they can never do any more damage, let's just store them somewhere so they're there for the taking or some other mishap..."

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

It's not the fantastical parts of the stories that are the problem, it's the part that overlaps with the real world and actual practicality that bothers me.

Though when my kids used to watch Thundercats I would wonder to myself how many times the good guys would let Mummra go and then, surprise, he would do something nefarious in the very next episode...

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

LOL I recognize that last one...

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

:)

Also scenes that go from day to night with one conversation...

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

I do that with books a lot now. Always looking at the grammar, believably of characters and situations etc. Oh the days when I could just enjoy the story...

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

My biggest problems with fanfic besides grammar and spelling are confusing paragraphs where you can't tell which 'he' is doing/saying what. It's okay to simply use the character's name.

Beating Sam or Dean up way beyond human capability to stay alive and then having them perform superhuman acts.

And the phrase ' He let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding.' That one makes me silently scream...

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the incessant use of "breath" is really distracting. One that bothered me in a romance novel, "the breath he'd been holding whooshed out," or even just, "He let out a breath." Other than grammar, stuff that have been bothering me recently are plot details that are plainly laid out from the beginning, making them sound dumb and boring when they could have been held out as a mystery and made the story interesting, not to mention flaws, like, should it be normal for these people to be able to speak English here, in this time frame??

With regard to TV shows, I think when you have watched many shows and had a chance to talk about them with others here and on other platforms you start seeing those flaws more clearly - watching shows with a critical, or possibly disillusioned, eye and even looking for flaws to discredit it, consciously or unconsciously.

With regard to written stories - whether fan fic or published works - there is the added situation of having written stories ourselves, which makes us read them not just for enjoyment but critically and for "educational" purposes. I'm always looking at ways to edit a passage that would make it better, or taking note of descriptions or writing styles that I enjoy or that bother me and why. LOL

[casey28.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I can hand wave stuff, but most of the time I notice when things are "off". Things like continuity errors, sloppy editing, forgetting details from previous eps, etc, etc.

“They walked into the house in the daylight, there’s been one conversation and no indication that any other time has passed, but now it’s dark???”

Happens all the time! And it reminds me of the scene in 6.22 when night turning into day is literally a part of the storyline, and Sam of course questions why it happened. But Robin says no, it's always been day, representing the illogical way things are often done in movies and tv.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in 6.22 that was funny because they were directly poking fun at the trope. The two that I get hung up on the most are the episode with the bees in season 1 where the 'overnight' bee attack lasted maybe an hour? And the first episode of season 6 when Sam comes back to save Dean from the djinn--the Campbells all go to Lisa's house to set a trap and it goes from day to night after one conversation even though the whole afternoon must have passed...

[casey28.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And then there's "soap opera time", where a year passes, but the calendar shows that they're still in present time.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't get me started on the 2 times SPN skipped a whole year...except they didn't...

(I actually was able to ask AD Kevin Parker about it for the jump between season 5 and season 6--I asked why the calendar in Lisa's house had the wrong year and he did answer along the lines of 'soap opera time' and that it would be too difficult to keep writing as if it was next year.)

[casey28.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing the cat calendar that clearly showed it was the same year.

It's great that you were able to ask Kevin Parks about the time jump. "Soap opera time" has definitely been used on the show. Also when there's no time break between a season finale and the opening ep of the next season. Then, they need to time it forward from May to October.

Another thing... they mention real presidents, then invent a fake one (president Rooney). I'm ok with them not using a real president, it's just inconsistent to mix the two.