I don't actually analyze at all when reading or viewing. In that moment, I'm totally caught up and going along, to the point that often in particularly good stories, when a character says, "Oh, I see..." and trails off, I'm left going, "you see what? what?"
It's possible I'm also one of the few people who not only doesn't figure out the murderer ahead of time, but doesn't even try. (I get a lot of grief sometimes if I admit, "hey, maybe you had it figured out, but I never saw that coming," and everyone stares at me like I have two heads for admitting that.)
It's when I stop reading or watching that I start thinking, giving it serious thought. The first go-round of thinking is: do I want to see more? am I really on edge to find out what happens next? ... regardless of the answer, the next question is "why do I have that reaction?" -- y'know, what worked? what didn't work? where did I lose interest? what does that tell me about a good story versus a bad one? and so on.
Which means that if you and I were ever to watch a movie together, I'd probably be the person shushing you if you wanted to talk about it right then... err, when I'm not tapping you on the shoulder and asking, "what? what does he see? I don't get it."
(If I'm not tapping you on the shoulder and asking you to repeat what the character said in the first place... sometimes movies are so loud these days, in theaters, that the louder parts deaden my ears to where I can barely make out the soft parts. Sigh.)
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Date: 4 Feb 2008 04:19 am (UTC)It's possible I'm also one of the few people who not only doesn't figure out the murderer ahead of time, but doesn't even try. (I get a lot of grief sometimes if I admit, "hey, maybe you had it figured out, but I never saw that coming," and everyone stares at me like I have two heads for admitting that.)
It's when I stop reading or watching that I start thinking, giving it serious thought. The first go-round of thinking is: do I want to see more? am I really on edge to find out what happens next? ... regardless of the answer, the next question is "why do I have that reaction?" -- y'know, what worked? what didn't work? where did I lose interest? what does that tell me about a good story versus a bad one? and so on.
Which means that if you and I were ever to watch a movie together, I'd probably be the person shushing you if you wanted to talk about it right then... err, when I'm not tapping you on the shoulder and asking, "what? what does he see? I don't get it."
(If I'm not tapping you on the shoulder and asking you to repeat what the character said in the first place... sometimes movies are so loud these days, in theaters, that the louder parts deaden my ears to where I can barely make out the soft parts. Sigh.)