Altered Perspective on books and documentaries

[Cocoa]

Do you ever find yourself reading a book or watching a doc differently then others?

For example:
Documentary: I watched a whole doc on Coma. Yes, Coma. It was basically about 4 patients and their recovery. My brother thought I was insane to watch people in a coma. However, what I was really looking at were the families, in relationship to the coma patients, and how they dealt with the devastation. Coma itself, for hours on end is not interesting.

Books: I asked my sibling to pick me up a copy of "Alice in Wonderland". Again I got the insane look... (I'm way too old for Alice). I had to explain that I want it for structure not for the story.

This made me realize that maybe what I look for in books and movies is (sometimes) different from what majority would look for?

Did that ever happen to you?

[Rudy]

Don't know. For fiction stories, at least, it is the characters that interest me, not the plot. I want to know what makes the characters tick.

[Cocoa]

I agree.... but I notice that sometimes I don't take an interest in the protagonist, but either in the villain or side character....

[Kisai]

If I smoke pot and watch a movie, I'm aware of every different take in the film, as opposed to the film blending together into a seamless whole. Then a little director comes on inside me an critiques the shots.

[tp6626]

I read only non-fiction, and enjoy those books more where the author tells peoples stories that he / she has observed through his / her life. For example, I really enjoyed Nassim N. Taleb's Black Swan, because at the same time as outlining his Black Swan theory, he also describes his life, how he got to where he is, and gives great detail on a wide range of different characters through his life, their behaviours, what they did or didn't achieve, and why.

Since I was 17-18, I began to have an awareness of the limitations of books. For example, when I was younger, something written in a book was gospel. You didn't question it; it was a written fact, and I thought that no one could argue with it.

I began to think for myself, and challenge the content of some books and authors, and now bear in mind the credibility of the author / sources on most things I read.

Even text books can be wrong, or miss the point sometimes (or I can improve upon thier content from elsewhere).

[Rudy]

Since I was 17-18, I began to have an awareness of the limitations of books. For example, when I was younger, something written in a book was gospel. You didn't question it; it was a written fact, and I thought that no one could argue with it.
+1

I was very credulous about books as a child/teenager, especially textbooks. My general skepticism actually started with my skepticism concerning the Bible, and then snowballed from there.