The Next Best Book Club discussion
Book Related Banter
>
The curse of predicting plots.
date
newest »
newest »
I almost always guess plot twists but the test for me of a good book or film is if I still want to continue despite knowing.
Esther wrote: "I almost always guess plot twists but the test for me of a good book or film is if I still want to continue despite knowing."Yeah, well, you kinda have to keep going even if you guess it, or you'll never see a movie through to the end *LoL*
So many TV shows have obvious endings. I hate that.
I'm thinking of the movie the sixth sense. I guess a lot of plots too, but I never saw that one coming.
Obvious endings are bad enough, but when villains do villainous things for no reason, it makes me want to puke. Watched The Lottery on Lifetime, tonight. Can't anybody in Hollywood write?
Ron wrote: "I'm thinking of the movie the sixth sense. I guess a lot of plots too, but I never saw that one coming."True. That one had me totally fooled.
Ron wrote: "I'm thinking of the movie the sixth sense. I guess a lot of plots too, but I never saw that one coming."Lol I can't watch that movie now without hearing the Robot Chicken "What a twist!" line. XD
I also find myself knowing the ending mid-way through. My wife is baffled by it when we watch movies. It is still an enjoyable experience to watch the actual movie/read the book.
I hardly ever guess the plot. My best friend is an aspiring director and used to whisper what he thought would happen in a movie every time we were at the cinema. I absolutely hated it, especially when he was right :D I felt so stupid. When I'm reading books, I think I'm too absorbed to even try to guess the plot. I only had that experience with the books of Chuck Palahniuk. I read two of his novels and when I read the third I guessed the ending somewhere at the beginning of the novel. That was the last of his books I read :D
I feel like the author should always be one step ahead of me.
I think guessing the plot is definitely a skill, and I do believe that it's one that can be really enhanced by consuming a ton of media. Learning the patterns, as you mentioned.That said, wow, Maria! I watched Shutter Island and never would have guessed the ending! Nice job. I'm impressed.
Astrid wrote: "I hardly ever guess the plot. My best friend is an aspiring director and used to whisper what he thought would happen in a movie every time we were at the cinema. I absolutely hated it, especially ..."I think its more to do with personality types, rather than practice. Some people read books and watch movies without thinking anything more than whats on the page, others love to analyse the entire thing.
I guess plots easily, and I 'blame' it on reading. 300+ books shows you A LOT of plots, storylines etc., and I feel I spot them easily. All movies become slightly predictable, and even in books I get these hunches. I had one in Wheel of Time, that took thousands of pages before I found out I was right, and I actually yelled out 'I FUCKING KNEW IT!' as I read the truth, right there on the toilet, waking up my dogs.
She saw Shutter Island with DiCaprio at the movies and said there was no way I'd guess the plot. So we rented it, and then she asked me, halfway through, if I had figured it out. Spoiler warning: I said that either it's all true, but I thought it more likely that it was all in his head. She was silent for a few seconds, then got mad at me and said it was no fun watching movies with me and why should she bother when I just figure it all out right away?
It still makes me smile. I don't do it on purpose! I can't help it *LoL*
This past week, we were on a family vacation. The Notebook comes on TV one evening, and my sister says she wants to watch it, so we do.
Once the flashback begins, I say (spoiler warning again): 'Let me guess, the old guy is Ryan Gosling, the old lady is Regina George (Mean Girls), and he reads to her from a notebook to remind her of their youth?'
And my sister exclaims that it's SO obvious that I've seen the movie and know the story and I'm being SO fake. I tell her no, I've never seen it before, that sappy shit isn't for me, and she just gets angry at me.
Oh, the curse of being well read...
A quote from an article about readers I've posted today: "According to Cunningham, readers are more intelligent, due to their increased vocabulary and memory skills, along with their ability to spot patterns."