Anyone else feeling like an alien after going to the cinema?

[Aneka]

I stopped years ago, I hate everything about it, from the overly loud ads preceding the movie to sound effects louder than speaking voices and afterwards my brain feels like cotton and everything is far away in an alien world. I kind of zone it and have a hard time regaining myself.
I know this sounds so dramatic but this is how I feel lol. I haven't been to the cinema since before Covid, I used to go to please friends. My other real life autistic friend is unbothered by it and actually loves it

 

[Mr. Stevens]

Not an alien, but it is a little jarring. I've gone once in the past 10 years. I would go all the time as a kid, but I'd get restless then too.

I haven't owned a TV in years and that's also pretty jarring, once you're no longer desensitized to it. Though, it is always fun to see local news and car commercials for a bit, when I go on vacation. The same inane propaganda in every town.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Agree. My wife and I really pick and choose which movies to see on the big screen. We sort of reserve the theater for those "Epic" series like Lord of the Rings, for example, or some action movies like Maverick in which seeing them on a "small screen" at home would really loose the effect. So, we don't get out to the theater that often.

 

[ChrisTX1968]

I do remember seeing ET in the theater and becoming obsessed with dirt bikes that day forward. I hear the full plot of the movie is good too.

 

[Luca]

I don’t like movie theaters/cinemas either, especially since I have trouble sitting through full films, and I worry that I’m going to annoy people if I keep fidgeting or leaving to go to the bathroom.

 

[Rodafina]

I stopped years ago, I hate everything about it, from the overly loud ads preceding the movie to sound effects louder than speaking voices and afterwards my brain feels like cotton and everything is far away in an alien world. I kind of zone it and have a hard time regaining myself.
I know this sounds so dramatic but this is how I feel lol. I haven't been to the cinema since before Covid, I used to go to please friends. My other real life autistic friend is unbothered by it and actually loves it

Same exact experience for me! Haven’t been in years, not planning to go back. Same reasons.

I find my 10 inch tablet and a set of headphones in a dark room to be even nicer.

 

[Luca]

I find my 10 inch tablet and a set of headphones in a dark room to be even nicer.

Almost every time I watch a movie, it is in bed on my laptop, or at the kitchen counter, and if I have friends over then it’s on the TV. I’ve declined several invites from friends to theaters just this year!

 

[Luca]

What about if you go on an off day, bring your own snacks, and maybe some kind of a fidget object?

I think that would definitely improve the experience, but I do agree that the volume and the screen are also a bit overstimulating. I have gotten better now but when I was a teenager it actually gave me anxiety!

 

[AutistAcolyte]

i bring earplugs, try to sit in the middle or back off the theater, and prefer not to have food/drinks or if i want something i'll bring my own. i also prefer less crowded theaters. i really get sucked into the movie!

 

[Metalhead]

It depends on the theater. Audiences for art house movies tend to be easier for me to deal with than audiences for Hollywood blockbusters that always have people who do not know how to shut the hell up.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

The last movie I watched was James's bond during covid watched bond since the seventies. Not Into The marvel and DC comics movies currently at theaters.

 

[AdamG]

I used to like going to the theater, and didn't even mind the sound. I just got absorbed. But these days, there's too much background noise, the seats are uncomfortable, and I just cannot sit through a 2-3 hour movie without having to get up and stretch and pee. So I don't go any more. My wife used to go to please me, so she's very happy now.

 

[Princess Viola]

No but I just don't go the movie theatre.

I don't like crowds and I'd rather watch a film at home in my own time, I've never liked seeing movies in the theater.

I mean I've thought about it for like some obscure films that were getting one day limited releases but I still never do.

Haven't been to the movies since I saw Toy Story 3 back in 2009.

 

[MC1Rcat]

I haven't been to a movie theater in many years, and rarely go. Last film was a Star Wars one...I wore really good ear plugs and sat in the middle in back on a weekday...and I still felt disoriented for the rest of the evening after. But, it was Star Wars! I had to go with my brother I mostly just watch movies on my old plasma tv or laptop. I can't do LED screens because it makes me too dizzy.

 

[Misery]

Hate it, always hated it. It has been many years since the last time I went, and every time I did go, it was always strictly because someone else wanted to.

Eventually I just stopped doing the whole "do things because someone else wants to even if I really dont" sort of thing. These days, it's just a flat out "no" if asked about it.

And if I'm being honest, I really dont like movies to start with. Like, ANY of them. Generally my memories of any movies has nothing about the movie itself, but is entirely about me checking the clock and wondering how much longer it'd be until it was over and I could go do any other bloody thing.

I type all of this as I sit in the "Hollywood room", so that makes it extra ridiculous.

 

[Progster]

Yes, exactly! I get this when I go into a bright supermarket at night, too, or at Christmas with all the lights I used to get it. Something to do with sensory reglation, I suppose.

 

[Shamar]

I stopped years ago, I hate everything about it, from the overly loud ads preceding the movie to sound effects louder than speaking voices and afterwards my brain feels like cotton and everything is far away in an alien world. I kind of zone it and have a hard time regaining myself.
I know this sounds so dramatic but this is how I feel lol. I haven't been to the cinema since before Covid, I used to go to please friends. My other real life autistic friend is unbothered by it and actually loves it

I know what you mean. A practice from the music industry seems to have seeped into the movie industry - louder equals better. They crank up the volume to horrifying distortion levels so you can't understand a conversation. Most of the time it sounds like a clothes dryer operating with a couple of bowling balls in it. If I HAVE to go, I wear a pair of construction grade ear plugs.

 

[Tom]

I like going for really special epic types too. Nothing like that rotten feeling in your belly after a large popcorn, coke and box of Dots candy. ;D

 

[ithinktheniexist]

I have similar feelings but I do like going to movies. But I would also get overstimulated and froze afterwards, while my NT friends are talking about the plot excitedly..

 

[MNAus]

Don't mind the noise or action, but really dislike that feeling when you leave. Complete disassociation, almost to the point of "hey, what are these things? 'Hands' you say?" It wouldn't surprise me to hear someone say "yes, we took the world and created an exact mirror image of it while you were in there." But I also suffer from that kind of thing as night terrors and have silent migraines that have deja, presque and jamais vu, so weirded out is not an uncommon experience.