When you watch a movie or read a book?

[Becky Blue]

A few weeks ago with a group of people we were talking about a movie and the women had all viewed the movie from the female leads point of view and the men naturally from the male leads.. listening I realised that I was seeing the movie from the woman's point of view and that in fact I do this in every movie or TV series I watch as well as every book I read...

when you watch a movie are you seeing it from the man's or woman's side?

[Teresa]

Becky,
Funnily I do it when watching something but when reading I'm usually living it through ther male viewpoint but then I tend to read authors with strong male characters , so is it a visual thing ? We see the woman and relate more to her , I do struggle to hold tears back sometimes when watching something but reading something doesn't have the same outcome . The Danish girl was a film in point , I felt sad at the part when she was boarding the train and very touched at the end but then I really got into the wife's situation , maybe because she was a very attractive girl and I had some desire to be like her .

[Stephanie Julianna]

ALWAYS, from the woman's point of view. I have been doing that since high school. In college I majored in Victorian Lit and Jane Eyre and all the heroines of that period were my role models. My wife and I particularly love movies and 2 of our favorites are A Walk in the Clouds and Under the Tuscan Sun. I have never watched those movies from any other view point but that of the female lead. Same thing with Shakespeare in Love, Titanic yada,yada, yada. It has nothing to do with age either. If the book or movie character is a young girl or older I am her so even WWII stories like The Nightingale, The Book Thief, Lilac Girls, The Time Travelers Wife, I always identify with the girls. Same with Frozen, Wonder Woman and Tomorrow Land. I have never identified with Rambo. Can you tell I love movies?

[rockerreds]

Yes, I always identify with the females.

[DIANEF]

A bit of both really. I recently watched a great film called the Triple Echo (Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reid), where an army deserter hides out with a lonely housewife who's husband is a POW with the Japanese. He disguises himself, at her insistence, as her 'sister'. Watching it I obviously was interested in the role of the deserter but I also found empathy with the housewife who has to deal with the complications of their relationship, especially when boorish army corporal Reid takes a fancy to the 'sister'. I highly recommend this film by the way.

[Micki_Finn]

Not me. I generally watch from a third-person perspective

[Tracy Irving]

Most of the movies I watch are for entertainment purposes so that is all I try to get out of them.

[Gillian Gigs]

I generally try to see all points of view. As Micki said, "I generally watch from a third-person perspective". If the movie has any female lead, I have no problem seeing their post of view.

[Asew]

I think I generally just pick the point of view that is presented. But I do prefer books and movies with a female first person perspective.

[Beverley Sims]

Sorry Becky.

I see it from both sides now. :-)

I do gravitate towards the woman's point of view though.

[Alice B]

It depends upon where the central theme of the movie or book is. If it is female then I strongly feel that direction nad the same if strongly male. If it is neutral in presentation, I tend t see it from the female side

[Becky Blue]

Tracy i have to ask.. as opposed to what? what other reason would one watch a movie but for entertainment...i am being entertained but am seeing the movie from the female leads side.

[Kiwi Primrose]

I have always watched from the woman's viewpoint. My sympathy and empathy are primarily with the female.

[biancabellelover]

I've never really thought of this in these terms before. That is, whether I follow the male or female lead. In general I'll follow the lead character, whether that person is male or female. I do this when reading or watching films or T.V.

If there are multiple leads, probably the person who I find more complex. Pretty Woman: Julia Roberts (but after watching a certain Family Guy episode, it could be Hector Elizondo, LOL!). Groundhog day: Bill Murray. (These are the first two films that sprung to my mind when thinking of male and female leads. However, you may notice that both of the people I named were transformed during the film. Better not overthink this...)

Left to my own devices (i.e. wife not around) I'll watch war/action type films, so generally male dominated.

My wife is away for the weekend, and I'll be watching the Sergio Leone western trilogy (finishing with the Greatest Western Ever Made), Lord of War, Red and Red II. Not many female leads in any of them, and I'll most likely be dressed when watching all of them. Oddly, in Red and Red II I'm most likely to identify with the John Malkovich character. Go figure.

Right now I'm reading Don Quixote!

Michelle

[GracieRose]

I generally see it through the eyes of the lead character, male or female.
I'm thinking of a book that I recently read where the main character was a male, near my age.
However, I identified more with his wife who had a strong part in the book.