Family Movie Time

Watching a movie or series with my parents is incredibly different than watching something with friends.

For example, I played a bit of Steven Universe for Dad a while ago. And he decided he wanted to watch the series with me. He had a lot of fun watching it. But he had no grasp of story and character progress (admittedly the overall plot is rather slow through the series, but he generally sucks at following plots).
He also doesn't notice anything that happens under the surface. For this example, I'll use The Last Unicorn, which we just watched a couple days ago. I grew up with that movie, and he's seen it a couple dozen times (he loves it too). (SPOILERS) But a couple days ago, I asked if he know why the last unicorn was able to stand up to the red bull, when hundreds of other unicorns failed to do so. He didn't know. So I explained how she was the first unicorn to ever know what love was, and that gave her what she needed to fight back. And he goes "How do you know this stuff?"
(Edit - I told mom the thing about the unicorn's love leading her to victory, and she said she'd never realized that either XP )


Mom is different. I'm usually pretty good about figuring out what she'll like, but her tastes fly all over the place. She's good at following plots and such. But she also doesn't seem to grasp what kind of stuff I'd like.
She asked me if I wanted to listen to a book on tape she had. I asked if I'd like it. She said she didn't know.
It ended up being very bland, and I had zero interest in it XD

(Neither of them are great at critiquing my story stuff. Heh)

Also, a funny side note. My cousin said that no matter how many times she sees a movie, the next time she's watching it it will be like a new movie all over again. Because she doesn't remember what they're about XD

I guess a viewing experience is different with every person.
That's not even getting into movie theaters (like when the Crowd started Chanting "YODA, YODA!" The very first time he pulled out a lightsaber in episode 2. Or when a little girl started crying during Zootopia, when Nick gets shot with the savage stuff. Or when everyone was weeping during Les Miserables).


And it's a beautiful thing when you watch a friend see a big plot twist for the first time.