Do books and movies that skip around to different time periods bother you?

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
Almost every book I pick up or movies that I watch start off in the present or past or future then goes to a different time period and then back again. I have seen movies made for TV start of with a caption that reads ten minutes ago or the day before. I am now reading a very good book where every other chapter changes. One chapter is back in the 50's,the next is in the present and back again. I don't remember the older books doing that. Does this bother you? It drives me crazy. Flashbacks is another situation that they do in movies. The hubby won't watch a movie that does that and I don't like it either.
 

I guess it's necessary in order to keep the reader informed regarding past lives, occupations, marriages etc.

But TOO much of that stuff IS a little irritating
 
The worst case of this to me was the movie Once Upon a Time in America. I had to watch it 3 times to figure out what was going on. They redid the movie for US audiences and put the scenes in sequence and it flopped badly.

After the 3rd time watching it became one of my favorite movies. I think it takes more time and patience to follow things written like this, but it can work well sometimes. To be fair, the musical score is fantastic. Maybe that's part of why I like it.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
Do books and movies that skip around to different time periods bother you?
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I don't mind, as long as the author does it smoothly, orderly, and gives the reader or viewer a "break", and maybe flash a brief text overlay such as "20 years earlier" or some such clear indicator of what's going on, with the story timeline.
 
I rarely have patience to stick with either movie or book that does this. Personally, I think it's used to stretch a 30 minute story into a 60 minute event.
 

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