Prosopagnosia
Okay I had never even heard of Prosopagnosia until this morning when I was looking up a form of dyslexia which Chuck Close has which evidently flattens out faces and makes it hard to recognize people. My interest stems from the fact that I've always had trouble recognizing new people, and I never associated that with the relatively mild form of dyslexia that I have... . Frankly I thought I was just too lazy/indifferent to bother looking closely at people I don't know and don't care about.
When I meet someone for the first time I normally have absolutely no memory of their name or their face a minute later. Obviously when I spend time with someone and we become friends I get so I would know them anywhere, in any guise. I recognized Alan Tudyk from the back of his head while he was all bearded and long haired (he was in the middle of filming '3:10 to Yuma')! However even after seeing as many as 5 or 6 episodes of Friends I couldn't tell Chandler and Joey apart at all, and I had trouble telling Monica and Rachel apart (pretty much I knew that Phoebe and Ross were in a show with a bunch of bland people who all looked alike to me).
Obviously I knew that a lot of that was me, but I do blame casting directors who go so often for the exact same type of tiny cute people with such regular features that it is like having no features at all. I find it easier to get into shows like Cheers where every single actor was a character with a very distinctive and individual look. Not only does that make it easier for me to recognize who is who, it also makes me more interested in getting to know the character (the cute bland people I assume are going to turn out to be shallow and bland in character, an unfair prejudice... but you would be surprised at how often I am right).
Terriers is a good example, it is a new show by Tim Minear and the male cast members are very distinct interesting and intriguing characters, and the women all seem to be completely interchangeable (to me, clearly I'm writing this from my own POV). When one of the women characters is on the screen I have to wait for her to interact with the men so I can remember who she is supposed to be, only part of this is my fault (IMO).
I don't think there is any cure for my little learning disability, and I know it isn't getting any better.... But it does help me give a little bit more benefit of the doubt to some of the shows that I found unwatchable because I decided everyone looked too much alike for me to bother with.
When I meet someone for the first time I normally have absolutely no memory of their name or their face a minute later. Obviously when I spend time with someone and we become friends I get so I would know them anywhere, in any guise. I recognized Alan Tudyk from the back of his head while he was all bearded and long haired (he was in the middle of filming '3:10 to Yuma')! However even after seeing as many as 5 or 6 episodes of Friends I couldn't tell Chandler and Joey apart at all, and I had trouble telling Monica and Rachel apart (pretty much I knew that Phoebe and Ross were in a show with a bunch of bland people who all looked alike to me).
Obviously I knew that a lot of that was me, but I do blame casting directors who go so often for the exact same type of tiny cute people with such regular features that it is like having no features at all. I find it easier to get into shows like Cheers where every single actor was a character with a very distinctive and individual look. Not only does that make it easier for me to recognize who is who, it also makes me more interested in getting to know the character (the cute bland people I assume are going to turn out to be shallow and bland in character, an unfair prejudice... but you would be surprised at how often I am right).
Terriers is a good example, it is a new show by Tim Minear and the male cast members are very distinct interesting and intriguing characters, and the women all seem to be completely interchangeable (to me, clearly I'm writing this from my own POV). When one of the women characters is on the screen I have to wait for her to interact with the men so I can remember who she is supposed to be, only part of this is my fault (IMO).
I don't think there is any cure for my little learning disability, and I know it isn't getting any better.... But it does help me give a little bit more benefit of the doubt to some of the shows that I found unwatchable because I decided everyone looked too much alike for me to bother with.