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Original poster

Films that would have a different angle now... eg, Devil Wears Prada.

153 replies

CantFindTheBeat · 19/05/2023 21:35

I've been watching some old skool^ movies with my^ niece this week.

She's 17 and hasn't seen Devil Wears Prada, so that was on our list.

I'd forgotten how much Ann Hathaway's character's boyfriend and friends vilified her for being ambitious in her job and i think I might have felt sorry for her boyfriend when i first watched it 20(?) years ago.

I don't think the storyline would be the same now^, and this time round, I definitely was more in the 'tell him to jog on' camp.

We also watched Pretty Woman, which was even older. Funnily enough, i thought it stood the test of time much better even though 'man hires prostitute and falls in love' would be totally cringy. Julia Roberts
Character was still 100% her own woman, despite the difference in wealth.

Any other movies we should add to our list? Any previous corkers that need to get in the bin?^

OP posts:
Angelwearsdior · 20/05/2023 09:28

When I rewatched the Devil Wears Prada I got the same feeling from Andi's bf and friends being spiteful to Andi. She went back to her old life etc but overall to me it sends a message like ''don't be like Miranda Priestly look how she has divorced" and that's what will happen to Andi as well if she continues in this career she will never have a stable relationship. Again keep your man happy and pursue a boring old job just to be in a relationship because a man cannot accept her gf pursuing her dream. I felt angry for her when I watched the film. She could have quit her job but not chosen to go back to this man child who will always draw her back if she even succeeds in her boring old job.

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 20/05/2023 09:30

Angelwearsdior · 20/05/2023 09:28

When I rewatched the Devil Wears Prada I got the same feeling from Andi's bf and friends being spiteful to Andi. She went back to her old life etc but overall to me it sends a message like ''don't be like Miranda Priestly look how she has divorced" and that's what will happen to Andi as well if she continues in this career she will never have a stable relationship. Again keep your man happy and pursue a boring old job just to be in a relationship because a man cannot accept her gf pursuing her dream. I felt angry for her when I watched the film. She could have quit her job but not chosen to go back to this man child who will always draw her back if she even succeeds in her boring old job.

Pretty much how I felt too, @Angelwearsdior.

OP posts:
Girliefriendlikespuppies · 20/05/2023 09:30

Back to the future is pretty uncomfortable at times especially the rape scene in the car.

Yy to Grease, just change everything about yourself to be popular/get your guy.

The issue I take with The devil makes Pravda film is the obsession with thinness and weight, I get that it's probably normal in that industry but it's so toxic and unhealthy.

I think Dirty Dancing is okay although I can see it from the dads perspective now I have a teen dd!

We watched the breakfast club recently and I hated all of it, found it really uncomfortable viewing.

iwantmyownicecreamvan · 20/05/2023 09:32

Rummikub · 19/05/2023 23:50

Add The colour purple. But I couldn’t watch it again. One of those films that stayed with me. 1985!

I agree that I couldn't watch it again. I watched it on TV in the 80s whilst on holiday - my parents booked a holiday cottage for us all. My then DH and my DF were doing something else (can't remember) and the children were in bed and Mum and I watched it. I remember it as an occasion of mother/daughter closeness in our disgust at how she was treated. One of those odd little memories I have of Mum.

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 20/05/2023 09:35

@Pemba

My 17 year old niece definitely considered it old school seeing as it was made before she was born!!

My own 'old skool' definitions are around the 80s 😎

OP posts:
Puddingypops · 20/05/2023 09:35

You guys are not going in big enough,….

one of my favourite films as a little girl in the 80s was “7 brides for 7 brothers”

no point in even listing the number of ways THAT is now problematic!

hood songs though lol

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 20/05/2023 09:37

There's so much shaming in grease - slut, virginity, and the way they all treat each other is appalling frankly.

Not quite what you were asking but a lot of American film plots would be absolutely scuppered by gdpr if they were European. I think that a lot.

gogohmm · 20/05/2023 09:37

If you want a good movie to share with preteen/teenage girls watch Hidden Figures - it's such a good story and true. Another film we saw and enjoyed suitable for teens in Red Joan - currently in iPlayer. You can't go wrong with a Judy dench film!!!

iwantmyownicecreamvan · 20/05/2023 09:38

tailinthejam · 19/05/2023 23:26

Yes, but it wasn't just her - Danny tries to change himself too.

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Well ... he puts a cardigan on over his normal clothes.

knobheeeeed · 20/05/2023 09:39

While you were sleeping - with Sandra Bullock who rescues a man she has fancied for ages from the train tracks, goes with him in the ambulance and says she is his fiancee. He has amnesia - didn't even know who she was in the first place before his accident. She then falls in love with his brother.

Also loved You've Got Mail - again, find that creepy and stalkerish now. Meg Ryan can't stand Tom Hanks' character, when he finds out she's the one he's been e-mailing he basically goes on a campaign to win her over in real life until he's at a point where he can reveal that he is also the e-mailer.

Never been kissed - used to love that, mainly because I thought Michael Vartan was really hot. Now it's just cringe from start to finish and he fell in love with a high school student and said some really inappropriate things to her. Yuk.

iwantmyownicecreamvan · 20/05/2023 09:39

Puddingypops · 20/05/2023 09:35

You guys are not going in big enough,….

one of my favourite films as a little girl in the 80s was “7 brides for 7 brothers”

no point in even listing the number of ways THAT is now problematic!

hood songs though lol

I know - one of my guilty favourites but really terrible attitude to women.

MrsAnon6 · 20/05/2023 09:40

Appalonia · 19/05/2023 22:52

I wonder how young women react to Bridget Jones' Diary now? Has it stood the test of time? She drinks, smokes, is obsessed with her weight and, it could be argued, was sexually harassed by her boss?

Yeah I agree with you there. I just want to shake her and say "get a grip, you're a successful career woman with her own flat, great friends and social life but you're miserable without a man".

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 20/05/2023 09:45

I love Bridget Jones. It’s stood the test of time. I think it isn’t that different from today.

Wish l could meet Colin Firth in a Christmas jumper is all l can say♥️

WonderingWanda · 20/05/2023 09:56

PriamFarrl · 20/05/2023 08:02

Overboard!
I remember thinking it was a bit off at the time. Bloke and his son find a woman who has fallen off a luxury yacht and lost her memory. They trick her into thinking she is their wife and mother, as I recall.

And yes to Breakfast Club. Don’t be a goth, be all normal like the other kids and you’ll be happy.

In Overboard they don't just find a random woman. She'd employed him on her yacht and been really snooty and looked down on him. Pretending she's his wife was to get back at her. The message is don't be a judgemental snob, it's light hearted and not about condoning kidnapping or making her a sex slave.

Phos · 20/05/2023 10:08

CrumpetsandJammmm · 19/05/2023 22:17

Big has NOT aged well. Watched it recently and it’s horrific. She sleeps with a 13 year old!

Thats a bit of a reach, she doesn't know he's a 13 year old and he hardly looks like one.

LaMaG · 20/05/2023 10:12

ThatAbsoluteFkr · 20/05/2023 08:58

Of course in 2023 he could just identify as a 65 year old Scottish woman and everyone would call him brave.

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😂brilliant!!!

yoga4meinthemorning · 20/05/2023 10:12

The sex science in overboard is rape.

He tricked her into sex by telling her she was his wife.

Wild Things with Kevin Bacon Matt Dillon Denise Richards and Never Campbell

So problematic- lots of rape myths

Has no one mentioned sixteen candles yet?

LaMaG · 20/05/2023 10:16

Anyone remember The Snapper? Very Irish, part of a trilogy of The Commitments. Saw it again recently, it's about a pregnant single 19 Yr old and I get it reflects the attitudes of the time but there is one element in it that I was quite shocked at. The girl was off her head drunk and her dad's friend finds her and lies her on the bonnet of a car and has sex with her then says "good girl" at the end and steals her underwear. Even with her friends it's all about how she was so drunk etc. The word rape is never used. Set in 80s made in early 90s I think.

CurlewKate · 20/05/2023 10:17

Has anyone mentioned The Boat that Rocked? That's awful!!

Rummikub · 20/05/2023 10:20

“don’t really feel any “horror” or performative “shock” at movies that were made thirty/forty years ago and were of their time. I’m able understand that societies/cultural norms develop and change and what was once acceptable, no longer is. Also a very useful starting point to discuss those ideas when watching with children/teens. Honestly bored to tears with this kind of presentism and moralising.”

I dont think it’s that. I think it is shocking looking back at films etc you’ve enjoyed in the past with a different lens. Im rewatching New Tricks and that wasn’t made that long ago but the sexist and racist language casually used is shocking.

CurlewKate · 20/05/2023 10:28

I am-to my huge embarrassment-a fan of the original Starsky and Hutch. I was watching an interview with one of the actors on YouTube this morning where they called a member of the audience out for him to demonstrate searching a prisoner. Which he did enthusiastically, saying "Well, you start here at the top...." God, I hope she was a plant....Still awful even if she was, but marginally better...

Cantthinkofaname2203 · 20/05/2023 10:31

NutellaEllaElla · 20/05/2023 06:54

What irritates me, is when I see people on social media ridiculing this film because it obsesses about her being fat. It's so dumb because SHE obsesses about her weight like every other woman did/does. The writers aren't saying she's fat.

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I don’t think this translates into Hollywood though.

I agree BJ isn’t fat- isn’t she 9st something?

but by Hollywood standards that IS fat- made clear by casting Renee, who gains 30lbs to play the role as “fat”. So the film actually does present her as overweight, rather than normal sized but weight obsessed.

if they’d have cast someone more average, or not required Renee to gain (so much) weight, it would be more aligned with the writing in the book.

as a 9.5 st 20 something I got the Bridget in the book. If I gained 30lbs though I would have an obese BMI. And we all knew Renee would immediately finish the film and get back to her teeny self within weeks.

YankeeDad · 20/05/2023 10:46

Puppylucky · 20/05/2023 09:12

@YankeeDad The camera angles on the dance scenes for Flashdance are mostly long shots as the dancing was famously done by a man ,not the female star. Not sure what you mean by "wrong clothes" :-)

Well, um ... since you asked ... here you go...

By "wrong clothes and camera angles" I meant "way too much focus on Jennifer Beals' (body double's) jiggling butt".

Had I remembered the above scene as well as the "romantic stalker" scene (3:30 to 4:45 in the second clip), not to mention some of the club scenes, there is no way I would have suggested this film for a family movie night.
s

The only scenes I had front-of-mind before rewatching were the final audition scene, and the opening scene where she lifts her welder's mask. Even if the final audition scene was composed of three different dancers it is still pretty awesome

Flashdance - Maniac ♥

♪ Solo es una chica tranquila de la ciudad ♪ en un sábado por la noche ♪ buscando la pelea de su vida ♪ en el mundo real nadie la ve en absoluto ♪ todos dice...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbqfQ12V6_M

Singleandproud · 20/05/2023 10:52

Our perspective of these films have changed as we got older but did the adults at the time have the same views as us then or now?

A bit like singing Spice Girls 2 become 1 at the top of my lungs as a pre teen and now realising it was blatantly about sex.

magicstar1 · 20/05/2023 10:55

I don’t get the problem with Grease at all. Sandy decided at the end to have a makeover….she doesn’t smoke as someone said up thread, she just holds it for a minute. Danny had gone off and totally changed. He spent ages trying to find a sport and lettered in track. He was wearing a cardigan, and changed far more than she did.