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Original poster

Programmes/Films That Haven't Aged Well..

161 replies

JengaCupboard · 01/12/2023 09:43

I have been off work a couple of days with a stomach bug, so a lot of time has been spent flicking through Netflix and Amazon for films/programmes etc. I'll preface with being an avid fan of easy-watching background rubbish.. however a few things have been ruined for me this week...

Starting strong I thought we'd have a bit of Christmas trash and put on 'The Holiday'; used to love this. However I switched off after the first half hour because all I really homed in on was Cameron Diaz punching her ex (because she's a woman & he's a man that's OK), followed by advocating drink driving by swigging red wine out of the bottle in the Deli... and quite generally just found it quite dated and cheesy and ultimately not entertaining.

I've had a similar experience with old episodes of SATC recently too - used to love this however in hindsight what a bunch of god-awful self obsessed women in completely unrealistic and narrow minded roles.

I dare not put on Friends or Bridget Jones in case I tarnish the memory forever!!

Obviously this is light-hearted, but more seriously is this an age thing (nearly 40) or is it created by a more cultural/societal shift where women punching men, using 'gay' references as comedic slurs and advocating for drink driving is literally not accepted, let alone funny?

Is it just a continuation of change, for example watching Carry On from the 60's & 70's is potentially an even more extreme example, yet to me at least less unwatchable?

Is there anything that you used to love that you now can't watch for this kind of reason?

OP posts:
Original poster
JengaCupboard · 02/12/2023 17:27

It’s not a case of being upset or offended (at least not for me), as it’s ultimately all fiction. I was just surprised by my own shift in opinion; something that I would previously have happily watched as a feel-good easy watching film, now feels very dumbed down and cringey, things I genuinely never considered previously. Subsequently no longer entertaining.

Maybe we have more variety of genre now, at least definitely more accessibility with all the streaming, compared to when a lot of this stuff discussed was made. Maybe we’ve become more critical in our tastes without really realising.

Ive been watching Benidorm again, which conversely I still like!

OP posts:
InMySpareTime · 02/12/2023 17:27

Also Dirty Dancing, he's her dance teacher and should know better.

BethDuttonsTwin · 02/12/2023 17:34

lollo8 · 02/12/2023 16:54

Exactly. The difference is, films and TV back then weren't made with the ultimate goal of reflecting some perfect utopian society. They showed how people actually are – flawed.

Now, some people seem to need every story to to show only a righteous version of the world, in which good always triumphs and baddies are punished. And the lead characters are morally perfect or if they aren't, have some extremely minor and acceptable flaw.

Show quote history

It’s tedious beyond words and largely renders current movies/TV shows unwatchable. Not every production has to come with a nicely wrapped lesson in morality or equity. It’s so jarring when a character or plot device has clearly been shoe horned in to tick some boxes. It actually feels like children’s TV, where everything has been created for maximum teaching moments in order to mould those young minds. I can’t bear to watch and switch off immediately the first lesson is delivered. I’m just worried it won’t ever stop and nothing good will ever get made again.

beanii · 02/12/2023 17:37

JengaCupboard · 02/12/2023 17:27

It’s not a case of being upset or offended (at least not for me), as it’s ultimately all fiction. I was just surprised by my own shift in opinion; something that I would previously have happily watched as a feel-good easy watching film, now feels very dumbed down and cringey, things I genuinely never considered previously. Subsequently no longer entertaining.

Maybe we have more variety of genre now, at least definitely more accessibility with all the streaming, compared to when a lot of this stuff discussed was made. Maybe we’ve become more critical in our tastes without really realising.

Ive been watching Benidorm again, which conversely I still like!

It's purely because you've been brainwashed to find things 'offensive' without realising 🤷‍♀️

I joke about literally anything - a lot of which some people would definitely complain about now - but it's a joke, not real.

You only have to look at the way children are taught at schools now - the minority rules for some bazaar reason.

BorgQueen · 02/12/2023 17:39

I’ve just watched the whole of Goodnight sweetheart, I remember loving it when it came out, all the characters are awful, (sexist Men and nagging Women) with the exception of Reg the Policeman.
It hasn’t aged well, even the one off special from 2016.

jackfrostynips · 02/12/2023 17:41

The Sopranos. but only because of the clothes 😂 still absolutely love it.

SerafinasGoose · 02/12/2023 17:43

To be fair, 'Grease' has always been a bucket of shit but it has its really entertaining moments. 'Beauty School Dropout', 'Blue Moon' and the dance-off never fail to raise a laugh.

One of my best loved movies is Pillow Talk. It's replete with the most dreadful sexism but I will never not love it (or Doris Day, who was my all-time favourite). Come to think of it, even Calam has some dodgy moments with First Nation Americans, but I still enjoy watching it. You can appreciate these things and also appreciate that times have changed.

The Breakfast Club also hasn't worn at all well. Bender treats Claire horrendously yet she still falls for him: what is that about? And Andrew only falls for Alison after Claire gives her a makeover to make her look more conformist, just like every other ten-a-penny, mainstream girl. IMO, she was far more interesting, individual and attractive before.

I also allow my kid to read Enid Blyton. It never turned me into a raging sexist or racist.

Rogue1001MNer · 02/12/2023 17:44

InMySpareTime · 02/12/2023 17:27

Also Dirty Dancing, he's her dance teacher and should know better.

That's a reach

Malarandras · 02/12/2023 17:49

I still love the Holiday. Grease was always terrible to my mind, I always hated it. Sex and the City is what it is. Lots of people found it offensive at the time too..

Original poster
JengaCupboard · 02/12/2023 17:52

I think not wearing well vs. Being taken at face value as the writer intended are different things.

As per my first post I adore Carry On, which is pretty much the definition of sexual harassment. I love it because I used to watch them on a Sunday afternoon with my mum, but also maybe the content is so inappropriate now it makes it funnier as it could only be satire, almost an extra unintentional layer?!

some interesting opinions though, thanks for all your input!

OP posts:
cardestroyedluton · 02/12/2023 17:57

@BorgQueen snap! I've just re-watched Goodnight Sweetheart as well, and was disappointed with how unfunny it was. I used to love it too, but it really has aged very badly.

ohthatstoohot · 02/12/2023 18:03

Lucytheloose · 02/12/2023 17:07

The History Boys. A film depicting a sexually predatory teacher as a complex and largely sympathetic character would not be greenlit today.

That's an interesting one and I don't know what I'd make of it now.

From what I remember, the boys made light of their teacher's sexual abuse to navigate their own feelings about it. I don't think it necessarily endorses what the teacher does to them. But yes, a creepy aspect to the play.

LambriniBobinIsleworth · 02/12/2023 18:03

I used to love SATC but it makes me cringe now @JengaCupboard. We are a similar age and all the things I loved as a youth like Friends and Bridget Jones have aged badly.

BIossomtoes · 02/12/2023 18:12

BorgQueen · 02/12/2023 17:39

I’ve just watched the whole of Goodnight sweetheart, I remember loving it when it came out, all the characters are awful, (sexist Men and nagging Women) with the exception of Reg the Policeman.
It hasn’t aged well, even the one off special from 2016.

It’s from the 90s and most of it’s set 80 odd years ago, what the hell do you expect? I love the concept.

jays · 02/12/2023 18:16

15PiecesOfFlair · 01/12/2023 20:43

https://twitter.com/CBThorburn/status/1377696492295761923?lang=en

Love Actually is so obviously appalling from the first watch, I genuinely don't understand people that later realise.

I used to love 90s rimcoms (keeping that typo in! ), wonder how bad they would be now.
Can't remember how bad American Pie was, but suspect it wouldn't do well now.

Oh my god rimcoms 😂 you know when people say they nearly spat their coffee out, but they didn’t actually? I have tea coming out my nostrils I laughed so hard at that… honestly made my night!

SaltPepperPotato · 02/12/2023 18:18

Anyone remember Mind Your Language?

SerafinasGoose · 02/12/2023 18:26

Hell. I cannot imagine any time when Love Actually would have been seen as anything other than completely nauseating.

But the same applies to most that passes for 'filmmaking' from the dire 'Working Title Films', a studio to whose work I have a personal aversion. Of their fairly large output the only one I've seen that was semi-okay was Atonement. Otherwise, absolutely dreadful bilge.

Kormos · 02/12/2023 18:29

I think you are all being a bit hard on Grease. It came out in the late 1970s and it was looking back at the 1950s so some of the content is knowingly intended to take the piss out of the sexist society women had to put up with.

1971bird · 02/12/2023 18:36

It’s from the time. You can’t erase history - that’s the way things were. Not saying it was great but at the same time you can’t say anything without offending someone these days! Chill and accept that times have moved on.

AtomicBlondeRose · 02/12/2023 18:38

I watched American Beauty at the cinema and again fairly recently and tbh it holds up. It’s creepy, but Kevin Spacey’s character is portrayed as creepy and deeply lost. And it’s not like middle aged men in crisis have stopped lusting over/trying to form inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. The audience’s sympathy might have shifted a little but you didn’t exactly feel for him much the first time round. I think it’s worse if we pretend collectively that inappropriate relationships/predatory relationships don’t happen, because we disapprove of them. They still happen and we need to be aware of that. And people who do bad things are rarely 100% evil people, or it would be trivial to avoid them.

Fleetheart · 02/12/2023 18:40

what about Fatal Attraction? The sexy scenes with Michael Douglas are really quite violent - like PP I didn’t remember that it was like that. Not sure it would go down at all well today.

FeatherBlack · 02/12/2023 18:44

SylvieLaufeydottir · 01/12/2023 21:15

Sex and the City has aged really, really badly.

A lot has to do with the quality in the first place. Cheap, punching-down humour goes off quite quickly. OTOH, I'm always amazed at how little The West Wing has dated even though it's 25 years old now. Put iPhones in those people's hands and it could be 2023, because it was smart and nuanced and sensitive then and it still is.

Omg, I binge watched the west wing for the first time last year and you are so right. The pagers and the like are the only things that really gives you a clue of the "time"

SerafinasGoose · 02/12/2023 18:53

AtomicBlondeRose · 02/12/2023 18:38

I watched American Beauty at the cinema and again fairly recently and tbh it holds up. It’s creepy, but Kevin Spacey’s character is portrayed as creepy and deeply lost. And it’s not like middle aged men in crisis have stopped lusting over/trying to form inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. The audience’s sympathy might have shifted a little but you didn’t exactly feel for him much the first time round. I think it’s worse if we pretend collectively that inappropriate relationships/predatory relationships don’t happen, because we disapprove of them. They still happen and we need to be aware of that. And people who do bad things are rarely 100% evil people, or it would be trivial to avoid them.

'Would you like smiley sauce with that?' 😂

(BTW, I'm with you here. I still think it's a great movie: absolutely beautiful score too by the always-brilliant Thomas Newman).

Foxblue · 02/12/2023 19:07

Those mentioning how West Wing hasn't aged, have highlighted exactly why stuff like The Holiday annoys me, because it WAS possible to not make stuff rammed with punching down jokes.
Good modern example is Brooklyn 99 - it's brilliantly funny, with a diverse cast, who touch on 'tricky' subjects as and when needed in well written way (I'm thinking of the scene where Amy talks about being treated differently as a female police officer to Jake - still funny, even when tackling a heavy topic!) It is possible - but just as the writing on Eastenders isn't to the same standard as Succession, such is the case across television, and I do get a bit annoyed watching something thats been written badly on certain topics, as i feel like it harms the cause (and this is said as someone who bloody LOVES seeing the diversity in TV these days, because it's opened up the doors to new arenas of comedy - there are still people making/touring the old stuff who are making money off it, so I've never understood critique that 'you can't say anything' these days.. like, all those people you refer to are still producing stuff that you are free to watch, you just might get someone criticising you for doing so, and (a) that's exactly what the 'you can't say anything' crowd are doing with the 'woke' stuff. And (b) ... you are in fact free to do as you please... noone's stopping you from watching the content, if its changed on streaming channels, buy a dvd? Watch on youtube? Quite easy to still consume that content)

IcedPurple · 02/12/2023 19:07

Catsmere · 01/12/2023 20:30

@Kittyfudge I saw Love Actually once, about five years ago, during Christmas at my sister's place. It's her favourite Christmas film. I loathed it, found it unbelievably sexist. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it if it had come out when I was twenty, but not since.

Love Actually was always sexist, smug and obnoxious. 2003 isn't that long ago and I don't think it came across any better then. At least not to me.