Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

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 19:08

It’s interesting. I’ve also been watching Peep Show which I love, and original Shameless. It’s the stuff that embraces the wrongness which seems to hold up for me, as opposed to initiating an internal eye roll. I’ve just been talking about our thread with DP and he says Friends just doesn’t carry the same weight with him, but just can’t place why; just not quite as funny as he remembers.

OP posts:
IcedPurple · 02/12/2023 19:11

The Breakfast Club also hasn't worn at all well.

I was a teenager, so the target market, when all those John Hughes films came out. I cringe at them now. So sexist. Women and girls are judged entirely on how attractive they are to men. Molly Ringwald has said quite recently that she felt very uncomfortable filming some of the scenes in The Breakfast Club.

SerafinasGoose · 02/12/2023 19:22

IcedPurple · 02/12/2023 19:11

The Breakfast Club also hasn't worn at all well.

I was a teenager, so the target market, when all those John Hughes films came out. I cringe at them now. So sexist. Women and girls are judged entirely on how attractive they are to men. Molly Ringwald has said quite recently that she felt very uncomfortable filming some of the scenes in The Breakfast Club.

On the same note you have to question whether the filmmakers were paying full attention to the real meaning of the lyrics of 'Pretty in Pink.' Psychedelic Furs were for sure not talking about a creative young women who makes her own clothes and always wears the colour pink: the phrase means 'butt naked' and the song is about prostitution!

You have to wonder exactly what message Hughes et al might have been trying to convey through this...

sandletown · 02/12/2023 19:29

Rita, sue and Bob too wouldn't have been made these days.

Little Britain

It ain't half hot mum

lemmein · 02/12/2023 19:35

Ive been watching Eastenders from 2008 on the iplayer and some of the scenes/jokes on there have been a bit jarring.

In one Ian Beale is preparing a spread for the Vic and he asks Christian (a gay character) something about the prawn platter and he replied 'you know I don't eat from the fish buffet!' Shock I doubt they'd include that today.

I agree with the pp though - I watch tv to be entertained, not to be preached at so I appreciate it's of it's time and it doesn't ruin it for me. In fact I find it interesting shows I've seen in the past are suddenly jarring. I grew up on Carry on Films and didn't see them as problematic at all, times/attitudes change.

I particularly love old comedies, OFAH, Riding Damp, Steptoe, etc - most old comedies are outrageously politically incorrect, which makes it 'awkward funny' in 2023, but still funny!

SylvieLaufeydottir · 02/12/2023 19:35

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)

Brooklyn-99 did the best, most sensitive treatment of sexual assault I have ever seen on TV. A half-hour absurdist police comedy! And I very much doubt that scene will have dated in thirty years. Because it was good. It was well-written and captured complexity and and reality.

Humour based on punching down and on cheap stereotypes doesn't endure because it's bad. Humour that taps into something real and clever and human tends to endure a long time. The sexual dynamics of Much Ado About Nothing haven't dated despite being literally centuries old. Beatrice and Benedick captivate like they always have, because both are smart and complex and fully realised.

That doesn't mean you have no criticisms of something. I love The West Wing and don't think it's dated at all, but I still want to kick Josh into next week and think Donna never should have put up with him.

mantyzer · 02/12/2023 19:45

@lemmein it is a misogynistic comment, but very true to the character

mantyzer · 02/12/2023 19:50

Rita Sue and Bob too was about sexual exploitation.

peppermintcrisp · 02/12/2023 19:51

Love Actually was always odd. I could never get over it being top of the Christmas film list and still is top 10.🤔

It is an absolutely 'bonkers' film!

Most 80s and 90s films are hard to watch now. Mike Leigh, Peter Greenaway et al are all odd to watch now.

Catsmere · 02/12/2023 19:53

IcedPurple · 02/12/2023 19:07

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.

Show quote history

Yes, that’s what I mean - I might have missed all that if it had come out in 1983, and I’d seen it then, but not since.

To the posters sighing about “people looking for things to be offended by” - that rather applies to you reading this thread, too. It’s a lighthearted thread (or started that way) about films or shows people liked back in the day but haven’t held up well. As for “they weren’t made to give a lesson” - they weren’t made in a vacuum, either. They reflect the attitudes of when they were made. It isn’t reaching for something to be offended by to watch something you used to like a lot decades ago and find that you can see things you weren’t even aware of, or took for granted, and don’t find funny now. I was a kid when I found Dave Allen a hoot. I didn’t rewatch him looking to be offended, but for a nostalgic laugh. That I don’t find his - and the era’s - sexism funny wasn’t a reach, just the passing of fifty years. I’m not going to laugh just because the show is old.

willWillSmithsmith · 02/12/2023 19:55

IcedPurple · 02/12/2023 19:07

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.

Show quote history

LA is top of my worst films ever. Hated every minute of it (although the scene where Emma Thompson opens her present is the only good scene in it).

I’ve been watching funny clips of Friends on YouTube (I can’t stomach a whole episode) and have been enjoying some funny scenes that wouldn’t be made today. Makes me feel a bit of a rebel to laugh at stuff considered offensive today 😁

stayathomer · 02/12/2023 20:01

Grease was awful at the time. But when you are really young you do not have the experience to realise.
I remember as a teenager saying ‘but she changed herself and then they all thought she was cool’ and thinking that was awful (I was a quiet teenager so felt let down😅)

Saw a thread recently on how awful Friends was and I really disagreed with so many of the labels the people watching now put on everything.

Tried to watch buffy with my son and it hadn’t aged well at all. Not going to watch Bridget Jones as I’m sure I’ll hate it as an adult!!

SylvieLaufeydottir · 02/12/2023 20:01

And the stuff people are bitching about as "woke" and shoehorning morals in or whatever - if that is the case, that's exactly the stuff that will have dated in twenty years' time, again because it's just plain bad and the passing of time strips away the protective camouflage it had when it was of the zeitgeist.

Sex and the City was always largely crap. Bad, clunky writing, nonsensical and irritating characters. What it did have was a moment. It broke ground in terms of sexual frankness on TV, and the four women as 'types' tapped into contemporary stereotypes, hence all those tired quizzes about which SATC character you are etc etc. Without that to hide behind, what you're left with is something that really never lived up to the hype, as the movies and the car crash that is And Just Like That... have highlighted.

HobnobsChoice · 02/12/2023 20:04

SerafinasGoose · 02/12/2023 19:22

On the same note you have to question whether the filmmakers were paying full attention to the real meaning of the lyrics of 'Pretty in Pink.' Psychedelic Furs were for sure not talking about a creative young women who makes her own clothes and always wears the colour pink: the phrase means 'butt naked' and the song is about prostitution!

You have to wonder exactly what message Hughes et al might have been trying to convey through this...

Show quote history

Sixteen candles is the absolute worst one. Date rape PLUS the horrendous racism about East Asians.

I have a soft spot for The Breakfast Club despite the many flaws

stayathomer · 02/12/2023 20:04

Btw in love actually I always hated that the people I wanted to have a happy ever after’ didn’t ( Emma Thompson and Laura linney) and couldn’t believe Kiera Knightley’s character got to have hers!!!

SylvieLaufeydottir · 02/12/2023 20:05

P.S. talking about something that's really dated... I was very disappointed by Rent. I absolutely loved Lin-Manuel Miranda's tick, tick... boom! and I know that Jonathan Larson was really influential for him... but it's just painfully of its time in the 80s, and it's very hard to get on the side of idiot Roger and his idiot friends squatting in NYC.

IcedPurple · 02/12/2023 20:09

LA is top of my worst films ever. Hated every minute of it (although the scene where Emma Thompson opens her present is the only good scene in it).

Yes. Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman are the only good things about that dire film. But even then, the storyline is all about a middle aged man potentially dumping his similar aged wife for his much younger secretary. In itself it might not be so awful, but when you've got sexist storyline after sexist storyline, it becomes wearisome. And just like I said above, 2003 isn't even that long ago so no excuse really.

Hard to pick the worst thing about that film. Maybe Keira 'I'm quite pretty, aren't I?' Knightley. Or Colin Firth's 'romance' with his Portuguese maid whose language he doesn't even speak?

Muddywalks34 · 02/12/2023 20:10

Maybe just stop being such a snowflake and just enjoy things for what they are. Why do people feel the need to be so offended by everything. Times change, my favourite Christmas movies are wonderful life, trading places, national lampoon all very dated and reflective of the era in which they are set, all brilliant (in my opinion) but then I don’t watch a fictional programme looking for ways to be offended.

Janinejones · 02/12/2023 20:10

Allo Allo, Some Mothers do ave em. What a waste of technology
Did not laugh when they were fresh.

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 02/12/2023 20:14

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.

Agree with that about Grease. But I've always felt uncomfortable about Dirty Dancjng. Baby seemed so young and innocent - I think Johnny was quite sleazy TBH.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 02/12/2023 20:14

The Monty Python TV series. Much of it now is cringeworthily bad. The Gumbies anyone?

Catsmere · 02/12/2023 20:17

Muddywalks34 · 02/12/2023 20:10

Maybe just stop being such a snowflake and just enjoy things for what they are. Why do people feel the need to be so offended by everything. Times change, my favourite Christmas movies are wonderful life, trading places, national lampoon all very dated and reflective of the era in which they are set, all brilliant (in my opinion) but then I don’t watch a fictional programme looking for ways to be offended.

What’s enjoyable about in-your-face sexism in films? And what makes you think anyone here watched them looking for ways to be offended?

waytooearlyforthis · 02/12/2023 20:23

Janinejones · 02/12/2023 20:10

Allo Allo, Some Mothers do ave em. What a waste of technology
Did not laugh when they were fresh.

Noooo some mothers do 'Ave 'em has some very funny episodes

notfeeblebutPhoebe · 02/12/2023 20:27

@ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea Yes Johnny was sleazy.
It was a common 'type' back then.
IRL They worked on the funfairs, Marc Bolan and Ringo Star. The van drivers, Summer workers at holiday resorts or Camps. Canal boats.
They were a bit dangerous, we knew that. We didn't want to listen to 'Bob' from The Likely Lads. We wanted to test ourselves with Terry

Alalalalalongalalalalalonglonglilong · 02/12/2023 20:32

I don't know about dating badly but I get hung up on stupid things in films and can't move past them. Like in the Holiday, why did those little girls have their own mobile phones?? The time line made no sense, when exactly did they book this holiday, it was the office Christmas party in the first scene so implied it was already the Christmas holidays. And in Love Actually, I really can't believe the girl who came to clean the house had really nice matching underwear for work. And why did they fly to France, was she part of a portuguese speaking district in France, if so they should have made it clear because it had me baffled. Why did Keira Knightleys husband not notice there were no carol singers?

I didn't see Grease until I was about 15 and I thought it was sexist and shallow rubbish, love the soundtrack though.

I watched Forrest Gump recently for the first time in years and I was afraid it may have dated badly but no, it absolutely blew me away again.