To ask what films you see differently now than when you watched them as a kid/teenager?

[Pandaparty]

We rewatched Mrs Doubtfire last night. As a kid, I was so on Daniel's side and didn't have much sympathy for Miranda (Sally Field), and couldn't warm to Stu (Pierce Brosnan) at all. Now though, I'm with Miranda all the way. She traded in a husband-child for a man who she can depend on and who loves her kids. Daniel's such a sleaze when they're at the pool too, making the women feel uncomfortable.
(I suppose our outgoing Prime Minister is a good example of people being prepared to overlook huge personal failings if someone is charismatic/"fun" enough.)
Anyway. What other films do you look at completely differently now than when you first watched them?

Dirty Dancing. I used to think Baby’s dad was a total twat and Johnny was super cool but now I’m a parent myself I’m totally on her Dad’s side.

Also parent trap is a weird one. My DD’s loved it every bit as much as I did as a child but again, now I’m a parent I was just wondering how they could live without ever seeing their other child and how they could split twins up like that.

The Piano. As a teen it was the most romantic love story ever, but as an adult I find the degree of coercion Harvey Keitel's character employs on Holly Hunter's really quite revolting.

American Beauty.

Jesus, Kevin Spacey's character is rank.

Anything with Clint Eastwood, especially older films. I used to think his characters were super cool. But now... he's always been a massive prick.

Now all I can see is him going on dates and sleeping with women and it's because he's looking for The One, it's romantic

It wasn't romantic though, he was the butt of jokes just like Roz but in a different way in that nobody wanted him and he was a loser in love.

Dangerous minds- bollox that if you build the relationship with students you can change them from a class of no hopers to your best friends who'll sit quietly and learn. Sadly rarely works out like that.

The other fact is that she's in her mid 30s and a teacher and going to dinner with 1 of her male students;imagine it was a man in his mid 30s doing that.

Mrs "Fathers 4 Justice" Doubtfire. Daniel is a useless slob you wouldn't leave in charge of a cat, deceitful, unable to hold down a job, unreliable with the children and somehow SHOCKED when it all falls down around him and his wife can't cope with his selfish antics any longer. But somehow the film wants us to sympathise with him?

It turns out that he can do proper, active parenting if he wants to. All he needs to do is abuse the trust of his wife and children, lie and deceive his way into their home and he's all over it like a hot snot. He couldn't find any way to be a good parent or partner honestly or appropriately when it was the right time. Literally impossible to be a passable parent until he's making it part of his BIG SHOW!!!!! self image.

I hate that man.

I would be interested in that!

I don't get all the people saying Mrs Doubtfire, it was never supposed to be that Daniel's behaviour was being condoned. She kicked him out and he lost his marriage because of his behaviour so he was punished.The film was pretty much saying his behaviour wasn't being accepted and was crap.

It was supposed to be though that he still loved his kids but was just a terrible husband who lacked responsibility but he did change in ways through being Mrs Doubtfire.

He still loved his kids though as much as he was incompetent in being a disciplinarian and had some great qualities as a loving father. Think of all the dads who desert their kids, at least he didn't do that. The focus though was that it was a comedy and comedies generally are off the moral track and being hyperbolic for them to work as ordinary life isn't funny.

What I found most absurd with the film was that Miranda who looked at least mid 40s, likely hitting or post menopause with 3 kids could attract a younger attractive man like Pierce Brosnan. As if he'd have had any interest in her.

What I found most absurd with the film was that Miranda who looked at least mid 40s, likely hitting or post menopause with 3 kids could attract a younger attractive man like Pierce Brosnan. As if he'd have had any interest in her.

Sam Taylor-Johnson?

Sam Taylor-Johnson

yea he was 18 basically a child when she took advantage of him at 42-very different as kids that age can be easily manipulated by adults. That and she was the director of the film he starred in. Reverse genders here and she'd be flamed for it due to the power imbalance etc.

In the film Pierce Brosnan's character looked around later 30s so at least was a full adult so it was very different to an 18 year old kid.

That and celebrity marriages/relationships are usually very different from real life. It was argued he married her for his career.

That’s not what the thread’s about, @SurfBox You don’t need to bring the MRA agenda into every thread.

There’s about 7 years between Sally Field and Pierce Brosnan, not exactly a gasp-inducing age gap given their ages in the film.

Rita, Sue and Bob Too is still being represented as comedy though. It was on Talking Pictures recently and the blurb was along those lines. It's more like social commentary. Similar to films like Cathy Come Home or The L shaped Room. Or Alfie?
I find Bond films hard to watch now and Clint Eastwood stuff from the 60s and 70s.

Any film (and there are lots) where the woman can't stand the guy, or has given no sign she likes him, but nonetheless when he kisses her without permission she gives into him, because of course she fancies him.

This seems so gross now and is the sort of cultural trope that makes men think they 'just need to keep trying' or even at worst that 'she wanted it so it's OK', and the whole 'women mean "Yes" when they say "No"' thing.

Love Actually here. It was mine and DMs favourite Christmas film when I was a teenager. I used to rewatch every year.

These days I can't bear it! I'm not even sure what changed about me, or what I now perceive differently.

There’s about 7 years between Sally Field and Pierce Brosnan, not exactly a gasp-inducing age gap given their ages in the film

yea look around you-how many mid 40s divorced/singlewomen with kids could attract a man like Pierce Brosnan's character in real life? Unless she looked like Cindy Crawford it's not going to happen.

This too….until the last few years i absolutely loved it…now I’m cringe…it has dated badly.

Not a film, so slightly derailing the thread, and before my time, but the lyrics of some Abba songs always make me wonder what the two guys who were the main songwriters really thought about their wives and no wonder they got divorced! And how desperate do they think women are for male attention! Seriously, you were both married to two of the most beautiful, talented women in the world, and you had them singing these lyrics? No wonder the marriages failed.

"Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight"
"Half-past twelve
And I'm watching the late show in my flat all alone
How I hate to spend the evening on my own
Autumn winds
Blowing outside the window as I look around the room
And it makes me so depressed to see the gloom
There's not a soul out there
No one to hear my prayer"

"All the pretty birds have flown. Baby I'm still free. Take a chance on me".

'I let you down somehow' and he's not the man he should have been'

The whole of "The Day Before you Came"

Similarly "Knowing me, knowing you
No more carefree laughter
Silence ever after
Walking through an empty house
Tears in my eyes
This is where the story ends
This is goodbye
Knowing me, knowing you"

"I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay
Ain't it sad?
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me
That's too bad
In my dreams I have a plan
If I got me a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball
A man like that is hard to find but I can't get him off my mind
Ain't it sad?
And if he happens to be free I bet he wouldn't fancy me
That's too bad"

Writing and performing a song all about their divorce in "The Winner Takes it All".

"Waterloo. How does it feel now you've won the war?"

"Does Your Mother Know"

"One of us"

They passed me by
All of those great romances
You were, I felt, robbing me
Of my rightful chances
My picture clear
Everything seemed so easy
And so I dealt you the blow
One of us had to go
Now it's different, I want you to know
One of us is crying, one of us is lying
In a lonely bed
Staring at the ceiling
Wishing she was somewhere else instead
One of us is lonely, one of us is only
Waiting for a call
Sorry for herself, feeling stupid, feeling small
Wishing she had never left at all"

I didn't know there was a film version of the L Shaped Room! I've only read the book, though many years ago now.

I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay
Ain't it sad?
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me
That's too bad
In my dreams I have a plan
If I got me a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball
A man like that is hard to find but I can't get him off my mind
Ain't it sad?
And if he happens to be free I bet he wouldn't fancy me
That's too bad

it was the 70s, generally women getting rich was through a rich man though.

Knowing me, knowing you
No more carefree laughter
Silence ever after
Walking through an empty house
Tears in my eyes
This is where the story ends
This is goodbye
Knowing me, knowing you

I see nothing wrong with this, generally just describing the pain of break up.

the lyrics of some Abba songs always make me wonder what the two guys who were the main songwriters really thought about their wives and no wonder they got divorced! And how desperate do they think women are for male attention

they were a pop band, vast majority of poppy bands is singing about love/relationships etc. You thinking way too much into this.

What I found most absurd with the film was that Miranda who looked at least mid 40s, likely hitting or post menopause with 3 kids could attract a younger attractive man like Pierce Brosnan. As if he'd have had any interest in her.

There's six years between the two actors. They had gone out with each other years before.

And by 'they' I mean the two characters!