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Original poster

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

252 replies

Pandaparty · 08/07/2022 14:42

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?

OP posts:
Luidaeg · 09/07/2022 15:39

Ponoka7 · 08/07/2022 17:11

The devil wears Prada. I now hate the way that Andy isn't allow to grow or change, not only by Nate, but her friends. I would have liked her to outgrow her relationship. The same with Emma in Brideswars.
Loads of films were the career driven female is portrayed as selfish etc and it ends were she sees the error of her ways and settles for red flag behaviour in the hope of becoming a housewife (for that reason I struggle with Christmas films from the US).

Exactly, shes working for a year in a highly stressful job - which will be AMAZING for her career -, and they are all happy to have the freebies, handbags etc, but they are all complete arseholes to her (I thought this the first time though)

NotEnoughTime · 09/07/2022 15:41

I've known male and female sex workers who were gorgeous, had so much about him/her but still did it. To some people it's not a big deal.

And some people feel they have no other choice Sad

SurfBox · 09/07/2022 18:59

And some people feel they have no other choice

I knew a male sex worker who worked full time and had clients and was renting a beautiful 2 bed flat for himself in 1 of the most expensive and prime areas of London. I knew another living in similar circumstances although I don't know if this sex worker was in employment but it can be the case of enjoying the high life too much for some. It's not always some tragic tale.

waterfly · 09/07/2022 20:26

Just to throw a bit of a random one in here (a lighthearted hat into the ring if you will...) one TV show that springs to mind having watched it as a younger person and as an older person is One Foot in the Grave.

When I was younger Victor Meldrew was always a 'right miserable old git' and I even remember a number of people in real life who were perceived to be 'a Victor Meldrew' when speaking their minds or complaining.

Now as an older person I can definitely see how justified he was (a lot of the time) in yelling at the people he did and for the reasons that he did! Definitely not a miserable old git ... just a normal person who actually had the gall to not put up with it!

waterfly · 09/07/2022 20:28

(And still an outrageously funny TV show in my opinion)

FridayiminlovewithRobertSmith · 09/07/2022 21:03

@waterfly I haven’t watched it for a very long time but I’m fairly sure Victor Meldrew took early retirement and was 53! He seemed so old!

I’m in 2 minds about this as I’m now 12 years away from “wrinkly, crinkly set in my ways” 😳

NotEnoughTime · 09/07/2022 21:31

SurfBox The exception rather than the rule I'm sure.

Oestrogelsmuggler · 09/07/2022 23:10

SurfBox · 09/07/2022 12:03

Watched it as a teenager and didn't see any issue with Rochester lying about being married and locking up the mad wife

he was protecting the wife though from a worse fate.It was 19th century, there was no help for mentally ill.

Oh dear, no. He made her ill and then locked her away when she became unruly. Saw her Creole heritage as a kind of impurity. Changed her name to an Anglicised one, took her to an alien land and pretended she didn't exist.

Lied to Jane about her existence, and most likely about the nature of their relationship. He is a cad and a bounder, and deserved to be brought low.

Americano75 · 09/07/2022 23:25

TheWrongAllmanBrother · 08/07/2022 20:13

The Sound of Music, particularly how soppy/wet/starry-eyed Maria gets as soon as she marries the Captain, and basically reverts into a completely subjugated role as befits a woman in the 1930’s. The fire of her personality just seems to go out. That song she sings to Lisl just after they come back from honeymoon - “somehow I know I’ll jump up and go, whenever he calls my name…. ……. And you’ll belong to him!” No no no. And he’s handsome AF but such a grumpy moany sod.

Never mind that, how about the fact that the captain proposes to Maria literally five minutes after dumping the baroness and she's still on the fucking premises? That poor woman!

theclangersarecoming · 09/07/2022 23:37

Now there’s another character that watching as a kid I saw as a baddie/meanie - the Baroness! And yet watching as an adult, she’s totally cool - sharp, perceptive and funny, and actually kind to Maria. She sizes up the situation with the Captain pretty quickly and scarpers (obvs an Mner - he’s got red flags a-go-go - literally 🤣)

Hanswurst · 10/07/2022 00:09

Imogensmumma · 09/07/2022 00:21

The Little Mermaid, she has to lose her voice and her way of life and family to get the guy…. Made me furious last time I watched it

I read a while ago that the original fairy tale of “The Little Mermaid” is actually a symbolic tale about the danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, who at the time was in love with the prince of Denmark. And because homosexuality in those days was either unacceptable or illegal, he knew could never come out. So the little mermaid losing her voice was a symbolism of his inability speak up. Made me see the story in a completely different light. So sad!!

Hanswurst · 10/07/2022 00:11

I’m sure in the original story she doesn’t get the prince either. He chooses the other woman and the little mermaid does of a broken heart 😔

montysma1 · 10/07/2022 00:49

I must have been born old.........even when i was young i completely agreed with Victor!

montysma1 · 10/07/2022 00:52

Good. She only wanted him for money and status.

ImperioMarch · 10/07/2022 09:21

Jane Eyre with me too. It was my favourite book when I was younger and in some ways it still is because I love Jane's character. No matter how you look at it though the wife in the attack is not good!

With modern eyes it's definitely not good but in the historical context it's reasonably compassionate.

He can't divorce her because lunatics can't be party in a divorce at that time.

She's clearly a danger to herself and others. He COULD have sent her to an asylum, but early Victorian asylums were grim and the "treatment" could be inhuman. So maybe keeping her in relative comfort within her own home, but locking the door to ensure the safety of everyone else is the lesser of the two evils.

Adversity · 10/07/2022 09:26

I watched Pretty in Pink recently, the prom dress is still terrible but OMG Ducky is a stalker and sex pest and it really spoiled the film for me. Plus her friend has to conform to get a man and not be her true self.

GNfan · 10/07/2022 09:47

Watched 'Big' last night. Ewww. Just ewww.

Pocodaku · 10/07/2022 09:52

SurfBox · 09/07/2022 15:09

Yes, it’s misogynistic dreck! The original ending was very dark and imo more interesting. As written and filmed, it had the Glenn Close character kill herself, and frame the lover for her ‘murder’. But this didn’t go down well with preview audiences, who wanted a ‘proper’ ending with a hero-husband and forgiving wife, and the moral order restored

how is it misogynistic? Many films/tv shows have psychotic males so is this misandry? I find it disturbing that people here are siding with Close's character in Fatal Attraction.

No one is “siding with Close’s character”. The original ending would have been differently horrifying. Surely there’s space for nuance in analysis? She definitely becomes scary in becoming violent and doing the things she does.
But the ending makes it very clear that she, as the voraciously sexual and amoral woman was the outsider/threat to the sanctity of the nuclear family/marriage, and once the threat is gone (literally), all will be well again. The ambitious, professional, unmarried female is framed as predatory and pushed to extremes but films like Fatal Attraction are uninterested in her pain, staging her descent into madness as a violent rampage. These types of characters have a long history in cinema. She descends into being a “psycho bitch”; he is not judged or punished in the same way.
Does that mean that we only ever need saintly and good female protagonists or conversely, are being “misandrist” by identifying historical film tropes? Of course not!

whenwillthemadnessend · 10/07/2022 09:58

You lot are in this far too deep

SurfBox · 10/07/2022 10:17

He can't divorce her because lunatics can't be party in a divorce at that time

christ are you really using the word 'lunatic'?

WalkingOnTheCracks · 10/07/2022 11:02

SurfBox · 10/07/2022 10:17

He can't divorce her because lunatics can't be party in a divorce at that time

christ are you really using the word 'lunatic'?

It was the term in use at the time. I don't think it was intended here as a lazily inappropriate slur. And I say that as one who's woke as fuck. To employ a phrase that's in use at this time.

SurfBox · 10/07/2022 11:07

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

ClumpingBambooIsALie · 10/07/2022 11:10

Anyway it wasn't till a decade after Jane Eyre was published that you could get a divorce without having it go through Parliament as a private bill.

ClumpingBambooIsALie · 10/07/2022 11:18

Curious to know what SurfBox's deleted post was, and whether she's a lunatic herself or just offended on our behalf Grin

SurfBox · 10/07/2022 11:37

It was the term in use at the time. I don't think it was intended here as a lazily inappropriate slur. And I say that as one who's woke as fuck. To employ a phrase that's in use at this time

I said if somebody casually used the 'n' word when talking about to kill a mocking bird you might not be so liberal with the word so casually thrown around.