“But if I wrote that column now,” she speculates, “I feel like people might be in agreement with me.”
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Love-struck hero or creepy harasser? Suddenly we’re seeing our favorite rom-coms in a new light.
“But if I wrote that column now,” she speculates, “I feel like people might be in agreement with me.”
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Yikes, this was a heavy read. It is depressing to think about how many of our beloved movies that we grew up with are actually rather terrible when watched in modern times. I have been racking my brains, trying to think of some of my all time favorite films and their negative denotations are, and the more I think about it, the more depressed I become. Everything seems so much different as a kid, when you’re less worldly and more innocent. I also spent quite a bit of time on Rotten Apples, looking up my favorite films and television series, and most came back clear. But some films failed the test, ones that I was surprised by. Hercules, for example, is “Rotten Apples” Because of James Woods. That’s my favorite Disney movie…Such a shame. And now, the question becomes, do I still watch Hercules? Or does my moral compass point me towards no?
I have been experiencing this same sort of horrific epiphany after rewatching some of my favorite old movies and TV shows. You can tell when a movie is dated; typically by their clothing, hair, pop culture references, but now it is becoming more and more prevalent of what was considered appropriate, romantic, or even funny. Much of which has changed drastically over the years. For example, when you think of the character "Barney" from How I Met Your Mother, he was a hilarious (and of course gross) character, but when it came out his behavior, nearing sexual harassment and assault on multiple occasions, are considered "oh, just gross, quirky old Barney". I know this comparison is taking place with a lot of recent movies, within the past two decades, but if you look back at revenge of the nerds, or other "quirky comedies" of the 80's, you can see that their pranks are not funny, but rather actual crimes. Overall, it's no shock that society has once again made significant changes that you can see our tastes and preferences and humor have shifted as times have changed.
I've been noticing this over the years, that older movies that I really enjoyed as a kid, or classic movies that my parents really enjoyed which they showed me as a kid, don't really hold up in this modern age. Most of the time, it's simply a question of producion aesthetics, or maybe the acting that you enjoyed as a child is really not very impressive as you grow older. However, other times, more disappointingly, you are forced to realize that that show you really enjoyed or the movie you watched over and over again is actually really problematic. The horrible thing is, usually this realization comes when you are rewatching said piece of media again after a very long time, with friends and a significant other, and you realize that you had forgotten about THAT momentm or THOSE moments. One of the ones that comes to mind for me is the MASH movie, which is still absolutely gut-wrenchingly hilarious if you're able to stomach the casual belittling of women throughout the movie.
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