Well, That Wouldn't Work Now: Things From Movies That Are Outdated or No Longer Politically Correct

[Cobalt Stargazer]

4 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

I couldn't decide where to put this and finally decided this is the best thread for it:
HBO edits out cigarettes and cigars from their movie posters...and the results are hilarious.

Fuck's sake.....

[BlueSkies]

Die Hard With A Vengance

It's such a great period piece of a movie to me....  but yeah the dialogue between McLean and Zeus would not fly today and that is an understatement 

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, BlueSkies said:

Die Hard With A Vengance

It's such a great period piece of a movie to me....  but yeah the dialogue between McLean and Zeus would not fly today and that is an understatement 

But this fantastic exchange would, when Zeus tells McClane he's not helping him any more:

-I'm not jumping through hoops for some psycho. That's a white man, with white problems.  Call me when he crosses 110th Street.

-Then why'd you save my ass?

-I didn't.  I stopped a white cop from getting killed in Harlem.  One white cop gets killed today, tomorrow we got a thousand white cops, all of them with itchy trigger fingers.

[BlueSkies]

Forrest Gump.

The part where they throw rocks and the young Forrest and mock him.  Then chase him on their bikes and then later on their truck when they age.  

I'm not one for sugarcoating how things are in the real world....  but yeah that seemed especially crude for a kid with a disability 

[Hiyo]

I think you'd probably see it in a movie today, as long as it isn't played for laughs.

[andromeda331]

On 11/6/2022 at 7:06 AM, BlueSkies said:

Forrest Gump.

The part where they throw rocks and the young Forrest and mock him.  Then chase him on their bikes and then later on their truck when they age.  

I'm not one for sugarcoating how things are in the real world....  but yeah that seemed especially crude for a kid with a disability 

It didn't to me. I have relatives with disabilities and that was pretty accurate. Adults and kids are terrible even to a kid with a disability.

[BlueSkies]

Well Cobra Kai I just watched dealt with all kinds of bullying.  
 

But I thought today with terms like neurodiversity and increased awareness of disability on the workforce it wouldn’t fly as easily as it did say 30 years ago.  Jmo 

[kiddo82]

People will still be assholes no matter how much better awareness is supposed to be these days.  Plus, those scenes in Forest Gump take place in the 50s and 60s so they are very of their time, if not sadly, still plausible today.  Also, as has already been pointed out, the bullying was never glorified or funny so I don't really see how present sensibilities would affect how those particular scenes are viewed now.  Had the bullies somehow been portrayed as the heroes then you are probably right about it not flying today.  But that was never the case.  I feel like we are in era where the current movement is for audiences to have to face our own ugliness, past and present, whether it's palatable or not. If anything, things are being called out for not being harsh enough.  (Which sometimes I agree with and sometimes I don't.)  There is a fair amount about the movie Forest Gump that can be criticized, especially with almost 30 years of perspective, but I don't think the bullying scenes are one of them.

[Scarlett45]

On 11/9/2022 at 5:10 AM, kiddo82 said:

People will still be assholes no matter how much better awareness is supposed to be these days.  Plus, those scenes in Forest Gump take place in the 50s and 60s so they are very of their time, if not sadly, still plausible today.  Also, as has already been pointed out, the bullying was never glorified or funny so I don't really see how present sensibilities would affect how those particular scenes are viewed now.  Had the bullies somehow been portrayed as the heroes then you are probably right about it not flying today.  But that was never the case.  I feel like we are in era where the current movement is for audiences to have to face our own ugliness, past and present, whether it's palatable or not. If anything, things are being called out for not being harsh enough.  (Which sometimes I agree with and sometimes I don't.)  There is a fair amount about the movie Forest Gump that can be criticized, especially with almost 30 years of perspective, but I don't think the bullying scenes are one of them.

I agree. I also think that the way the story was written we (as the audience) were supposed to see how vulnerable Forrest was and what a dipshit those kids were being to him. It was never portrayed as “this is okay” but just that “this is reality”. 

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I agree. I also think that the way the story was written we (as the audience) were supposed to see how vulnerable Forrest was and what a dipshit those kids were being to him. It was never portrayed as “this is okay” but just that “this is reality”. 

Just like with Forrest's mom having to prostitute herself to get her son mainstreamed into school. 

[Scarlett45]

24 minutes ago, Raja said:

Just like with Forrest's mom having to prostitute herself to get her son mainstreamed into school. 

Yup. There’s more accessibility now, but in the storyline, given Forrest’s IQ, the school wouldn’t have taken him at all (no special education classes or section). It would’ve been teach him at home or send him to an institution most likely (given they lived in a rural area). His mom did what she had to do. 

[Spartan Girl]

With more people being more open or at least more willing to acknowledge bisexuality/pansexuality, I don’t think Chasing Amy would work today. Holden wasn’t the only one being a jerk in that movie, Alyssa’s lesbian friends would definitely be called out for acting like having relationships with men and women was somehow a betrayal of the LGBTQ community.

Then again, there are still plenty of people with that wrong attitude, so what do I know?

Edited February 12, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[methodwriter85]

It's still incredibly hard to find depictions of bisexual men in the media (I was super disappointed that Love Victor wasn't about him being bisexual) so who knows. I think we're starting to get past the depiction of bisexual women as pure titillation for straight men, though.

Edited February 15, 2023 by methodwriter85

[BlueSkies]

I mean I'm not much on a lot of current movies but it does seem there's not as many unnecessary love scenes.  

 

Like for example the recent Top Gun movie had no love scenes in.  The love scene in the original Top Gun movie with Take My Breathe Away playing was just 🤮 imo 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I rewatched Scott Pilgrim and a 22 year old guy is dating a 17 year old high school girl.  That was just 2010.

I remember watching Pineapple Express in 2008 and thinking that plot was gross even back then.  Seth Rogen was 26 when the movie was made, dating a high schooler.

I hope things have changed.

On 2/15/2023 at 5:27 PM, methodwriter85 said:

It's still incredibly hard to find depictions of bisexual men in the media (I was super disappointed that Love Victor wasn't about him being bisexual) so who knows. I think we're starting to get past the depiction of bisexual women as pure titillation for straight men, though.

I watched the reality show "Perfect Match" which was a very interesting glimpse into this.

Spoiler

There were two bisexual women who dated each other.  One was kissing her female friend drunkenly in front of a huge, whooping crowd, and the woman she was dating was very hurt by this.  They both had entirely different philosophies on this.  

And this took place currently!

Edited March 3, 2023 by Ms Blue Jay

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I rewatched Scott Pilgrim and a 22 year old guy is dating a 17 year old high school girl.  That was just 2010.

The thing is, the narrative doesn't approve of him doing that, though. Scott repeatedly gets roasted about it, and it's clear it wasn't serious on his end. I'm just saying that it wasn't really presented as normal or acceptable in the film.

[methodwriter85]

12 hours ago, Trini said:

The thing is, the narrative doesn't approve of him doing that, though. Scott repeatedly gets roasted about it, and it's clear it wasn't serious on his end. I'm just saying that it wasn't really presented as normal or acceptable in the film.

21 Jump Street (which came out the same year) did do this with the Jonah Hill and Brie Larson characters. In that case though, it seemed like it was to demonstrate that Jonah Hill's character was getting too deep into character, like he really started believing he was 17 years old.

The movie Hiding Out went with a similar type of romance had absolutely no problem showing them as being meant for each other. (Maxwell was a late 20-something dude who was being threatened by the mob and was pretending to be in high school to hide out; he winds up dating a 17-year old girl in the process.)

That was '87 and I don't think you could get away with framing it like that now. Or Maxwell's real age would be lowered so that he's not a 28-year old ending up with a 18-year old.

Casting did help this case, though. Jon Cryer was really about 22 (not in his late 20's) when they filmed so it didn't quite feel as icky as it could have given that Annabeth Gish was an actual teenager. Also Jon Cryer was still very firmly playing teenagers so yeah...the casting made it work better than it could have.

There was an interesting case from this time period though- during the filming of Karate Kid 3 Ralph Macchio felt really uncomfortable being paired with Robyn Lively, who was 11 years younger than him, so they changed them to just being friends. Although I really think they should have cast another girl as Jessica who was closer to Ralph's age but could still believably play 18. Maybe Jennifer Runyon? She was still active in 1989, I believe. Jill Schoelen would have been good, too- and I bet she would have looked absolutely adorable with Ralph Macchio.

Edited March 4, 2023 by methodwriter85

[BlueSkies]

I watched Burlesque just now from 2010.

There was a straight character in there that because of how he dressed and the type of job he had was assumed to be gay.  Until the main character when to his apartment she found out he wasn't.  Then they eventually slept together and she said Well You're Certainly Not Gay.

 

idk but my guess is that might not totally fly today? 

[Spartan Girl]

Audiences today would not take too kindly to how Kat in Mystic Pizza is seduced/groomed by the father paying her to babysit his child, and how he basically gets away with it at the end without his wife ever finding out.

[methodwriter85]

19 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Audiences today would not take too kindly to how Kat in Mystic Pizza is seduced/groomed by the father paying her to babysit his child, and how he basically gets away with it at the end without his wife ever finding out.

Also starring Annabeth Gish. Although I think the situation between Ryan and Andrew in Hiding Out doesn't have nearly as much of the ick factor between her and the dad in Mystic Pizza.

[proserpina65]

On 3/6/2023 at 8:15 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Audiences today would not take too kindly to how Kat in Mystic Pizza is seduced/groomed by the father paying her to babysit his child, and how he basically gets away with it at the end without his wife ever finding out.

No one was supposed to take it kindly.  It was supposed to be icky, imo.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

No one was supposed to take it kindly.  It was supposed to be icky, imo.

Yeah, but more people today would be pissed that the narrative focused more on "but he's married with kids" and not "he's older than her and it's an abuse of power."

[proserpina65]

23 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yeah, but more people today would be pissed that the narrative focused more on "but he's married with kids" and not "he's older than her and it's an abuse of power."

Ah, that makes sense.  Thanks for the clarification.

[methodwriter85]

 On a similar note, I feel like people these days would be weirded out by 17-year olds playing adult women in relationships with men way past college aged, aka Keira Knightley in Love Actually and Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation. I also do not think The Crush would ever get remade. If it did, they would likely cast a 20-year old instead of an actual minor.

Edited March 10, 2023 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

On 3/8/2023 at 11:14 AM, proserpina65 said:

Ah, that makes sense.  Thanks for the clarification.

I remember Julia's outrage at Annabeth feeling more like her thinking about her own experiences with men who promised her the world and didn't deliver, and she wanted Annabeth to be smarter than to fall for that.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 3/10/2023 at 3:18 PM, methodwriter85 said:

 On a similar note, I feel like people these days would be weirded out by 17-year olds playing adult women in relationships with men way past college aged, aka Keira Knightley in Love Actually and Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation. I also do not think The Crush would ever get remade. If it did, they would likely cast a 20-year old instead of an actual minor.

Wow, I did not realize that happened in Love Actually.  

[methodwriter85]

8 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Wow, I did not realize that happened in Love Actually.  

Keira Knightly had to wear a hat in her scene with Andrew Lincoln where she realizes that he's in love because she was having a huge zit on her forehead. She jokingly said that's what happens when you're 17 and trying to do films.

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I love, Love, Love Keira, but just ew to that whole thing.

[BlueSkies]

Gran Torino.

 

I tend to think people would have a hard time looking past a lot of Walt's slurs to see the overall message/point of that movie 

[Spartan Girl]

14 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Gran Torino.

 

I tend to think people would have a hard time looking past a lot of Walt's slurs to see the overall message/point of that movie 

I do like the movie, but I think more people would have an issue with the tired old trope of “bigot learns not to be racist and becomes a white savior.” 

[JustHereForFood]

This is more of a general thing. Any time a person talks to someone only they can see (a ghost, some astral projection, invisible person, etc.) and people look at them like they're nuts. Nowadays, nobody would even notice, as people make phonecalls without holding the phone all the time. I've seen at least two like that just last week.

[Anduin]

19 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

This is more of a general thing. Any time a person talks to someone only they can see (a ghost, some astral projection, invisible person, etc.) and people look at them like they're nuts. Nowadays, nobody would even notice, as people make phonecalls without holding the phone all the time. I've seen at least two like that just last week.

Yes. It used to be homeless people and such who talked to the air. Then it spread to rich people who could afford mobile phones and wanted to demonstrate how important they were. Nowdays, it's everyone.

[greekmom]

Any of the John Hughes movies from Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful.... you get the picture.

None of these would be made or can be remade today for various reasons.

[methodwriter85]

7 hours ago, greekmom said:

Any of the John Hughes movies from Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful.... you get the picture.

None of these would be made or can be remade today for various reasons.

 Pretty in Pink is pretty much the only John Hughes movie I think could get remade without massive alterations. The only thing you'd have to alter are the slurs of the time period, Duckie kissing Mona, Andie hitting Blane during the confrontation, and maaaaaayyybbbbe Andie would chose herself. Otherwise the movie is probably the least offensive to modern-day sensibilities. Hell, Andie could still be working at a record shop especially in a big city because records were revived. 

I think the movie is helped a lot by the fact that Duckie DOESN'T get the girl, and he learns an important lesson because of that.

Which is funny when you think about it, because that change was forced on John Hughes and he was so angry about it he went and created Some Kind of Wonderful.

I cannot picture any movie aimed at teenagers that would have a character scoff at going to college and decide to spend money that his father saved up for him to attend college on diamond earrings for a girl he didn't even know. Just..read the room. LOL

Of course. for him to have emptied a reasonable college fund he would have had to have spent 40k on the diamonds, which is very possible.

Edited April 25, 2023 by methodwriter85

[Browncoat]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

The only thing you'd have to alter are the slurs of the time period, Duckie kissing Mona, Andie hitting Blane during the confrontation, and maaaaaayyybbbbe Andie would chose herself.

And the hideous dress.  Please change the hideous dress.

[RunningMarket]

19 hours ago, greekmom said:

Any of the John Hughes movies from Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful.... you get the picture.

None of these would be made or can be remade today for various reasons.

This one, especially. The reasons for most of them to be in detention would now land them in jail and/or expulsion. (Assault, bringing a gun to school).

[methodwriter85]

10 hours ago, Browncoat said:

And the hideous dress.  Please change the hideous dress.

I keep thinking how nice it would have looked it she had made a cocktail dress with a peplum. She was tall and thin and they made her wear a maternity dress. 

[Irlandesa]

On 4/25/2023 at 1:44 AM, methodwriter85 said:

Pretty in Pink is pretty much the only John Hughes movie I think could get remade without massive alterations.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off could probably be made with very few changes.  I think it's John's best film.

[greekmom]

Add Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High to the list.

 

[BlueSkies]

Maybe I'm off on this.  I just re-watched Austin Powers 2 for the first time in a long time.  Not sure a lot of things today would fly:

 

Kinda surprised they were able to get away with a pg-13 rating then even.  Film characters called: Felicity Shagwell and Ivana Humpalot among like a lot of sexual inuendo in the film.  The penis rocket ship.  

 

Plus scenes throwing mini me the tiny person around all over.  M***** tossing so to speak.  

A character called Fat Bastard 

The main theme of the male character trying get his Mojo back in order to go on his "shagging ways". 

 

 

I honestly still think the movie is still pretty funny though.  Lol 

[Trini]

For various reasons, '20 Movies That Have Definitely Not Aged Well'

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Where to stream, if you care to.

Read: Not that we would judge, except we totally would. Subtle. And since The Mummy Returns is on the list just based on the effects, it's kind of annoying.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Cobalt Stargazer

[methodwriter85]

On 4/29/2023 at 3:30 PM, greekmom said:

Add Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High to the list.

I don't know about Ridgemont High. Even going beyond Stacey's abortion (mainstream teen movies now absolutely refuse to touch that topic), you don't really have the mall culture now that was so important to the fabric of that movie.

I don't think the audience would be cool with Stacey being 15 and having sex with a 26-year old, either, regardless of it the actress playing her is an adult or not.

15 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Maybe I'm off on this.  I just re-watched Austin Powers 2 for the first time in a long time.  Not sure a lot of things today would fly:

Austin Powers wouldn't work simply on the fact that it's rooted in 1960's/70's nostalgia and you don't really see that work at the box office these days. That's going to be more true as Baby Boomers start dying en masse.

You could, however, make it work if you changed the source spoof material from 60's James Bond/Swinging London and made it based more on Miami Vice or 80's/90's action heroes. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by methodwriter85

[Bastet]

16 hours ago, Trini said:

For various reasons, '20 Movies That Have Definitely Not Aged Well'

I still like Arthur, and I'll watch the extended version of Dances With Wolves (the theatrical release cuts too many little moments that make a fundamentally problematic film a little less problematic) occasionally, but, yeah, of the other films on that list I've seen, I wouldn't re-watch any of them today.  (Some of them - Animal House, especially - I was appalled by at the time.)

[kiddo82]

I had never seen Animal House.  I rented it some years back (back when Blockbuster was still around.)  I couldn't even finish it.  

I kind of remember Shallow Hal being called out even at the time of its release.

Edited May 7, 2023 by kiddo82

[Kel Varnsen]

4 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

don't know about Ridgemont High. Even going beyond Stacey's abortion (mainstream teen movies now absolutely refuse to touch that topic), you don't really have the mall culture now that was so important to the fabric of that movie

But that was less mall culture and more that malls were places where it was easy for teens to find jobs. Most of the mall scenes take place while the characters are working. The only things I think that really wouldn't fly would be the abortion like you said, and Spicoli's anti-gay slurs. Stacey with the older guy might work if he was younger and she was older, since the plot of that was more that they had sex and then he blew her off.

The bigger factor is I think that Hollywood doesn't really make R-rated movies about high school anymore. And even though it wasn't an American Pie style gross out comedy it's still something where I don't think it would be good if rated PG-13.

[Bastet]

6 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

The only things I think that really wouldn't fly would be the abortion

It's pathetic how far we've regressed, because the scene between Stacy and Brad outside the abortion clinic is one of the best parts of the film. 

[methodwriter85]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

It's pathetic how far we've regressed, because the scene between Stacy and Brad outside the abortion clinic is one of the best parts of the film. 

They forced the Perks of Being A Wallflower to entirely cut the abortion scene even though it didn't actually depict it, just waiting in the hospital room and then Candace and Charlie talking after. So pathetic.

[memememe76]

There are recent tv series that has characters get an abortion like Euphoria, 13 Reasons Why and Degrassi (not just the early season with Manny, the writers had other characters make that decisions in later seasons). 

[Raja]

20 minutes ago, memememe76 said:

There are recent tv series that has characters get an abortion like Euphoria, 13 Reasons Why and Degrassi (not just the early season with Manny, the writers had other characters make that decisions in later seasons). 

TV has been more confident in taking on controversy than movies going after global audiences,  with governmental censorship always a threat since awards started going to cable shows and not just free broadcasted TV shows.