Movies or characters in movies that you feel different about now that you are older/

I was just thinking about this the other day OP.

When I first watched ordinary people I was maybe one year younger than Conrad and I really identified with him.

I didn’t see the movie for over 20 years so when I saw the DVD at a yard sale I grabbed it.

As I watched it I kept thinking it must be a special director‘s cut.

All the scenes that made Conrad seem sympathetic were removed and all the scenes that made Beth seem like a bitch have been removed and replaced with the scenes that made her seem more sympathetic.

After watching the film on DVD I realized I am very much like Beth Jarrett.

Beth's still a cunt.

Agreed about Beth, She's not a "hugger" and there's nothing wrong with that. Neither am I.

TV character but anyway, I hadn't watched Mash in years but started watching it a few months ago, and Hot Lips Houlihan's not as bitchy as I remember her. She's actually pretty cool.

After everything I'd read and heard, I watched Ordinary People expecting to hate MTM's character. But I didn't. I just felt bad for her, as well as the son, and the father. Good film!

I used to sympathize with Veda Pierce in "Mildred Pierce." Now that I've had to interact with Millennials, I empathize with Mildred.

[quote]You look down on me because I work for a living. Don't you?

On second viewing of Mad Men, I don't particularly care for Roger. And my opinion has improved of Betty.

R6 I felt the same way, on both counts.

My view of Ordinary People changed with time. When I fist saw it, it really shook me up (in a way I don't recall another film doing). I called my parents and thanked them for not being like that.

It was only many years later that I realized that it shook me up was because my mother was a very frosty, emotionally unavailable person. Beth reminded me of her, right down to the golf, but I was too much in denial, wanting to believe we had the perfect family.

When I first saw "The Way We Were" I thought the last few minutes were so romantic.

Now, I want to slap the shit out of Robert Redford and say, "WHAT? You haven't seen your kid? You selfish asshole!"

Ordinary People sucked.

Most of us here are gay men of a certain age, OP.

Emotional repression, chilly haute-bourgeois domesticity, wearing perfectly coordinated shades of beige: Beth is what we aspire to.

Mad Men was interesting to rewatch.

I really liked it when it first aired. But it seemed different when I watched it last month.

I used to find Roger funny. Now, he seems like an asshole.

I liked Joan less. And Betty more.

But the biggest problem was I found Don Draper much more unlikeable.

When I saw a new actress pop up, I thought, "Oh, he's going to sleep with her too. That's it. I'm out".

American Beauty. I thought the Annette Bening character was a total cunt when I first saw the movie in my teen years, but now, I realize how she was only doing what she did for survival. Sure, it wasn't the healthiest way to go about that, but I could see the sad little girl inside.

Same with the evil queen from Snow White. All she has going for her are her looks and this little bitch comes around and steals her thunder while not having much of a personality herself. I found it more sad than downright villainous. I started realizing that it's more of a cautionary tale about not putting beauty above personality, because beauty does fade with time. Maybe Snow White ended up developing a personality after everything she went through so she wouldn't end up like her stepmother.

It's weird how we get a few years on us and we start understanding why some "evil" characters do what they do. Life doesn't always work out the way we hoped and we have to survive however we can. I'm certainly not promoting their behavior, but I've begun to understand it. Maybe this is why I've always found villains so much more fascinating than the goody two shoes heroes and heroines.

Ghost World - I hate those two useless bitches now.

The Way We Were - He was a selfish prick through the whole movie. She was just dickmatized.

The Graduate - He's fucking stalking her. It's not cute. It's sick.

Don’t laugh. “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

Not that I thought the kids were so terrible, but I had sympathy for the parents.

I used to watch the end of Casablanca and think, “How noble and self-sacrificing.” Now I think, “Victor’s a drip. Ilsa and Rick, run away together!”

Also Casablanca: I used to think Ilse was so classy, beautiful and perfect. Last time I watched I thought she was an empty-headed moron who just submitted to the men and meekly accepted slut-shaming from Bogart. It freaked me out to think that I, and all my friends and family, used to think she was the "ideal woman".

The Graduate - I first thought the ending was a happy one. But I obviously wasn't paying attention to Dustin and Katharine's facial expressions.

Some Kind Of Wonderful- Keith's dad is supposed to come off as a nag for wanting him to go to college. And he's completely justified at getting angry with Keith for blowing his money on some jewelry.