A viral Reddit thread sparked debate about movies that have aged poorly, which prompted more than 13,00 comments from users contemplating movies that they believe likely wouldn't be made today.
"What is a movie that has aged poorly?" the thread asked.
"Benjamin Button," multiple users joked, in reference to the 2008 movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which follows the life of a man who ages backwards.
"Are you crazy? Dude looked 7 when he was 80!" another added.
One parent said she had the idea to show Grease to her children, but when she did, she asked herself "WTF am I watching?"
"Not only the rapeiness of it all, but the ‘moral’ of the story is 'just totally change who you truly are, turn slutty, and you'll get the guy,'" one user remarked.
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"Not only is the moral of the story ‘change who you are to get the guy and be happy’ but there’s a lot of girl-on-girl prude shaming AND slut shaming," another added.
"I rewatched it [Grease] like a week ago and it has been rerated as PG," another said. "I about lost my mind imagining kids watching it with all the hidden dirty jokes and such."
Others were quick to point out multiple movies that included scenes of nude minors.
"Pretty Baby with a NAKED 11yr old Brooke Shields," one user wrote.
Shields starred in the 1978 film "Pretty Baby" as a 12-year-old prostitute in the red-light district of New Orleans, which prompted intense scrutiny at the time because Shields, who was 12 while filming, was depicted nude in multiple scenes of child prostitution.
"WTF," another user responded. "How is that not child pornography? According to synopsis of the movie her character is made a prostitute, so I assume the nudity is depicted in a sexual nature as well. That is so messed up."
"I have a bit of bad news for you, there's a scary amount of old media with naked children in it," another user said.
A few years later, Shields starred in The Blue Lagoon where two children are marooned on a tropical island during the Victorian era, where they come-of-age trying to survive on the remote island. The film shows Shields naked throughout the movie and includes several sex scenes, which was largely criticized because she was only 14 when she played the role.
"I watched a film the other day on amazon prime (I won't name so people don't seek it out) that had a very famous actress in it that had a sex scene, she was 14. It's full nude too, so bizzare that it's not edited out," one user responded in the thread. "I felt so disgusted that I've actually vowed to not watch anymore films from the 70s, as to not be caught out again. Horrible."
Another user recalled their high school teacher showing the 1968 version of "Romeo and Juliet" starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who were 16 and 15 respectively when they acted in the movie. The pair sued Paramount Pictures in December for more than $500 million over a scene that showed the minors in the nude, alleging that they were originally assured by the director it would not appear in the movie.
"The stars of the old Romeo & Juliet that featured naked young teens tried, in later adulthood, to get the movie edited to stop showing their bodies, and they were turned down because their parents signed their rights away," one user added. "It’s awful."
Some users called out Disney movies like Peter Pan and Aladdin, arguing that they didn't age well for "racist reasons."
Others commented on inappropriate romantic relations between minors and adults depicted in multiple famous movies.
"Manhattan," one user said has not aged well, commenting on the age gap between its two main characters. "Forty-four year old Woody Allen has affair with 17 year old Mariel Hemingway. How art imitates life."
"Dirty Dancing," another user said. "A minor dating a guy clearly in his 30s at best."
"Somebody really needed to put baby in a corner," someone responded.
Debates over the appropriateness of topics in movies frequently light up the internet. The 1970s western film, "Blazing Saddles," sparked Twitter debate in December over whether the movie could be made in today's "woke culture." Many lauded director Mel Brooks as a comedic genius because his film makes fun of racists and bigots, but others argued that the film's targets don't realize that jokes are made at their expense.
"That movie will probably trigger most 24 year olds today into a coma," one user said. "It's like a non-stop barrage of race and sexism jokes that wouldn't make it into any Hollywood movie today."
