Harmful Themes In Movies

Everybody watches movies, be it fo entertainment or as an alternative form of educating themselves. People start watching movies as soon as they have a good grasp of language, even better if they can read both their language and English, because that means hundreds and thousands of foreign films are available to them.

However, just like there are moral stories and lessons that can be learned in movies, there are also toxic and harmful subjects being portrayed. I’m not talking about assault, rape or abuse. It is far more covert than those mentioned.

The subject I am referring to is the subtle portrayal of how women are treated and seen as nothing more than a trophy to display on a pedestal, or a challenge waiting to be overcome, or an addition the notches of men’s bedposts.

Take 50 First Dates as an example, Drew Barrymore’s character Lucy Whitmore is plagued with short-term memory loss, in which she can’t remember anything that has happened the day before, Adam Sandler’s character Henry Roth was attracted to Lucy, to the point that he forcibly inserted himself in her life. The first time they met, Lucy already told Henry that she wasn’t interested, but that didn’t matter to Henry - as if Lucy’s opinion wasn’t important and only what Henry wanted was - he was determined to woo Lucy. Sandler’s character even stalked Barrymore’s character to gather information to deceive Lucy the next day.

Case in point, Barrymore’s character was deemed attractive by Sandlers’ character, but when rejected, he ignored her, stalked her, manipulated her and essentially used her memory loss to his advantage, to the point that he married her and has a child with her. 

But, what truly horrified me about the film, was the adoration of people. They consider the movie one of the best rom-coms there are. They admire Henry’s determination and devotion to Lucy, but they don’t see the manipulation, the wrongfulness of his stalking, his casual dismissal of Lucy’s opinion.

This is just one example, there are hundreds of films that show the same dismissal of women’s opinion, the abuse of them, and various other nasty things.