Movie Subject Matter You Almost Can't Handle

[zelda2fanboy]

What are some things in movies you just cannot take well, even now that you're "grown up?" I feel like everyone has these, either from direct personal real life experiences or just from general personality traits. My mom can't stand seeing anything with teeth and my dad hates to see people realistically terminally ill. I remember reading that Gene Siskel hated whenever he saw kids in danger. I even heard a teacher once tell the class that his wife still can't watch The Wizard of Oz because of the wicked witch.

I'm definitely not saying any of these things "shouldn't be in movies" because there just wouldn't be movies anymore, since everyone is affected by images and ideas differently. I used to think nothing bothered me (as an adult), but after getting very shaky and uneasy from seeing Django Unchained, being horrified by the 1960s Spartacus, and now having nightmares from watching 12 Years A Slave right before bed, I'm pretty sure my personal mental "nope" comes from portrayals of slavery. I've taken a lot of history courses about the subject matter, so I'm usually prepared as to what it was like, but seeing it acted out on a day to day basis can be crushing.

What are some movie things (don't know what to call it) that still mess with your head even after the movie is over?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I can't stand seeing animals injured or killed in movies. The only reason that I remember that "The Butterfly Effect" exists is because of the scene where the kid sets a dog on fire. Scenes like that get burned into my mind because of how horrible they are.

I absolutely don't mind seeing people mutilated in the most horrible ways possible in a movie, but the moment it's an animal (specifically animals that haven't attacked or hurt anyone) I have trouble looking at the screen until the scene is over.

 

[Darks63]

I can't stand seeing animals injured or killed in movies. The only reason that I remember that "The Butterfly Effect" exists is because of the scene where the kid sets a dog on fire. Scenes like that get burned into my mind because of how horrible they are.

I absolutely don't mind seeing people mutilated in the most horrible ways possible in a movie, but the moment it's an animal (specifically animals that haven't attacked or hurt anyone) I have trouble looking at the screen until the scene is over.

I'm with you on this I almost turned off House of Cards due to how it began.


Other than the cruelty to dogs I cant stand movies with scenes of extreme embarrassment of characters in them. Whenever I watch them I get embarrassed by proxy and want to bury my head during the scenes.

 

[TheRiddler]

I can't stand needles. Any time I see a character getting injected or having blood drawn, I shudder and look away. Especially if they actually show the skin getting pierced. Just gives me the heebie-jeebies.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

It's hard for me to pick out a good example, but any amount of blood that looks realistic.
I am *not* a lightweight when it comes to blood, I'm a long time Mortal Kombat and Gears Of War fan but those things don't sell real blood, and I know in any movie it's not real blood anyway but if it looks real enough, I squirm a little bit.

 

[Vault101]

similar thing here....dark depressing worlds that are eather hopeless or have slavery/a caste system....ESPECIALLY if it involves women

there is something about ones agency being taken away that disturbs me, even stuff like Lucy where she is forced to have the drugs inside her and is changed (presumably) against her will, she loses all she is

also the reason I can't stand X-men plots

 

[DANEgerous]

As someone who last Halloween watched the horrific tipple make you want to die fest of "Ichi the Killer" "Cannibal Holocaust" and "a Siberian film" I will still say anything that has happened (War movies and such depicting real events or even things biased on real events)that involve a human that enacted the suffering of others and can convey that is horrifying to me. With that I will leave you with an odd remark what my me one of my most loved yet is my most horrifying films "Life Is Beautiful" I know it is light heated and even uplifting in a morbid sense, but damn does that make war human, and damn is that horrifying. I adore that movie but fuck if I will ever watch it without crying due to it making me feel a loss of life that was never mine to have.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Movie subject matter or on-screen content? Most of the responses would seem to be about the latter. I think the OP needs a bit more specification.

OT: I haven't really tested my limits with movie content, so I can't be sure of what my exact limits are. As for subject matter, I remember Downfall (the movie that spawned the Hitler video meme) being absolutely crushing when I first saw it, but it has become meeker to me in past years. It still has an absolutely horrifying sense of despair and impending doom to it, with seemingly no way out.

I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, but I know what happens at the end of it. I will watch it some day, but right now the idea of a hopeless and tragic movie where

Spoiler: Grievous spoiler for the end of Grave of the Fireflies

at the end a little girl dies of starvation with her older brother soon following

is enough to turn all my warning lights on and make me go "Nope!"

 

[Orphan81]

Torture Porn. I say this as a fan of Horror in general. I laugh or say "Awesome!" in Slasher movies, and other films where the protagonists enjoy particularly gory deaths... but these are ususally done with a sense of fun to them, as bizarre as it is. You understand it's a movie and not real..

But when the torture is done in a very realistic manner, by other ordinary humans, it's something that upsets me.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've never liked torture porn, or gore-fests of any variety. And I cannot stand watching animals suffer. "Sharkwater" pretty much ruined me for hard hitting "suffering animals" documentaries forever. Can't do it. I'm down with your cause, whatever. I don't need to see the actual movie, just sign me up.

I find as I'm getting older I'm also losing my taste for harrowing dramas and emotionally devastating films. When I was in my twenties I lapped that shit up. You can see it in my DVD collection. Requiem for a Dream is in there, The War Zone is in there, Boys Don't Cry is in there. The Thin Red Line, Pan's Labyrinth, Breaking the Waves...you name it. If it was an emotional kick to the gut, I was all OVER that stuff. These days I'm way, way more likely to choose escapist nonsense over award-winning tragedy. My girlfriend had to hector me into watching Twelve Years a Slave, but I went to the theater to see Pacific Rim. We watched This is the End the day it came out on PPV, but I still pass over Grave of the Fireflies every time I see it at the library. I'll still watch emotionally devastating television (hello, Six Feet Under) but even my tolerance for that is waning. Ozymandias almost made me quit watching Breaking Bad.

I have no idea why. Maybe it's an accumulation of actual, real-life tragedy, maybe it's changing tastes, maybe some critical threshold was passed, I couldn't say. I used to sneer at people who would evade films that sounded "too depressing", and now I'm finding I'm becoming one of them.

 

[Calbeck]

Derailing the movie with a five-to-ten-minute screed, inserted into one or more of the actors' mouths, about Socio-Political Topic Whatever.

Especially when it's clear the screed comes out of nowhere, doesn't seem to have much to do with what's going on, but is nonetheless accepted by every character from there on as The Literal Truth. Including the badguys, who as often as not go out of their way to vocally affirm the SP Topic.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I dunno why, but that Kevin Smith film Tusk really skeeves me the fuck out. I think it might be the forced mutilation and dehumanization aspect of the film? Like, most films go for one or the other, but rarely ever both.

Also, Gravity is terrifying to me. Floating off in space alone, left to die alone in an endless void... *shudders*

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Getting buried alive.

Ugh... And I'm not actually claustrophobic at all either but hory sheet!

 

[doomrider7]

I can't stand seeing animals injured or killed in movies. The only reason that I remember that "The Butterfly Effect" exists is because of the scene where the kid sets a dog on fire. Scenes like that get burned into my mind because of how horrible they are.

I absolutely don't mind seeing people mutilated in the most horrible ways possible in a movie, but the moment it's an animal (specifically animals that haven't attacked or hurt anyone) I have trouble looking at the screen until the scene is over.

I'm with you on this I almost turned off House of Cards due to how it began.


Other than the cruelty to dogs I cant stand movies with scenes of extreme embarrassment of characters in them. Whenever I watch them I get embarrassed by proxy and want to bury my head during the scenes.

Ditto. There are some scenes that I know are funny, but just so shamelessly embarrassing that I can barely watch them. The last joke in Bad Grandpa where they compete in the pageant for instance. Scenes with animal cruelty are just God Awful for me as well and I think we can rule that one as universal for most people.

 

[doomrider7]

Movie subject matter or on-screen content? Most of the responses would seem to be about the latter. I think the OP needs a bit more specification.

OT: I haven't really tested my limits with movie content, so I can't be sure of what my exact limits are. As for subject matter, I remember Downfall (the movie that spawned the Hitler video meme) being absolutely crushing when I first saw it, but it has become meeker to me in past years. It still has an absolutely horrifying sense of despair and impending doom to it, with seemingly no way out.

I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, but I know what happens at the end of it. I will watch it some day, but right now the idea of a hopeless and tragic movie where

Spoiler: Grievous spoiler for the end of Grave of the Fireflies

at the end a little girl dies of starvation with her older brother soon following

is enough to turn all my warning lights on and make me go "Nope!"

This is another big one. Any movie involving violent and unspeakably horrible things happening to people especially women and children just automatically turn me off HARD.

 

[BNguyen]

I guess it would have to be movies where dogs are hurt - not evil dogs like in Cujo, but things like I Am Legend, Old Yeller, and Where the Red Fern Grows, and to a lesser extent The Fox and the Hound

 

[Kontarek]

The whole premise behind the "Young Adult" Fiction genre. Aside from the mediocre at best quality, I find them to be insufferably pretentious. The structure implies being a teenager is not just the only part of your life that matters, but that once you reach your teens, time just stops. It's something I've come to despise since reading Catcher in the Rye. The whole thing revolves around one kid who is determined to be a failure and spends the whole book feeling sorry for himself.

I largely agree with this sentiment; it's one of the things that made Divergent so unbearable for me. However, I think you may have missed what Catcher in the Rye was getting at. I think you're supposed to dislike Holden; he's been intentionally written as a little shit who constantly contradicts himself because his character is meant to portray an immature, adolescent mindset. Many teenagers tend to think of themselves as the center of everything, and that whatever's happening to them during that particular time is of the utmost significance. Holden's irrational thoughts and actions underscore everything that is wrong with that way of thinking. He's just a troubled kid, it's not his fault he doesn't know shit.

I also think it's important to point out that the writer J.D. Salinger likely never set out to write a masterpiece with this book; by most accounts it was a very personal little work that he never anticipated would attract such a vast audience. Like imagine if you wrote some shit on a blog somewhere and didn't think it was particularly good, but just the act of writing it and putting it out there helped you come to terms with some personal stuff. Now imagine that every student of every high school in the country is being forced to read it and they hate you for writing it. Salinger never asked for that level of recognition, and seemed to largely resent it judging by how reclusive he became following the book's success.

But anyways... Love the Dress to Kill avatar btw...

OP: What's this thread about again? Disturbing movie elements? Um... Yeah I guess just excessive gore or whatever.