Is it truly relatable?

[jackfaire]

Whiplash was the first movie where I noticed this but I have found that if a main character's arc is treated more seriously than I would take it then I can't relate to the movie.

I am not a well off guy. I live pay check to pay check and usually not even that. I am a college dropout with 0 prospects forever trying to nail down a job that will just put food on my table. I haven't been able to afford my own place since I was 22.

Sometimes I live with roommates and other times with family. The point is my life's big questions are "can I afford to go visit my daughter," "Can I eat every day this month," etc.

I love movies though I have ever since I was a kid. It's a big part of my personal identity. Given my level of income my only real interaction with the world outside of the internet are the movies that I see. I only bring up all of this because I have noticed there are movies that get praised as being these huge things that "really get at the human condition"

The human condition in them though is often well above my condition. In Whiplash it's about an upper class guy who is at a Music Conservatory. He gets into an exclusive class at the Conservatory works his ass off fails and loses it.

I find it hard to take the movie as seriously as it takes itself. Even if the guy gets kicked out of that class he's not getting kicked out of that school. He's not in dire straits and while I get that ultimately it's disappointing for him I would be grateful just to be there.

These are the movies though that make the Oscars and the classics lists and the "X number of movies you need to see"

Can't we acknowledge though that not everything is for everyone that not every movie is going to be something everyone can connect to.

Anyone else run into movies that you've been told is "universal" that you just can't connect to?

[mjr]

There are a lot of "pop culture" movies for me that are like that.

For instance, I'm almost 41, and I've never seen "Back to the Future". I got dragged to "Gone With the Wind" by an ex-girlfriend when we were dating (hated that movie).

I've also never seen the original "Alien" or "Goonies" or any of those movies. E.T. is supposed to be a "classic". I hated it.

So in short, yes, there have been a few movies like that for me, too.

[telecom_goddess]

Oh god I hate Gone With The Wind, my mother made me watch that. But theres a lot of movies I haven't seen that fit that description, one of which is Titanic. Or ET.