21 Beloved Movies That Have Terrible Messages When You Think About It

They say depiction doesn’t equal endorsement, but here in the media illiteracy era, you have to be careful what you put onscreen. If you released Dumbo or The Wizard of Oz or Lady and the Tramp today, people would be trying to fly with their giant ears or travel across dimensions via tornado or eat spaghetti. That’s not to say old-timers weren’t dumb — this is the generation that thought swallowing live goldfish was hilarious. They were just a little better at differentiating entertainment from reality.

Some of these movies actually have atrocious morals, though. Romcoms encourage you to stalk and manipulate the object of your affection until they love you back, fairy tales teach you to wait around until you’re rescued by a prince or god or hideous ogre, and Tarantino movies convinced a generation to pay attention to Tarantino. That’s why user toreadornotto asked r/AskReddit, “What celebrated movie actually has a terrible message?”