# Movie Romances You Found Extremely Disturbing (though they weren't supposed to be) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2006, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053 "2006-03-27T06:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/81 "2006-03-28T22:00:39Z")
I can’t believe I’m about to do this, BUT … I have to defend Pretty Woman a teeny tiny bit. In the movie, Richard Gere wants to set her up permanently as a kept woman. No longer paid, but paid apartment, etc., and installed there so he can pretty much do as he pleases, when he pleases. Up to this point, depiste the fact that he’s paying her, he has treated her as politely and respectfully as he would any woman. She sees that, realizes that she has value above being a hooker and tells him [paraphrasing from memory here], “That’s a really good offer for a girl like me. But I want more.” There is a turning point. She has been a hooker but no longer wants that life. He makes her a permanent-hooker offer, she says no. He still wants her; they realize they’re in love. The end. So, I think it’s a tad simplistic to say it’s just an ick story where hooking takes you to the top. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/82 "2006-03-28T22:11:37Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > The 1994 flick **“The Professional.”** That skeevy interaction between assassin Leon (Jean Reno) and rebelious 12-year-old Mathilda, played by Natalie Portman. > > Ick raised to the 9th power. I haven’t seen this for a while…but wasn’t the relationship between Leon and Natalie Portman’s character more along the lines of a Father/Daughter relationship? ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/83 "2006-03-28T22:39:08Z")
SPOILERS! First; I am right there along with the others about **Clueless** being creepy because of the step-sibling thing. Second; Yeah, I saw the **Ghost in the Shell** episode, **Ranchoth** ; I was wondering too. I mean, as a fan I’m used to watching Major Kusanagi’s tendency to use her body and sexuality to provoke others, but that hotel room sequence with the boy was going a little too far. Third; My contribution would be another anime I’ve been watching lately. I enjoy the series but **Tenchi Muyo** is a little creepy. I mean, sure Ryoko’s like 5,000 years old or something, but she basically doesn’t age, and acts like a 20-something, so it’s not too bad. But Ayeka? She’s literally his Great-Aunt! Well, half-geat-aunt. She came to Earth to track down her half-brother Yosho because he ran out on his duties as a prince, including an arranged-marriage to her, AND when she finds out he’s grown into an old man while she’s still young, she happily accepts Yosho transferring the responsibility to marry her to his GRANDSON! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/84 "2006-03-28T22:50:59Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > I haven’t seen this for a while…but wasn’t the relationship between Leon and Natalie Portman’s character more along the lines of a Father/Daughter relationship? In the uncut version known as “Leon: The Professional” it is more romantic… and honestly not that icky to me… I mean Leon is supposed to be childlike in his non-best hitman ever life… You never get the idea that Leon and Matilda are going to do it. If memory seves she does come on to him at one point and he rebuffs her. It’s more distrubing that he is teaching her how to kill people. In the regular release Leon and Matilda seem more like playmates, than lovers. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/85 "2006-03-28T22:55:38Z")
In **Clueless** , weren’t Cher and Josh’s parents supposed to have been married for like ten minutes five years ago? I seem to remember her specifically saying that he still came around to hang out with her dad, but they didn’t really have a sibling relationship. I remember watching \*\*Gigi \*\* when I was about nine, and realizing even then that it was just _wrong_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/86 "2006-03-28T22:57:03Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > No, not the Conrad Birdie subplot. The Albert/Rosie story. Lovers temporarily thwarted by the guy’s possessive, overbearing, bigoted mother? What’s so creepy about that? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/87 "2006-03-28T23:00:30Z")
> [@priapus](#): > > I always thought it strange how young Audrey Hepburn always ended up with the older “A” stars of Hollywood…Bogart,Cooper,Peck,Astaire,Grant Because in those days there were no younger “A” stars, because it took time to become one, unlike today? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/88 "2006-03-28T23:07:04Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Yeah, Jane Austen is full of stories of quasi-siblings or quasi-parent-substitute types being considered suitable matches. In _Mansfield Park_, Fanny Price’s perfect match is Edmund Bertram, who is not only her first cousin, but basically her brother – they grew up in the same household from a pretty young age. And in _Wuthering Heights,_ the younger Catherine Linton marries **two** of her first cousins! Her father’s sister’s son, Linton Heathcliff, and her mother’s brother’s son, Hareton Earnshaw. The first marriage she is forced into by Heathcliff, who is scheming to get his hands on Thrushcross Grange by inheriting it from his sickly moribund son; but the second marriage constitutes the Happy Ending. > [@acsenray](#): > > There’s an example of how the Lewis Carroll situation was viewed in the Edwardian era from the Jeeves and Wooster stories. Madeleine Bassett, whom Bertie wants desperately to avoid marrying, eventually weds the 8th Earl of Sidcup (a/k/a Sir Roderick Spode). The situation is explained that Spode knew Madeleine from “when she was so high” and had always loved her. The implication is that the adult Spode was in love with a child, and he married her when she came of age. There is no implication that there’s anything creepy about this. It is presented as something that is considered very fairy-tale-ishly romantic. Don’t you think there’s something to be said for that attitude? Frankly, I’ve never seen anything particular creepy about Woody Allen’s most recent marriage. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/89 "2006-03-28T23:13:39Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > While it’s not a movie, I want to share my hate for the anime [Don’t Leave Me Alone, Daisy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294147/). Now anime has a lot of geek fantasy stories where the borderline stalker geek gets the girl of his dreams after doing something stupid/brilliant. That’s what I thought this was going to be when I got it. > > Silly me. While it is about a geek, there’s nothing **borderline** about his stalker tendencies. I don’t remember much, but I remember very clearly that he spent all his time with the girl (whom he’d tricked or kidnapped into spending time with him) calling her “Daisy,” instead of her name. When she complained it wasn’t her name, he told her it was her name. The other name was just a mistake. (shuddering) I did not finish the series to see how it came out. When this unstable character was revealed to have a pet nuclear armed cruise missile on top of his continuing creepiness, I just couldn’t keep watching. Well, if you didn’t finish it, you can’t say whether this plot satisfies the OP (an actual romance, disturbing to you but apparently not intended to be disturbing). As described, it doesn’t. I imagine the rest of the story would involve her trying to get away from him, not cuddling up and making excuses for his behavior. And BTW – when is our society going to do something about all this irrational, bigoted, narrow-minded prejudice against stalkers?! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/90 "2006-03-28T23:15:57Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > The 1994 flick **“The Professional.”** That skeevy interaction between assassin Leon (Jean Reno) and rebelious 12-year-old Mathilda, played by Natalie Portman. > > Ick raised to the 9th power. But not a “romance,” strictly speaking; more of a rescuer/protector/mentor relationship. And it was clear enough he had a code of behavior that would never allow him to touch her inappropriately even if she begged for it, which she practically did. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/91 "2006-03-28T23:20:47Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > **Sixteen Candles**. Michael Anthony Hall sheds his virginity with a girl who’s drunk to the point of unconsciousness, and videotapes it. Am I missing any mitigating circumstances here? 1. He actually has his friends photograph (not videotape) them together, just to prove it happened, 'cause nobody would ever believe he would be sitting next to the Homecoming Queen. (And this kid is smart; presumably he knows what date-rape is and, were that his intention, would not be creating photographic evidence.) 2. He apparently gets so drunk himself, afterwards, that the next morning he cannot remember whether they did it or not. Her memory is slightly clearer. So, who took advantage of whom? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/92 "2006-03-28T23:23:42Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Disney’s **Tarzan**. When he replaces his stepfather as king of the apes, Tarzan inherits dad’s harem. The movie glosses over that part, but that’s how an alpha male ape stays in position. You didn’t think, did you, that a healthy young stud like Tarzan was still a virgin, when he met this weird-looking, pale, bald-all-over she named Jane? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/93 "2006-03-28T23:28:28Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I agree with Renault’s conquests being icky. Sex with women who are desperate to get an exit visa is questionable, at best. Yet another thing people gag at now, but winked at back in the day. (Hey, didn’t we have a “Sexual Revolution” or something sometime in there?) OTOH, Rick’s intervention on behalf of the one **married** woman makes it clear that, at least in his judgment, there are some lines that should not be crossed. On the gripping hand, even after that, Rick still does not view Renault as such a sleaze that they can’t have a “beautiful friendship” at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/94 "2006-03-28T23:31:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Lovers temporarily thwarted by the guy’s possessive, overbearing, bigoted mother? What’s so creepy about that? I squirmed in my seat because Albert is such an oily, passive-aggressive buttferret and Rosie is a smart, self-assured woman who deserves better than wiping that jackhole’s bottom for the rest of her life. Mostly it was like a disturbing time capsule of its era: successful men deserve romance despite glaring character flaws, and women aren’t complete until they’ve attached themselves to these men. I know, I know, not a new observation. But creepy nevertheless. Oh, and speaking of creepy, about a year ago I started a thread about [skeevy sex comedies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=306957). Worth reading as a corollary to the current subject. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/95 "2006-03-28T23:43:21Z")
> [@well he's back](#): > > oh my gosh - saorise posted the ones I was going to mention. I think “McClintock” is the where John Wayne spanks her in front of the whole town. I saw that as a young girl and it almost made me physically ill. In the movie it’s played “cute.” Yeh, yeh . . . You probably hated “Taming of the Shrew” too. Don’t forget, this is pre-feminist comedy. A man had a **right** – even a duty – to dominate his women, and the man who couldn’t was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/96 "2006-03-28T23:46:06Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > The Goldie Hawn movie, [Overboard](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093693/). Another skeevy stalker dude lying to a woman, and falling in love, so it’s all okay. :rolleyes: Well, technically, he wasn’t a stalker, and indeed, wasn’t in love with Hawn’s character for most of the movie. The whole idea (at first) was to get gleeful revenge on a hated bitch. That makes it less “uncomfortable” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/97 "2006-03-28T23:48:51Z")
> [@well he's back](#): > > oh my gosh - saorise posted the ones I was going to mention. I think “McClintock” is the where John Wayne spanks her in front of the whole town. I saw that as a young girl and it almost made me physically ill. In the movie it’s played “cute.” It’s been a while since I’ve seen that movie, but IIRC he (Wayne) also encourages his daughter’s boyfriend (played by Wayne’s uniquely talentless son Patrick) to spank her (daughter/girlfriend) as well. Apparently he was just a rancher with a fetish. _Lost in Translation_ bothered me because of the real life age difference between Bill Murray (53 during shooting) and Scarlet Johansson (17 when shooting began). In the movie she’s playing a slightly older and he a slightly younger character but it was still a bit icky. (Of course I disliked that movie for enough reasons that this one was minor.) ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/98 "2006-03-29T00:11:10Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Lost in Translation_ bothered me because of the real life age difference between Bill Murray (53 during shooting) and Scarlet Johansson (17 when shooting began). In the movie she’s playing a slightly older and he a slightly younger character but it was still a bit icky. (Of course I disliked that movie for enough reasons that this one was minor.) I liked that film, so I didn’t find it creepy. But also I don’t remember anything … being physically consummated. I only saw it once, so maybe I blocked it out, but as I recall they just slept next to each other once. They definitely had romantic chemistry, but it was more the bond of kindred spirits rather than a sexual thing. On the other hand, I never could accept Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt in _As Good As It Gets_. First, the age difference. I just couldn’t buy it, though I know it happens. Second, I don’t think The Jack is as sexy as everyone else seems to think. Third, he’s a royal-ass jerk through the whole movie and even his “You make me want to be a better man” speech isn’t enough to make me wilt. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/99 "2006-03-29T00:14:11Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > It doesn’t even factor in. Bogie makes me squirm unless he’s killing somebody. It’s like he’s slobbering whenever he speaks. I just see drool in any close encounters and regardless of Betty’s choice to hook up with him in real lfe, he’s still unnerving to me. If you want some news that will make Bogie seem like Mel Gibson (young) , consider that IRL, Betty had a crush on Burgess Meredith, so I think that Bogie was her best choice by far. hh ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-romances-you-found-extremely-disturbing-though-they-werent-supposed-to-be/350053/100 "2006-03-29T00:18:06Z")
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