5 Problems in Movies You Only Notice If You’re Old

#3. Self-Journeying Protagonists Are Dicks

Movies are good at featuring protagonists who throw aside their normal lives to find adventure … and themselves. The 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind is probably the most extreme example of this plot: in this movie, a young suburban father ends up leaving behind his earthly family to go travel the universe with aliens, after which no one at all is impressed with the neighbor’s really enlightening backpacking trip to India.

How It Changes

Director Steven Spielberg now regrets Close Encounters’ ending, calling the decision to have the protagonist leave his family a “privilege of youth.” Lead actor Richard Dreyfuss doesn’t have a better opinion:

Close Encounters was released 35 years ago. One day we’ll make a sequel where I return & have a difficult reunion with the kids I abandoned

— Richard Dreyfuss (@RichardDreyfuss) November 16, 2012