Thoughts about rewatching movies

I noticed something a few times now when I rewatched a certain movie or series that I liked a lot a few years ago. You know usually, you have a character in the story that you like the most, that you root for and maybe you even identify yourself with that character. Usually, it’s quite easy for me to immerse myself in any story, but it’s much easier to get lost in a story when you feel part of it and you can identify yourself with some part of the story. Basically the same thing applies to music.

I don’t know about you, but when I rewatch a movie that I loved in the past, I can still clearly remember how I reacted to the story and how I thought about it. So, when rewatching a movie what I do is, compare the way I react now to the story with how I reacted in the past. That can be quite interesting and revealing. You can really notice in what way you have changed.

The show that made me realize this…

For me, the first time I noticed this very specifically was when I rewatched still one of the best series “Breaking Bad”. I remember so specifically that when it came out I was always excited about the next episode and I just loved the show. In the beginning, I believe everybody roots for Walter White. He gets cancer and then he just wants to make sure that his family is taken care of. Yeah, he starts cooking meth, but I mean, he doesn’t put anyone in risk and he is gonna die anyway. Some might disagree that it is the right thing to do and it probably isn’t. But you can at least understand why he does it.

What changed?

The main driver of the series is, how the people change with time, especially Walter White. He becomes more and more a badass. That’s what I thought the first time I watched “Breaking Bad”. When I rewatched it I noticed how Walter slowly just became an egoistic asshole and manipulated the people around him just to get what he wants and doesn’t care about the consequences it has for the people around him. He still has his moments throughout the series and I mean, it is still an awesome character, but me personally, I don’t sympathize with the character anymore as much as I did the first time I watched the show.

Yeah, science bitch!

Now to Jesse Pinkman… As you might imagine, in the past I didn’t like the character at all. He just messed things up and seemed like a pussy to me. I kinda thought that it is okay that Walter manipulates him. Just an addict that doesn’t get his life together and always makes the wrong decisions… That’s at least the main thought I had when watching it the first time. Now I see much more about Jesse and I relate more to him than to Walter. What I like the most about Jesse’s character is, that he is such a human. He is filled and overwhelmed with feelings and tries somehow to handle it. Also, most of the shitty things Jessie does were kind of forced by the people around him.

For me, the main thing that changed is, that I definitely see myself more in Jesse than in Walter. Still, both characters definitely shouldn’t be your idols. Walter is the person that does everything to get what he wants and thinks that it is alright to do bad things to get to a good thing. Pinkman instead thinks about how to get somewhere, but is too easily manipulated by the circumstances around him and is not able to make clear decisions for himself.

Here is one of my favorite scenes of Jesse:

Now that I am writing this, I think I might write a post just about Breaking Bad. There is so much more to learn from the show.

The story is still the same, but you might not be…

There were a few other moments when I noticed that I feel differently about the story and it made me realize how much I changed in the past years. Not only that I changed but it also made it clearer to me in what way I changed. I think that is a very interesting process and wanted to share it. Maybe next time you rewatch a movie you can pay attention to how you changed. It also might be that you notice that you react still the same, but it gets clearer to you why.