Cinema has played a very important role in bringing change to our society. Despite the protests, these films brought to us new ideas and showed us why we needed change. The film industry has given us many stories that made the mass population realize the underlying problems in society and bought light to them. Some of the impacted nations, some impacted the world, some just impacted certain groups. Either way, they are worth taking a look at.
Philadelphia
A movie that changed the way we look at the LGBTQ+ community, Philadelphia is on the top of our list of movies that changed the world for one sole reason —most of it is highly relevant today. The two-time Oscar winner, Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Song (Bruce Springsteen), the film continues to be a success twenty-five years after its release.
It was released at a time when AIDS had killed over 200,000 Americans and contracting it was considered a death sentence. However, with homosexuals being the most affected and widespread homophobia around the country making the government unconcerned with the spread of the disease, Philadelphia was like the light at the end of the tunnel.
The heart-breaking movie follows the life of Andrew, who is secretly gay and has AIDS. When the people at his office find out about his secret, he is fired. What follows is a courtroom drama of an intense legal battle where Andrew tries to sue his former company for firing him unfairly, all the while battling for his life against AIDS.
The movie changed the narrative around HIV-AIDS and empathy towards homosexuals. It played an important role in making people more open towards the LGBTQ+ community as well as evoking a need for change on how the disease was being handled.
Super-size me
The fast-food industry is responsible for a bunch of health issues amongst people who consume it regularly. However, the break-out documentary Super-Size me is a movie that changed the world of fast food forever. The filmmaker Morgan used himself as a guinea pig by starting a month-long experiment where he only ate McDonald’s for all his three meals to see what effects it would have on him mentally and physically. He documented all the effects and by the end of the month, he had been advised by all the physicians to stop his ongoing diet, had gained 30 pounds, and was suffering from depression, headaches, and sexual dysfunction.
While he was able to bounce back and become fitter after the documentary, its effects on the fast-food industry were permanent. Six weeks after its release, McDonald’s stopped the production of the “super-size” from its menu (apparently for rebranding).
Bambi
While it may come as a surprise that a Disney movie is on our list of movies that changed the world, you will agree that Bambi has created a huge impact. The animation coming-of-age follows a young fawn as he lives with his loving mother. The simple movie has made most of its audience cry, making it stay with them for days after. In one of the iconic scenes that broke hearts everywhere, Bambi’s mother is shot by a hunter and dies shortly after.
Striking a chord and bringing anti-hunting sentiments to the forefront of the world, the movie has played a huge role in decreasing the popularity of the sport and increasing public awareness around hunting.
Conservation awareness was another important issue that Bambi bought forward, laying the groundwork for environmental activism. You can watch Bambi for free on a TV aerial. To get one installed by professionals, click here.
An Inconvenient Truth
A unique documentary that is presented in an extremely weird way, an inconvenient truth is a movie that remains relevant and necessary even today. When it was released, it was considered unlikely that it would be successful on the commercial front, mostly because it is just a documentary that captures the former president AL Gore presenting an educational slideshow. However, it has gone on to become one of the most successful documentaries ever produced.
The documentary presents the inconvenient truth- human-made climate change is real, no matter how much we wish to refute it, and is a threat to life. The objective was to explain this threat and present solutions that might make a change. He concluded the documentary by saying that we had everything we needed to reverse climate change but we are lacking the will.
The film has had a significant impact on the conversation around the topic of climate change, inspiring the 2007 Live Earth concert. Extremely relevant today, An inconvenient truth is a movie that needs to be watched by everyone at least once.
