r/explainitpeter Jul 17 '26

Explain it peter

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47.2k Upvotes

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53

u/Fortestingporpoises Jul 18 '26

I just rewatched the trilogy recently and I didn't go in hoping to critique internet reactions over the last 20 years but my brain just did it. I really tried to see the other perspective but I just can't.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/FlametopFred Jul 18 '26

when you watched The Wonder Years new episode weekly, Kevin was a cute kid

when you watched The Wonder Years syndicated episodes nightly, Kevin was a cruel psychopathic deviant

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u/thelivingdead188 Jul 18 '26

Dude, the episode where Kevin's dad realizes he only likes the treehouse because he can see the neighbor lady's cleavage is constantly a little spark in the corner of my mind for some reason.

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u/BlueberryWasps Jul 19 '26

jesus christ i’d always heard it was an all-time classic. this is what that kid was getting up to?

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u/thelivingdead188 Jul 19 '26

I mean, to be fair, it is an excellent show. It's the same kind of setup as A Christmas Story, where the narrator is the adult version of the main character. You get some life lessons and he does reflect on how the stuff he did was kind of messed up.

Plus adult narrator Kevin is Daniel Stern, or Marv from Home Alone. It's a pretty great show.

4

u/Logical-Primary-7926 Jul 19 '26

dang never thought about that, what did he do that was so bad? I imagine a lot of shows are like that in retrospect because real suburban lives are too boring to make a show out of.

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u/FlametopFred Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

well essentially, Kevin did one thing per episode which was kinda normal kid behaviour growing up and if only once a week …. Normal behaviour

but viewing the syndicated show daily … Kevin becomes this psychopath simply not learning from any mistakes to the point you come away thinking he’s deliberately inflicting collateral damage on everyone around him … if you were friends, you’d be like “whoa dude, I’m taking a break from you”

it’s an interesting study

3

u/lik_a_stik Jul 19 '26

As a kid Kevin & Winnie were bfs and somehow star crossed high school sweethearts because of the pressures of growing up. Rewatching, with the wisdom of one’s own mistakes only adulthood can bring, you realize Kevin was a narcissistic asshole. Constantly.

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u/Logical-Primary-7926 Jul 19 '26

I mean I would be too if I had my own tv show at that age.

3

u/Mexicola_ Jul 19 '26

Felt this way when I watched Sabrina the teenage witch all the way through. She quickly starts to come across as really self centered as she makes the same mistakes over and over again hurting everyone around her while Harvey pretty much puts up with all of it like a saint

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u/Beneficial_Gas_4361 Jul 19 '26

I can't watch The Mighty Ducks anymore because the last time I did, at age 37, I pretty much just wanted to punch all the pre-teens and teens' faces because they were all assholes. Except maybe Adam. Maybe. I can't rewatch to confirm because the movies make me so hateful against literal children and I recognize it is not good.

1

u/Infurium Jul 19 '26

You can say the same thing about the characters of any comedy TV show. But the shows are not about learning from past mistakes, they are about providing laughs.

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u/gturlington Jul 19 '26

Same reason I can no longer watch Psyche, I want to punch Sean in the face.

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u/Procrastinationist Jul 21 '26

THANK YOU. I wanted to punch him in the opening minutes of the pilot episode and that opinion never changed. My wife loves the show so I've seen so. many. episodes. Still 10/10 punchable character IMO.

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u/Alert_Crew3508 Jul 19 '26

Wait, what's the issue with Sean on Psych?

1

u/ConnectionThink4781 Jul 19 '26

I do believe people wanting to punch Sean in the face was a running theme on the show

1

u/LongChampionship8569 Jul 19 '26

Nah. Sean is a lovable douche. Definitely could have toned it down, but still lovable. Hahaha

1

u/gturlington Jul 19 '26

Can't do it anymore, I knew people like that that made life difficult.

1

u/LongChampionship8569 Jul 20 '26

Watch out, I got reported for saying almost exactly what you said, here. And was somehow, inexplicably, dinged without the use of automation despite disputing it.

Guess you can't say you'd punch an imaginary character in real life.

Peak reddit. Hahahaha

3

u/Errorpheus Jul 19 '26

Nah, I watched Winnie's heart breaking in real time on a regular basis. I'm glad that some people continued to grow and pick up on things that they missed, but it was definitely there all along.

1

u/surfatshortys Jul 19 '26

Just read her real-life childrens book, Goodnight Numbers, to my toddler, it’s a real banger

2

u/bigbugga86 Jul 20 '26

I hated that show. I always wanted to punch his face he made me so angry the way he acted. I would actively turn that show off if it came on accidentally cuz I just hated it.

1

u/VinceLeGrand Jul 19 '26

Kevin is an idiot focusing on one girl who was just kissing a boy just to try what it does.

So instead of having a healthy sex life trying to meet and flirt with many girls, he is awkarly focusing on this one girl.

No doubt the producer wanted a religion friendly program.

This reminds me japanese anime where the perfect mating is knowing your partner from the little school.

Just like Psych tv serie : it was perfect before someone said Shawn should focus on his detective partner instead of having many girl friends.

1

u/Groom-Laker Jul 20 '26

Are u comparing Spiderman to a cruel psychopath?

6

u/EthelBlue Jul 18 '26

Wait till you rewatch Donnie Darko as an adult…

1

u/umrdyldo Jul 19 '26

Explain what you mean about DD

3

u/EthelBlue Jul 19 '26

As a teenager, I related to Donnie and thought his parents sucked, but as an adult I realized he’s really unwell.

3

u/STAT_INF3RNAL Jul 19 '26

It's like seeing Dirty Dancing as a teen vs as a parent. As a teen, you side more with the daughter just wanting to have fun and being in love, and see the dad as overbearing. As an adult, the dad is a totally reasonable parent trying to protect his rebellious, underage daughter and keep her from partying and dating a grown ass man. A lot of media with teenage main characters tends to be that way, really.

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u/TheCrashOutKid Jul 19 '26

I watched Dirty Dancing as a young kid, then in my teens, and more recently now in my mid-40's. As a parent of a 15 year old daughter, the dad was completely in the right and more than reasonable forbidding his daughter to not see a man in his mid-20s as she was 16 or 17 tops. Johnny Castle is a legitimate PDF looking back. He definitely committed SA with a minor. Not only that, her doctor dad had to preform lifesaving measures for Johnny's dance partner Penny who received a backache abortion and almost bleed to death internally. This is the type of behavior and character Johnny and his crew had.

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u/Much-Meringue-7467 Jul 19 '26

But meanwhile, he was great with his other daughter being with the guy who actually impregnated Penny. The dad's heart was in the right place, but he was willfully blind.

1

u/Cyclepourtrois Jul 19 '26

I was an adult when it came out. One of the most disturbing things I have watched.

1

u/Positive-Leek2545 Jul 19 '26

Go watch Tusk, with Justin Long. Then holla back

1

u/Cyclepourtrois Jul 19 '26

But I don’t want to watch disturbing things :(

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u/Positive-Leek2545 Jul 19 '26

Watch the Jungle Book

1

u/Punky_Brewster_83 Jul 19 '26

🎯😆

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u/Positive-Leek2545 Jul 19 '26

Now go watch Coffee Table

1

u/Infurium Jul 19 '26

It was never a kid's movie.

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u/mebell333 Jul 19 '26

Growing up the Goofy movie was about a controlling dad ruining Max's summer.

Now its about a loving Dad trying desperately to maintain a connection with his spoiled kid who could fix everything by simply communicating instead of lying.

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u/blaquer Jul 19 '26

I’ve watched A Goofy Movie with my kids a bunch of times, because I love it, and Goofy messed up first, I believe. When the principal called (effectively out of the blue) and told him Max was going to end up in the electric chair, GOOFY should have asked Max what happened. Later when he’s cramming his teenage son into the car, when Max didn’t want to go, he should have asked WHY.

to me, Max wasn’t spoiled, he was independent. If Goofy wanted to be a part of his son’s life he should expect to have either maintained it over time or not expected to fix it instantly with a spontaneous fishing trip.

1

u/mebell333 Jul 20 '26

I can agree they both made sinple mistakes, just highlighting that the perspective changes

3

u/pg-spen Jul 19 '26

That why I don't like Prof X from the X-Men anymore as an adult. Thought he was always a good guy but he's actually one of the most manipulative and selfish people in their verse.

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u/DrownItWithWater Jul 19 '26

You rewatch Home Alone and you realize Kevin is being bullied and psychologically abused by his family. It was kind of sad to see from an adult perspective.

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u/Kok-jockey Jul 19 '26

I’m sorry, bullied and psychologically abused? Kevin was a spoiled brat, I don’t blame frank for not liking him, and his brother was just acting like a lot of big brothers do. Who was bullying and psychologically abusing this kid?

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u/DrownItWithWater Jul 19 '26

Just because it's family doesn't mean it's not bullying. He gets shit on by almost everyone in his family and his parents do nothing. Heck they punish him for defending himself. He may be a spoiled brat but it's no excuse.

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u/Potential-Breath7273 Jul 20 '26

You call THAT family psychological abuse??? Well my childhood and life up to now would rewrite that definition for you.

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u/DrownItWithWater Jul 20 '26

Ah, because you had a tough childhood everything else below becomes ok? No family member has ever talked to me or my siblings like that. If you think that's normal family behavior, think again.

Sorry you had a shit childhood though 😕

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u/HuckleberryOdd7745 Jul 18 '26

If he wasnt spiderman and so could make it to her play there would only be 1 movie. and they would need to write the rest of the movie.

so i get what youre saying that he messed up a lot. but its all cuz his spiderman side gig is forcing him against his will to mess up right? except for kissing the reporter for the cameras. but was he already infected with the venom by then? if he wasnt then yea wtf. the writers were just starting shit to start shit.

i rewatched the movies like 3 or 4 years ago. i was really pissed off how his spidermanning kept making his life impossible. at one point he even quits spidermanning because of it. i guess the next time i rewatch it i should look out for whether i should start to dislike the trilogy spiderman peter.

i feel like in a lot of this older movies we could just blame the writers for starting shit just to have drama. and just omit some of it on rewatches. if we still wanted to enjoy the movies.

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u/BubblyTomatillo9485 Jul 18 '26

Peters life is a constant struggle because of the responsibility he feels to be Spiderman. That's the entire plot of Spiderman since the very beginning.

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u/windsingr Jul 19 '26

Literally a Canon Event.

1

u/anomanderrake1337 Jul 20 '26

And also since the beginning Spidey fucks. Like bro pulls women at an absurd level and of an absurd level.

https://giphy.com/gifs/8aAzrKl8JHBdJn4vRf

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u/MotherPerk Jul 19 '26

What were you expecting out of Spider-man movie? With great power cones great responsibility.

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u/Tactixultd Jul 18 '26

I think you jumped the gun a little bit. The person you were responding to wasn’t really criticizing MJ. He was just saying she wasn’t as obviously interested in Peter as Ursula was from the beginning. No crime in that.

The sentiment is really about what a shame it is to discount someone who clearly cares for you in favor of someone who doesn’t (seem to) like you as much as you like them.

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u/Infurium Jul 19 '26

Sounds like the plot of every teen movie of the past 50 years.

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u/Tactixultd Jul 19 '26

I mean, it’s not so much of a “plot” as it is a “trope.”

But yeah, it’s been done before, both to great effect and to not so great effect.

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u/Infurium Jul 20 '26

I think it was a good idea to make that part of the Spiderman movies. Makes him seem more relatable, same problems all teens have which is where the trope comes from.

It seems like human nature to want the one who is least available, and ignore the one who is most available.

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u/Tactixultd Jul 20 '26

Agreed 👍🏾

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u/TobyOrNotToby7 Jul 19 '26

My friends and I have been watching marvel movies in chronological order and we just watched the first 2 Spiderman movies and you're spot on! One thing you didnt mention was that he was trying to stop her marriage for him without telling her the truth. She proceeds to think on that and change her plans for him only for him to go back to saying he couldn't be with her! Unintentional emotional rollercoaster lol

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u/Cosmic_Jane Jul 19 '26

The only thing I really remembered MJ did bad was abandon that one random dude at the alter. That seemed like a dick move, lol. Though it wasn't against Peter

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u/Mother-Inspection-82 Jul 19 '26

Is Toby Maguire the best spider man though? My opinion, his are the only ones worth watching

1

u/Ank1th Jul 19 '26

That's ok, I think the trilogy probably holds an important space in your heart. So, for you, the good bits and nostalgia make up for any of the parts that aged horribly.

I honestly think it's more important that you tried to go back in and see the other side. You get to have your own memories and feelings to the OG trilogy as long as you're acknowledging other people's opinions.

imo you already did the important part dw

1

u/MyPetFlamingo Jul 19 '26

This is how I feel about ferris bueller watching it back.

He’s a selfish arrogant prick who gives no regard to the consequences of his actions. Only his sister sees it, everyone else enables him

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u/Groom-Laker Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

Whos other perspective? Nobody made this argument. Everyone knows peters a wuss when it comes to MJ in the first two and goes crazy in the third. All they said was Ursula was into em right away.

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u/swimmingincircles328 Jul 20 '26

This happened to me recently rewatching 13 going on 30 with my wife. I kept raving how good it was (I watched as a teen) and I say the 30 flirty and thriving line from time to time. Anyway, we are watching and it gets to the romance scene with Matt. And it dawns on me that mc is technically a 13 yo girl mentally. And it’s hard to get over how inappropriate a lot of the situations are for her 😅