Photo: Magnolia Pictures
After watching a good Oscars speech, it’s common to think about all the movies that changed the course of history. Whether it was in their message, their direction or their casting, there are more than a couple of major movies to do so, but these 10 films seem to encapsulate some historical change in the way we see movies, as well as how we live our lives.
Black Panther, as well as the recent A Wrinkle in Time, have catapulted people into a major shift, while movies like Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Psycho set the bar for standards of their time and genres. These movies enrich us with entertainment while educating us about equality, activism and environmentalism.
So come along with us as we ride the wave of movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Dallas Buyers Club, which helped raise awareness, while others like Super Size Me, Blackfish and The Cove showed us things that would change the way we eat and live. And then there are movies like Toy Story, which revolutionize the movie experience.
Groundbreaking Movie
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Fast Food Dieting - "Super Size Me" (2004)"
A month of the McDonalds diet showed viewers the effects (and side effects) of eating unhealthy all the time. Not only did it show us what we expected but much, much worse and a few big, fat surprises.
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Dolphin Killing - "The Cove" (2009)"
Photo: Lionsgate Roadside Attractions
Dolphin poachers in Japan are called out by activists who slaughter these mammals in the bay. Somebody (me) didn't eat seafood for months.
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Senseless SeaWorld - "Blackfish" (2013)
The Shamu Show at SeaWorld was replaced after the public protest coming with this award-winning documentary.
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Black Lives Matter - "Selma" (2014)
The creators of this Oscar-nominated film aligned themselves with the timely Black Lives Matter movement after unresolved police shootings with young African Americans as they attempted to tell the story of Martin Luther King's fight for voting rights.
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Climate Change - "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004)
Dennis Quaid plays a climatologist who gets turned away when he tries to discuss his research, right before one of an enormous superstorm rolls through. While its authenticity was questioned, the movie performed well in theaters and eventually rose awareness amongst many scientists about climate change.
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First Fully Computer Generated Animation - "Toy Story" (1995)
Aside from being the first Pixar animation, Toy Story became the first fully computer-generated feature, which set record breaking box office number and spurred one of the first animated trilogies to compete. We learned quickly that animated films have the capacity to tell some of the best stories with unlimited boundaries (except their rating).
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First Handheld Feature - "The Blair Witch Project" (1999)
In the same year as The Matrix, we saw a handheld feature made for $24K take home $150 million at the same time we saw the start of CGI trilogies take off.
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AIDS Epidemic Government Aid - "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013)
Ron Woodroof's story started at the time of the AIDS breakout in the early 1980s when government resources were cut. Matthew McConaughey received an Oscar for playing the role of the guy, who like many others, helped to reinstate government resources, gain support for testing and other vaccinations and start activism for diseases that need attention, along with others to come, like breast cancer.
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First Successful Female Superhero - "Wonder Woman" (2017)
To reiterate, last year we saw a female lead in a superhero movie with a large female ensemble that killed in the box office. A Wrinkle in Time followed these first two movies with a successful female ensemble, a female director, and, of course Chris Pine. Diversity is the new norm in Hollywood it seems as the #MeToo movement seems to have ousted people who were part of the problem.
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First Black Superhero with All Black Cast - "Black Panther" (2018)
With the success of Black Panther early this year as one of the three fastest grossing movies ever, along with its strong female cast, we expect to see a shift in the way movies are cast moving forward.
