Sometimes, a TV show or movie can inspire you to make a big change in your life. A recent example is how Barbie inspired people to break up with their significant others.
And since movies and TV shows can cause some people to think differently about their lives, I asked the BuzzFeed Community, "Has a movie or TV show ever inspired you to change certain aspects of your life?" and so many individuals provided inspiring answers. Here's what they said below:
1. "I was with my boyfriend for a little over a year. Things were fine, but he was emotionally unavailable and was unwilling to discuss the future whenever I brought it up. I was getting annoyed but not enough to do anything about it. That is until I watched Ted Lasso and got some very wise words from the great Roy Kent: 'Don't you dare settle for fine.' That phrase flipped a switch in me, and I broke up with him a week later."
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—Anonymous, 31, Florida
2. "Comedian Daniel Sloss and his special called Jigsaw. He uses puzzles as an analogy: Everyone has their own puzzle they are working on throughout their life, and some of us will ruin our own puzzles (aka life) to make sure another person can fit into it. It made me realize that I had done that exact thing with my partner, and that was the reason why I was so miserable with myself. It was a really hard thing to realize, and it was even more challenging to leave that relationship, but as of right now, I haven't been this happy in a long time. I seriously recommend everyone to watch his stuff."
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3. “Under the Tuscan Sun was my favorite movie growing up as a closeted gay boy in Alabama. When I turned 20, I applied to be an au pair for a family in Italy, and four weeks later, I moved to Milan. I’d never been to Italy before, and I didn’t tell my friends or family until it was a sure thing. To this day, it was the greatest decision I ever made. Last summer, I finally made it to Cortona, Italy, and lived out my Under the Tuscan Sun dream, but I did it as someone who had already lived in Italy and understood the culture. Now, Italy feels like my true home and it’s all because of Frances Mayes and Diane Lane."
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—Thomas, 30, Alabama
4. "Into the Wild flipped a switch in my head. I couldn’t sleep the night after I watched it for the first time because I felt so excited just to live life. The next day, I started the process of leaving my small, super religious Texas hometown. It ignited my free spirit torch and created the hippie-self I am today."
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—RyRy, 39, Texas
5. "Whisper of the Heart by Studio Ghibli has always been one of my favorite movies, but a couple of years ago, it really helped and encouraged me to have confidence in my abilities as a writer and to follow my dreams. So, now, I'm seriously considering publishing a short poetry book."
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—Hannah, 30, Washington
6. "Brittany Runs a Marathon impacted me unexpectedly. Her partying lifestyle and humor were relatable, but the thing that resonated the most was her struggle to change — particularly the lack of support she had from her party-hardy friends. I was in a place in my life where I realized many of my 'friends' were only interested in my fun side and did not actually care about my well-being. It was incredibly lonely (and still often is), and by the end of the movie, I was bawling. Her failures and subsequent perseverance were inspiring! Especially as it was based on a true story. What a woman!"
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7. "Believe it or not, my show of choice would be South Park. In the episode 'You’re Getting Old' (Season 15, Episode 7,) the character Stan has a birthday and realizes that the world around him is changing. Things that he used to like all seem shitty (things started to look like shit physically. Lol.), which leads him to become depressed essentially. You might think this episode would have a happy ending where Stan becomes happy and embraces the change, but no. This episode ends with a montage of Stan just living in a world of shit and sadness with the song 'Landslide' playing in the background."
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"How could this episode be impactful in any way? I’ve always had a fear of change and growing up. I was scared all this change would be too much for me to take in and something bad would happen. I always assumed that I would be happy with these changes one day.
This episode showed me that this might not happen because change is a normal, human thing. Everyone is scared of it, but it’s not going away anytime soon. So what do we do? We have to learn to just live with it. We can’t be scared, or it will ruin us. It can make you scared of living.
If I could say anything to anyone, it would be to make the most out of your life and be prepared for a change."
—Millie, 15, Tennessee
8. "American Horror Story: Delicate helped me realize I didn’t want to give up on my fertility journey, which, unfortunately, has involved multiple years of hardship. I put a lot of stigma on myself and was harsher to myself than I would've ever been to another woman going through the same."
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"I’ve been a fan of AHS since 2013. Somehow, seeing IVF through the lens of this show I’ve loved for years made it seem okay for me in a way I couldn’t see before. I’m currently taking a year off, both to save money and for my mental health, with plans to move forward in 2025. I am unsure if I would have gotten there without watching Delicate — even if I’m the only one alive who liked it."
9. "Matilda. Being a dorky kid who loves reading, it was beautiful to find a strong, confident character who also loved reading. In the '90s, it was so common to see kids like her being typecasted as 'the dweeb.' I read the book, and the movie is still one of my favorites. As I got older, I started seeing how Miss Honey noticed someone who had spent their entire life being unnoticed, and that helped steer me towards being a teacher. Now, I'm a special education teacher who works with kids who have moderate to profound intellectual disabilities, and my job is to help these kids discover their own abilities when they have spent most of their lives being in the background. I get to live that movie every day but with less cake and, thankfully, a less terrifying principal."
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—Katie, 33, Texas
10. "Queer Eye helped me to see that I wasn't taking very good care of myself. I started putting more effort into my appearance and keeping my home tidy. It really pulled me out of a funk and helped me to enjoy my life more."
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11. "The Fountain. In ‘09, my mom passed away, and a few days later, I rewatched that movie. The way it talked about grief and death. Plus, the story Izzi tells about her Mayan guide's father, how he planted a tree over his father’s grave so his body could live on by nourishing the land around it, and how he flew with the birds when they ate a seed from the tree, etc. There’s a tree over my mom's grave, and I always think about that when I'm struggling. She really is all around in how she’s nourishing the world. It helped more than a lot of ghost malarkey."
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12. "Take This Waltz. My ex-husband and I lost a child and the relationship between us was irreparably broken. The loss changed us and I really wondered if we were meant for other people or, if the aftermath of loss was just something we had to settle into somehow. Like, we tried to find happiness in what was left, but it felt forced. There was a line I’ll never forget that Sarah Silberman’s character said, in that, 'Life has gaps in it. It just does. You don’t go crazy trying to fill it.' We did go crazy trying to fill these gaps and neither of us were happy about it. I left 3 months after seeing this film and have since remarried and started a new life with someone else. It’s been 11 years and I’ll never forget the film that helped me do it.
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—Anonymous, 32, Arizona
13. "Taxi Driver (the Korean Series). This is a weird answer, but this series opened my eyes to a lot of real-life cases in South Korea that I had no idea about until now (WeDisk, the Cho Doo Sun case, and Burning Sun gate), which taught me that I need to learn how to be safe and sound as well as protect myself and others if things like this ever happen. On the positive side, the characters, especially Kim Do-Ki, Ahn Go-Eun, and Kim So-Yeon's characters, kind of made me want to learn to be more confident in myself, my body, my sexuality and look gorgeous and sexy in fashion like them."
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14. "The Bear has changed my life in so many ways. While I'm able to see some of the toxic behaviors as definitely negative, there are so many moments that resonated with me, such as being dedicated to one's art makes one a better person. Dedication to serving others and making them at their most comfortable transforms us into better people. The big thing that stood out is how Carmy (despite having moments of not great leadership) is a great listener, mentor, teacher, and leader. He sees the hidden potential in all the people in his life and helps them find their greatness. He explains why certain terms are used as a sign of respect. If someone asks him to try a dish, he compliments them first and then critiques them. If someone has a question, he stops what he is doing and gives them his full attention."
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"As a sidebar, there is also the moment with Chef Terry and Richie peeling mushrooms. Why peel mushrooms? It's a little thing to let the customer know that someone took the time and care to do such a small thing, essentially, a preview of the amount of care and love that went into a dish.
I volunteer with a high school theater, doing costumes for their musicals. I would always build something small into the outfits for those cast members that the audience can't see. The students now know that I do this, and they look for that little extra bit. Service and art, whatever art it is, blankets others with love and appreciation."
—Jess, 47, Pennsylvania
15. "Poor Things. Bella Baxter inspired me so much, especially her growing character development and intelligence. I related to her a lot, especially when seeing both the good and bad parts of the world while going around new places and finding her own agency and independence. I teared up at the end out of happiness because I hope and pray I get this kind of development for myself, too, and become stronger."
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16. "In the early '90s, I was in high school in the Midwest. To say the culture was homophobic was an understatement; I'm hetero, but homosexuality was always a punchline. But then I saw a show on HBO called The Kids In The Hall, a sketch comedy show from Canada. One troupe member was Scott Thompson, an unapologetically gay actor and comedian. He performed skits and monologues that were absolutely amazing — many of them regarding homosexuality. In retrospect, those skits and his bravery at that time reinforced what I already knew: It's totally okay to be gay. I am SO grateful for that show and Scott Thompson for smashing stereotypes, especially during that time. I know my views and politics would be very, very different today if not for that show."
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17. "Greek. I was a junior in high school, nervous about going to college. Obviously, not everyone's college experience is like the show, but it made me feel better about not having my life figured out and still having room to grow and find myself. Your life doesn't have to be planned as soon as you graduate."
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18. "The Good Place helped me figure out what kind of person I want to be and how I view the afterlife. My dad and I watched the show, and he got hit by a drunk driver a few months after the show ended. We used the 'picture a wave' quote in the eulogy. It really helped me find solace in thinking my dad may be in his Good Place."
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19. "I met my best friend through Our Flag Means Death. We're both super active in the fandom community and bonded over our love of a divisive character in the show. Then we realized I was moving half an hour from where she lived. Now, I see her and her husband at least twice a week, including weekly trivia night. I have a whole friend group I wouldn't have found otherwise, and my best friend and I even went to New York Comic Con together to meet some of the actors from the show. I'm planning on moving closer to her and her husband when my lease is up, and the three of us have made tentative plans to travel together, including a trip to Europe."
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20. "Disenchantment helped me realize that sometimes, the best kind of love comes from the friends you keep. As someone single in their late twenties, I constantly must remember this. Seeing Bean, Luci, and Elfo’s friendship helped me understand how having good friends can be healing."
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21. "The Star Trek series and movies. Yeah, I know — some dorky sci-fi. But hear me out: My dad got me into it as a kid. Unlike most sci-fi, it actually depicted the future Earth in a positive light and not as a dystopian nightmare. Thanks in part to technology, there was no more poverty, hunger, or homelessness. Most diseases and injuries could be easily cured. People were free to pursue their passions. Racism, homophobia, misogyny, and so on were practically nonexistent. So, I became very optimistic for the future while acknowledging that change takes time. It led me to pursue a career in technology, to hopefully help in some small way to usher in that better future. So, ever since, most people know me as the optimistic tech guy!"
