"Love Actually" is probably the best example for wearing nostalgia goggles when it comes to enjoying a piece of media if there ever was one.

You know, I enjoy movies and TV Shows that can be deemed a "product of its time" to a certain degree. Like, take "Friends" for an example. There’s so much humor in the show and so many views we, as a society and individual people, have grown out of and it certainly displays some forms of humor that shouldn’t have been accepted even in the 90s, but we learn and grow and change (some of us do). I can still enjoy it and love it for what it is, because it brings me back to simpler times and gives me a specific peace of mind I‘m often lacking these days. And that’s what nostalgia does. It brings us back to places, mostly to give comfort.

"Love Actually" is a film I‘ve been watching around Christmas probably since it first came out and I still do it every year. It was a tradition first, now it feel like more of an obligation.

While "Friends" has aspects that haven’t aged well, "Love Actually" as a whole is just the opposite of fine wine and one of the few examples where the nostalgia goggles wear off with each passing year.

I don’t hate it or anything, I still remember why I initially loved it, and I still enjoy certain aspects, but overall it just is one big red flag of everything that should not be considered romantic.

The movie is an extravaganza of body shaming, sexism, cheating, homophobia and many more aspects that just make me say "yikes.“

Just to cover a few examples:
- Nathalie is not only body-shamed for no fucking reason, but also sexually assaulted and punished for it.
- Mark is a stalker
- Everything about the Colin Frissell storyline and the portrayal of women
- Whatever the fuck is going on between Billy Mack and his manager
- Sarah never getting a resolve for always putting her brother first and staying miserable
- The whole cheating storyline and how it’s handled

There’s just so much. And the question is... why? None of this is actually romantic. A lot of these characters are quite miserable if we think about it.

And even the storylines I personally think are less in the issue zone are not free of it.

I always enjoyed Jamie and Aurelia, but even here we have the body shaming of the sister, the questionable aspect of British superiority complex to her Portuguese heritage and the issue that Jamie falls for his housekeeper without knowing her and "saving" her from her poor life.

Sam‘s puppy love is also quite adorable and at least it’s kids falling in love so the fucking airport chase is at least not as bad. (Though I also don’t get how grief is addressed in this storyline).

That leaves substitute porn actors John and Judy, who are ironically probably the least offensive storyline of the whole movie.

Like I said, I know why I initially enjoyed this film. I understand why people still do. I get why it’s considered a Christmas classic. It’s just, my nostalgia goggles are highly dysfunctional when it comes to his movie.