The main character would be seen as too "problematic" for this to be made today

Which is really a shame. Not so much because I pine for cinematic toxic masculinity or whatever, as I would surely be accused of by some.

More because what that really means is that we can’t portray onscreen what being a young straight* guy dealing with being dumped by his girlfriend is like from his point of view, with all of the jealousy and obsessiveness that ensues, unless we make him a villain.

And this is such a major portion of the human condition. But I refuse to accept the idea that every guy who goes through this and struggles with it this way is a bad guy. That would make almost all guys bad guys.

There’s no doubt that this low point in their life is not the moment when they are putting their best foot forward. But as long as they are not engaging in violence or really threatening behavior, I think they should be cut some slack, as they are going through a rough patch. (And I would not count driving by the ex-girlfriend’s apartment to see if another guy is there, or going to her workplace to whine and try to cajole her into coming back, as “really threatening behavior”, even if it would obviously be discomfiting to her.)

They also would not now let the character say he would love to be “any kind of musician, except classical or rap”. (In fairness, it’s probably true that a RL character of this sort would be less likely nowadays to feel that way about rap/hip-hop, or at least to say it out loud.)

*Maybe it’s more or less the same for gay guys, I don’t know.