But beneath the popcorn and the remote control is something heavier:

The Unspoken Violence of the “Forced Movie”

With the rise of legacy sequels ("requels"), films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Jurassic World: Dominion often bend over backward to include iconic characters or references. When done well, it is a homecoming. When forced, it stops the movie cold.

Next time, say it plainly. “I don’t want to watch this.” Not as a negotiation. Not as a threat. Just as a truth. And if the other person can’t sit with that truth? Then it was never really about the movie.