I don't think I was braver. There is one film that got under my skin a great deal - not so much in a scary way (although there were scary elements) but in an emotionally traumatic, but also cathartic way. Funnily enough, Spielberg was also responsible, and the film was E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

(I saw Jaws about a year after E.T. came out, albeit on television, and I've since seen it multiple times, including a couple of times in the cinema during rereleases.)

More here: https://fanfare.pub/retro-rewind-how-e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-changed-my-life-8b981348f485