Right, but who are these people? Is this a frequent misconception (that I have literally never encountered when discussing this film)?
Well...some of them are literally in this thread, even though they happen to find some of these things to be a plus. Which is perfectly reasonable.
Doesn't literally any film with a complex/flawed protagonist run the risk of some people taking everything they do as being okay? Doesn't every comedy that exaggerates scenarios or actions for comedic effect run the risk that some people will take those actions seriously?
Yes! And you can ask those questions about anything like this. "Doesn't
anything that goes in a direction run the risk of going too far in that direction?" It sure does.
(Also, my position is not that people will take "everything they do as being okay" or that any film which
can be misunderstood by anyone can be criticized on those grounds alone.)
"Stealing cars is okay if it makes you happy", then that person . . . is stupid.
See above. This is not my position. I'd hope that would be obvious if only because it's a ridiculous position.
My position is that movies like to romanticize free spiritedness a bit too much, to the point of being glib, and this is one of them. I'm not sure how someone gets from that to the idea that I think droves of morons are ethically rationalizing grand theft auto.
I didn't come out of Ocean's Eleven saying, "Well, I liked it. But I'm worried about all the people who are now going to try to rob Vegas casinos".
I didn't, either, but I find self-centeredness and a lack of empathy to be a much more common problem than casino robbery, probably because they're a lot easier to rationalize.
I think blowing up an innocent animal with an Acme rocket is worse than stealing a cookie, but I'd rather my kid see the former because not all actions (or contexts) are equally likely to be taken on board in some way.