People who were teens in 80's... what did you think of 16 candles at the time?

[Anonymous]

Did not seem as horrible back then as it does now.

[Anonymous]

I liked it, although the first time I watched it, my mom was watching too and then berated me because it had that topless locker room scene. I had no idea that was in there and my mom made me feel so awful about it—like I had purposely chosen a porno or something. She had an uncanny knack for ruining everything, not to mention I took PE and saw naked girls every day of the week (plus myself!) But yeah, I liked the movie. Thought it was funny.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t watch it in the 80s because I wasn’t born yet but I do remember watching it as a teen in 2004 or 2005 and I don’t remember any of those parts so I must not have thought it was bad at the time. I’ll have to rewatch some of the movies mentioned here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes! It was hilarious. Long Duck Dong part felt wrong, though.

But very funny back then.

[Anonymous]

One of my family’s favorite movies. My siblings and I were teens in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember thinking Long Duck Dong was offensive. But the rest seemed completely normal.

I don't want to make this political, but when the Kavanaugh stuff was happening I had a hard time explaining to my younger friends that date rape wasn't something we had words for. Girls were blamed for making poor choices and we all took that at face value--it would have been unthinkable for many of us to call the police or tell your parents. Thank goodness times have changed.

This. My college roommate was messing around with a guy and he didn’t stop when she asked him. We didn’t have words for it. It wasn’t considered rape, nor consent. There was nothing to do but try to forget about it. If she hadn’t been a virgin that might have been easier. He probably was one too.

To my eternal regret I didn’t have the emotional maturity or the words to support her at the time...going to the police (or more likely campus security) would not have helped. We just didn’t talk about it after that weekend. I couldn’t handle it and didn’t know how to help.

How old are you people? I'm 51, about to mark my 30th college reunion, and we certainly knew what date rape was when I was in college. We absolutely "had words for" it. I realize that awareness has expanded and some norms have in fact changed, but unless you're elderly, date rape was already well understood decades ago.

I’m 57, and the same here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved 16 Candles when I was 15-16. I rewatched it this summer, and it is both racist and rapey. I also loved "Revenge of the Nerds" and it's also rapey.

Another 80s kid - and yep to all that.

Molly Ringwald wrote a great essay for The New Yorker about revisiting these movies that she starred in:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-about-the-breakfast-club-molly-ringwald-metoo-john-hughes-pretty-in-pink

The essay focuses on Breakfast Club, which has also aged poorly in a lot of ways. But it applies to 16 Candles, too, I think.

This was a great article! Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

I am 100% Asian and felt zero offense, both then & now at the whole Long Duck Dong character.
I thought it was funny how they always played that “dong” sound whenever he was featured, but I can see how certain people can get offended.

What I loved about the movie was the kind things Molly Ringwald’s Father told her that night on the sofa.
That if the guy she likes does not seem interested in her, then there is definitely something wrong w/him, not her.

I would have loved a Father who could have built me up like that.

All girls should have the opportunity to hear they are special by their own Dads.
There would be less tolerance on their end for staying w/men who treat them bad I believe.

[Anonymous]

Not 16 Candles, but reminiscing about the 80s - our high school political science class went to a Model UN competition somewhere far enough away to be a long bus ride. On the way back we almost convinced our teacher to buy beer for us. I remember it because I knew how wrong it was at the time and he actually considered doing it.

We had student smoking lounge outside which oddly was adjacent to the main entrance of the school.

I don't think we had any real safety standards in our chemistry lab.

By high school I was routinely left over night on the weekend alone when my parents went away. Nothing good came of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember thinking Long Duck Dong was offensive. But the rest seemed completely normal.

I don't want to make this political, but when the Kavanaugh stuff was happening I had a hard time explaining to my younger friends that date rape wasn't something we had words for. Girls were blamed for making poor choices and we all took that at face value--it would have been unthinkable for many of us to call the police or tell your parents. Thank goodness times have changed.

This. My college roommate was messing around with a guy and he didn’t stop when she asked him. We didn’t have words for it. It wasn’t considered rape, nor consent. There was nothing to do but try to forget about it. If she hadn’t been a virgin that might have been easier. He probably was one too.

To my eternal regret I didn’t have the emotional maturity or the words to support her at the time...going to the police (or more likely campus security) would not have helped. We just didn’t talk about it after that weekend. I couldn’t handle it and didn’t know how to help.

How old are you people? I'm 51, about to mark my 30th college reunion, and we certainly knew what date rape was when I was in college. We absolutely "had words for" it. I realize that awareness has expanded and some norms have in fact changed, but unless you're elderly, date rape was already well understood decades ago.

I’m 57, and the same here.

How many date rape victims do you know that went to the police and got a conviction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sad everyone is denigrating 80s movies. Because if you do that, your throwing our (sexist) music under the bus too. And if you so that, then you lose our spirit.

What I loved about the 80s is that we were scrappy and fun and a little wild. We did outrageous things and it was OKAY.

It was acceptable back then. It is not today, and I'm glad. Having sex with someone who is passed out is considered rape now. It wasn't back then.

I’m glad about that too, but I still love the 80s movies.

I haven't watched 16 Candles in a long time but I remember liking it when I did see it - typical 80's flick. I don't really remember the movie very well tbh so I can't speak about the controversial scenes being discussed here. But I want to point out that even back in the 80's it was NOT o.k. to have sex with or otherwise take advantage of a passed out person.

It's a movie. We knew that back then.

We knew it was bad but it was legal.

It seriously was not something that I heard of happening to anyone and I went to A LOT of parties. Yes, drunken hookups happened but nobody was having sex with anyone passed out cold - that would have been rape even back then.

Goody for you. But you are wrong, it happened all the time and my family is in law enforcement and they will tell you a passed out girl who reported a rape was called a “hoochie rape”... meaning she was a drunk slut and oh well he had sex with her she should not be a hoochie.

What charming relatives you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sad everyone is denigrating 80s movies. Because if you do that, your throwing our (sexist) music under the bus too. And if you so that, then you lose our spirit.

What I loved about the 80s is that we were scrappy and fun and a little wild. We did outrageous things and it was OKAY.

It was acceptable back then. It is not today, and I'm glad. Having sex with someone who is passed out is considered rape now. It wasn't back then.

I’m glad about that too, but I still love the 80s movies.

I haven't watched 16 Candles in a long time but I remember liking it when I did see it - typical 80's flick. I don't really remember the movie very well tbh so I can't speak about the controversial scenes being discussed here. But I want to point out that even back in the 80's it was NOT o.k. to have sex with or otherwise take advantage of a passed out person.

It's a movie. We knew that back then.

We knew it was bad but it was legal.

It seriously was not something that I heard of happening to anyone and I went to A LOT of parties. Yes, drunken hookups happened but nobody was having sex with anyone passed out cold - that would have been rape even back then.

Goody for you. But you are wrong, it happened all the time and my family is in law enforcement and they will tell you a passed out girl who reported a rape was called a “hoochie rape”... meaning she was a drunk slut and oh well he had sex with her she should not be a hoochie.

What charming relatives you have.

They don’t agree with it dumbass but they work with idiots and racists.

[Anonymous]

I was sort of confused and disturbed by 16 candles. But I grew up in a conservative home, didn't date til I was 16, and was a total nerd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the time I thought is was creepy that Jake was interested in Samantha. Samantha looked like a little kid. He Came off as a pedophile.

+1000 Could you image Jake showing up to take your 13-14 year old daughter on a date?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the time I thought is was creepy that Jake was interested in Samantha. Samantha looked like a little kid. He Came off as a pedophile.

+1000 Could you image Jake showing up to take your 13-14 year old daughter on a date?

Times were different, as many have noted here.
The most popular girl in my 7th grade class in 1984 was dating a senior in high school. We were all insanely jealous that she was going to the prom.