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

[Anonymous]

I loved those movies at the time — I was a young teen and somehow thought Sixteen Candles was romantic. Even then, I knew there were parts of it that were awful, but in an “awful because it rings true” way. I agree that many “classic” movies that 80s kids hold dear do not hold up over time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved those movies at the time — I was a young teen and somehow thought Sixteen Candles was romantic. Even then, I knew there were parts of it that were awful, but in an “awful because it rings true” way. I agree that many “classic” movies that 80s kids hold dear do not hold up over time.

I agree. I think part of their popularity was that so many of the details did seem authentic.

[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.

+1 times have changed, but Michael Schoeffling frozen at that time period is still HOT.

+1

Loved the movie when I was a young teen.

MANY movies from that era haven't aged well. And neither have rapey behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember thinking it was hilarious. People just didn’t get offended over everything back then. We knew how to laugh at ourselves.

You must be a fossil. Legions of jokes and movies were made on the concept that women only exist to provide sex for men. Yes, as women we laughed at some of these jokes, too. Sometimes because they were clever or outrageous. But mostly because humor was directed at and written by men at the time.

[Anonymous]

I liked Molly Ringwald's boyfriend/crush in the movie. He was soooo handsome and clean. Mainly clean. And omg no butt-crack or underwear showing for the men...GOLD.

I saw it in India and a teen.I was horrified by the American family who did not remember the birthday, the pregnant bride, the inappropriate grandparents, the underwear episode, the nude shower scene, the date rapey thing, the sexual escapades of the teens. I was also more horrified by the Asian parents who had sent their son to live in this place (more than the racism which was mainly ignorance rather than hatred).

I still liked the movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't remember the plot of 16 Candles so I guess I wasn't a big fan.

I do remember being very upset by the ending in Grease (so she changes into a slut to be with him? WTF I'm STILL upset about this, as every kid production does Grease).

Remember the one with Brooke Shields and some blonde guy on an island--YUCK; too much for me. LOL I still cringe thinking about it

I hadn't thought about Sixteen Candles for ages until recently it came up in a conversation with a millennial colleague of mine who's half Asian. She laughed about it but said it was really awful, and I realized it was indeed really, really awful, although I agree with others who said it was just accepted as normal at the time (FWIW, I'm 46). Which, ugh.

And yes, Grease! Watched it on a plane ride this past week after not having seen it for years and my God! The T-Birds are such unbelievable jerks through and through. The Sandy thing where she tries to become racy and 'cool' at the end also bothered me even as a kid (although I think they were trying to show Danny was at least doing the same for her, what with his letter jacket and all), but geez. The guys in that movie were such losers and there's nothing appealing about them at all.

Now, Blue Lagoon though...I dunno. I can still watch that and laugh. It's so ridiculous and surreal I can't relate it to real life at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was funny and a bit racy, but was bothered by the Asian stuff because my best friend was from the Philippines and got a lot of rude comments.

But when my 9 and 12yo kids watched it with me they labeled it as date rapey. So I tried again with the Breakfast Club which was better. I should have stopped there- they thought Dirty Dancing was creepy, DD thought Patrick Swayzie was a pedophile and Goonies was a flop too.

I think that's a bit much. How many people here have big age gap? He was supposed to be 24 in the movie. He was 34 IRL, and she was 26 IRL. 18 and 24 in the movie.

But he didn't look 24, he looked 34. Until I read your post, I had no idea his character was supposed to be younger.

[Anonymous]

Yes to everything already said.

Also, for you Gen-Xers like me: ever *really* listen to the lyrics to a lot of the Top 40 songs from that era, 1980-88?

So. Much. Casual. Rapey-ness. And stalker-positive vibe. ["Obsession" "Don't You Want Me, Baby" "Every Breath You Take" "Never Gonna Give You Up" etc]

And then there's the huge genre of statutory rape / pedophile top hits ["Don't Stand So Close to Me" "Father Figure".

I know, I know, sex and rock and roll (and rap) is nothing new. But the mid-80s stands out for its embrace of the "I've selected YOU and I not gonna take 'no' for an answer" theme.

[Anonymous]

I loved the central love story and Molly Ringwald's take on a generally angsty teen.

Every other storyline was problematic: the date rape, the racist tropes on Gedde Watanabe's character - with the bonus of treating Joan Cusack as a loser because of scoliosis - and the mafia jokes about the sister's fiance and her being drugged at the wedding (and presumably for the wedding night too).

[Anonymous]

I read an article recently that said you know you are a grown up when you identify more with the principal, Mr. Rooney, and think Ferris Bueller is an a-hole. I think similar things can be said for a lot of the 80s movies. They don’t age well.

[Anonymous]

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

This. The latter felt wrong even at the time, but I loved the rest of it.

Also, my family (parents & sibling) often forgets my birthday until a few days later, and my father inevitably references 16 Candles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1 times have changed, but Michael Schoeffling frozen at that time period is still HOT.

+1. I just googled him (not the first time lol) and he really was.

+2. So. Hot.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved those movies at the time — I was a young teen and somehow thought Sixteen Candles was romantic. Even then, I knew there were parts of it that were awful, but in an “awful because it rings true” way. I agree that many “classic” movies that 80s kids hold dear do not hold up over time.

I agree. I think part of their popularity was that so many of the details did seem authentic.

Yeah - I think that's right. That's what is so shocking now - we not only thought those movies were normal, but that BEHAVIOR was normal.

It is also why I 100% believe the BK story.