One of my favorite teen movies was 16 Candles, which I loved as a kid, and looked forward to showing my son, when he got old enough.
The day came, and he watched it without cracking a smile. When it ended, he asked, “What did you think was funny? The underage binge drinking, the wanton destruction of a beautiful house, the Asian racism, or maybe it was the statutory rape? What exactly is funny about this movie?”
Wait, you mean to tell me that 16 Candles was supposed to be a comedy!?
Teenage me absolutely did not pick up on that tidbit when I saw it in the early 2000s. I just saw it as yet another crappy romance film from the 80s. I was so bored that I can’t actually recall a single memorable scene from the film.
Hate to break it to you, dude, but the movie was very much a product of its time. Anyone younger than Gen X isn’t going to “get” the film. As a Millennial, I surely don’t.
Anthony Michael Hall’s character of The Geek was a comedy acting masterpiece. Easily the funniest teen character among ALL the great 80s New Wave Teen Comedies.
It was John Hughes’ first film, and it was a sloppy mess, but it was also an interesting concept because it flipped a lot of the standard teen movie tropes. The Main Girl was sweet and smart. Her parents weren’t idiots, they were overwhelmed by circumstances, but they were good people who loved their kids. The Big Athlete turned out to be a sweet guy who genuinely liked the Main Girl. And The Geek turned to be the coolest of them all.
As a fan of Home Alone, Ferris Bueller, and Planes/Trains/Automobiles, I get why you like the film, but from even a 20-year-old lens, it just doesn’t hold up to modern scrutiny. But you’re allowed to like what you like, so long as you acknowledge the fact that the whole sexual harassment subplot was fucked up then, and is still fucked up now. Poor Sam didn’t deserve to be treated like an object.
I guess I’ve only seen that movie once and it was about 30 or 40 years ago, I don’t remember a beautiful house being destroyed? I don’t remember any statutory rape? I guess it was just considered a normal sex scene back then? Either way I don’t remember that part either.
Remember the big party that was the centerpiece of the film? And the older guys were discussing having sex with the younger girls, one of them even saying “She’s a child!” But the older guy went after her anyway.
One of my favorite teen movies was 16 Candles, which I loved as a kid, and looked forward to showing my son, when he got old enough.
The day came, and he watched it without cracking a smile. When it ended, he asked, “What did you think was funny? The underage binge drinking, the wanton destruction of a beautiful house, the Asian racism, or maybe it was the statutory rape? What exactly is funny about this movie?”
He ruins everything.
Wait, you mean to tell me that 16 Candles was supposed to be a comedy!?
Teenage me absolutely did not pick up on that tidbit when I saw it in the early 2000s. I just saw it as yet another crappy romance film from the 80s. I was so bored that I can’t actually recall a single memorable scene from the film.
Hate to break it to you, dude, but the movie was very much a product of its time. Anyone younger than Gen X isn’t going to “get” the film. As a Millennial, I surely don’t.
Anthony Michael Hall’s character of The Geek was a comedy acting masterpiece. Easily the funniest teen character among ALL the great 80s New Wave Teen Comedies.
It was John Hughes’ first film, and it was a sloppy mess, but it was also an interesting concept because it flipped a lot of the standard teen movie tropes. The Main Girl was sweet and smart. Her parents weren’t idiots, they were overwhelmed by circumstances, but they were good people who loved their kids. The Big Athlete turned out to be a sweet guy who genuinely liked the Main Girl. And The Geek turned to be the coolest of them all.
As a fan of Home Alone, Ferris Bueller, and Planes/Trains/Automobiles, I get why you like the film, but from even a 20-year-old lens, it just doesn’t hold up to modern scrutiny. But you’re allowed to like what you like, so long as you acknowledge the fact that the whole sexual harassment subplot was fucked up then, and is still fucked up now. Poor Sam didn’t deserve to be treated like an object.
I guess I’ve only seen that movie once and it was about 30 or 40 years ago, I don’t remember a beautiful house being destroyed? I don’t remember any statutory rape? I guess it was just considered a normal sex scene back then? Either way I don’t remember that part either.
Remember the big party that was the centerpiece of the film? And the older guys were discussing having sex with the younger girls, one of them even saying “She’s a child!” But the older guy went after her anyway.
It was trashed during the party I think