I think it is still acceptable to refer to things as "Oriental", but not people.
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AllEighties — 10 years ago(February 23, 2016 08:31 PM)
I'm a liberal Democrat and not offended.
I think it's closer to a question of whether you are a Millennial or not than anything else.
Hughes was just joking on everyone and it's not like people of any era, even today, don't do and say all sorts of stuff, he didn't make a PC movie and polish things up, he just showed it all. He wasn't celebrating it. -
AllEighties — 10 years ago(February 23, 2016 08:38 PM)
Plus, it seems a bit ironic so that many Millennials are in love with sitting inside all day blasting each other to bits with super realistic graphics, have no problem blasting gangster rap celebrating all that it does, want all of their movies dark, darker and darker than dark and more violent (otherwise it's 'corny' or 'shallow'), and are the only generation of kids to ever shoot up their schools with regularity (obviously this applies to almost no particular Millennial, it's just that something in the culture is going on that allows it to now happen for some minuter than minute fraction when even for that fraction it used to be unthinkable- although I suppose once the first time it happens, the copycat phenomenon alone can account for some bit of it), have no problem with hipsters sneering at everything and tearing down everything as being awful, and yet go insane because they dared have a shower scene in a PG movie or because some character said something that wasn't P.C. or some swimsuit model is thin (like most young people are) and not plus size.
I'd say the 80s teen movies, whatever else, had a lot more heart to them the most of the 90s/00s ones which seemed mostly just about max shock and gross out value, how is that better?
Sure the 80s were less PC (and in some ways that was bad and PC has done good things too for sure) but the overall youth culture was a bit more upbeat, positive and gentle in a way than in the mid-late 90s and 00s overall and people were more chill, less wary, less easily upset overall. -
wolverineland — 9 years ago(May 07, 2016 08:47 PM)
I went to high school in the 80s and it was a different time than. It wasn't an over-homogenized P.C. social media addicted nightmare that life has become now for so many people. It was a great movie then and it's still a great movie. I don't care about all these stupid over analysations people now all of sudden have about this film.
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whitespirit26 — 9 years ago(May 16, 2016 01:57 AM)
Lizzy, you're the first one to show objections here without getting ridiculously emotional over the whole un-PC thing. Good for you. And I get your distastefulness with the occasionally unpleasant humor; the film was simply clogged with a LOT of obnoxious characters, including two grammas who could have used an hour or two locked in a closet so they'd shut up. The humor got to be over the top, with too much going wrong or people crossing the line too often, but was not a bad film altogether.
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sonofbeach-sheet — 9 years ago(May 29, 2016 04:43 PM)
In John Hughes' world of the 1980's, if you were not a white, Anglo-Saxon, upper-middle class teen or a somewhat clueless and goofy white father of that social standing, you were a target to be made fun of. Period!
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Auntiemaim — 9 years ago(May 31, 2016 06:36 PM)
I totally agree with the original poster here. I remember loving this when it first came out-a beloved companion piece to my teen years. I just watched it again, bummed at the stereotypes, predatory attitudes toward women,and mean-spirited humor. This is from a time when filmmakers worried little about the negative impact on folks portrayed who weren't white and/or male.
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mistermycroft — 9 years ago(August 19, 2016 02:30 PM)
I was in high school in the late 1980s, and the teachers would ridicule Mexicans, Italians, Hindus, Arabs, and gays in front of the whole class, and no one thought anything of it, or did anything about it. Now, you'd be fired for that
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Killtrend — 9 years ago(October 09, 2016 11:05 PM)
I agree with you.
And yes, Jake did hint at sexual assault/rape. He said Carolyn was 'so drunk' that he could 'violate her in 10 different ways' and she wouldn't know it. I mean Really?
Also, Sam calls Ted a 'fag' on the bus. -
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rushmoore16 — 9 years ago(January 27, 2017 06:01 AM)
It's interesting to me that folks project the snowflake generation's ultra-sensibilities on a movie made over 30 years ago. As if Hollywood is expected to predict political correctness rather than make a commercially successful movie. My guess is that in 30 years, we'll look back at the junk Hollywood is making today and wonder why we were so easily offended that we couldn't make a movie that depicted reality. Like it or not, 16 Candles was real in 1984 and it's what people would pay to go see. Just because the content would melt snowflakes today doesn't make it a bad or offensive movie for 1984.
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scottlyle — 9 years ago(February 03, 2017 12:49 PM)
I just watched much of it last night and talked with my wife about which of the teen movies of that era were our favorites. We both like this movie, but noticed that it is much more mean-spirited than most of the others on our lists. I don't doubt there are things in Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Real Genius that wouldn't be kosher today, but I doubt you'd find as much questionable material in all of them combined as you do in this one movie.
It's pretty easy to find accounts of Asian teens at the time who saw a rise in ridicule they endured because of this movie (some are even listed in the trivia). So it wasn't OK then, either. It was just more accepted by white people at the time. -
Hanz-Willhelm2 — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 06:13 AM)
Do you want a tissue? Maybe some counseling?
You poor thing. What doesn't offend you?
Here's a little secret. It wasn't intended to be real..it's comedy. Try learning when to take things seriously and when not to.
Have fun being "offended".
Lamar Jackson for Heisman!