Sixteen Candles (1984) is 40 years old this year.
This article contains a discussion of sexual harassment and assault, racism, homophobia, and underage drinking.
Sixteen Candles emphasizes how much Sam looked forward to her sweet 16. She tells her best friend Randy , “Since I was about 12, I’ve been looking forward to my sweet 16,” and then describes her dream party. If Sam was actually having a sweet 16 party, it would have been planned months in advance. The fact that her birthday was the day before her sister’s wedding would also have been brought up at some point.
8 Sam & Randy Watching Caroline Shower Was Inappropriate Sixteen Candles Was Rated PG Close Sixteen Candles was shockingly rated PG when it first premiered in 1984. At the time, the MPA only had the ratings G , PG , R , and X . As a product of this, many scenes that would be inappropriate for younger children snuck into PG-rated films. The PG-13 rating was added in July 1984, two months after Sixteen Candles became a box office hit.
Sam and Ted use a homophobic slur, Sam’s grandfather uses a slur against people with disabilties, and multiple characters use racial slurs. While the casual use of these slurs may be shocking or even repulsive to today’s audiences, they are a product of their time period. Sixteen Candles takes place at a high school in the 1980s, where, unfortunately, this type of language was not just prevalent, but generally accepted.
While Watanabe gives a great comedic performance, he was tasked with performing a 1980s stereotype of Chinese people that still exists. The exaggerated fake accents and stereotypical jokes were not uncommon and can still be found in modern projects. One of the film’s most heavy-handed and egregious acts of racism was the use of a loud gong sound effect when his stereotypical, "comedic" name was said.
When viewers meet Ginny, she is also portrayed as a joke. She isn’t the smartest and is overly concerned about her looks. Yet, she takes the time to comfort Sam and wants to be there for her. She just doesn’t know how to. However, Ted does. They briefly wake the disoriented Caroline, lie to her, and novice driver Ted takes off with her. Though it’s pretty clear Jake didn’t think Ted would do anything, and they don't remember whether they had sex or not, it could have happened. If it did, neither of them were able to consent, but Ted let his nerd friends believe it did and even showed them Caroline passed out. In the wake of #MeToo in particular, this is extremely hard to rewatch.
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