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1 year ago
5
Stalking, assault, homophobia, and misogyny...welcome to 1980s cinema!
Note: This post contains mentions of racism, homophobia, suicide, and sexual assault.
1. In Earth Girls Are Easy, when Mac uses his love touch to make the police officers fall in love...and they quickly take on stereotypical caricatures of gay people:
Vestron Pictures/Odyssey Distributors
Supernaturally making straight men act gay is unfortunately still a trope in movies today (anyone see the new Guardians of the Galaxy?), but at least it's not accompanied by these caricatures anymore. Why would your sexuality instantaneously change the way you talk?
2. In Sixteen Candles, when Jake says this about Caroline, then "gives" her to Farmer Ted, basically telling him to do whatever he wants with her:
Universal Pictures
First he takes pictures with her, then he does sleep with her when she's wasted, while he's sober, as is established the next morning. This is literally assault, and yet Caroline is like...happy about it and wants to go out with him? It makes no sense and is so insulting.
3. And when Farmer Ted continually tries to force himself on Sam:
Universal Pictures
Farmer Ted is the definition of a predator this entire movie. A lot of John Hughes movies feel like wish fulfillment from a creepy nerd who wanted to write his own fanfiction about being entitled to women. There, I said it.
Except Ferris Bueller. But more on that later.
4. Also, everything about Long Duk Dong:
Universal Pictures
Everything from Long Duk Dong's name to the movie making fun of his accent and difficulty with English to the gong sounds every time his name is spoken is racist. Even in the '80s, it's kind of shocking to me that they got away with this.
5. In Revenge of the Nerds, when Lewis tricked Betty into sleeping with him by making her think she was his boyfriend:
20th Century Fox
I hate this trope so much. In NO world would a woman realize mid-sex that the person she's with is a) not who she thought it was and b) someone who actively tricked her, and not feel anything but complete and utter terror. This is rape.
6. Also in Revenge of the Nerds, when the nerds install cameras in the sorority house:
20th Century Fox
God, I hate this movie. Nerdy guys are not entitled to secretly watch hot women because women won't willingly show them their bodies. It's gross and predatory and illegal.
7. In The Breakfast Club, when Bender sticks his head between Claire's thighs while he's hiding under the table.
Universal Pictures
This is literally assault. And she ends up with the guy!
8. In Weird Science, when Gary and Wyatt get drunk at a blues bar and start speaking in an imitation of the Black men they're hanging out with:
Universal Pictures
What is the point of this??? Even in a weird, random movie, it's out of place and random. It's also just blatantly offensive.
9. The St. Louis scene in National Lampoon's Vacation:
Warner Bros.
This scene feels like it was written by someone who thinks that all poor, dangerous neighborhoods are predominantly Black, and that all of those Black people are criminals. It's a caricature of St. Louis that says a lot more about the people behind the film than the actual people of St. Louis.
10. All the racist jokes and caricatures in Caddyshack:
Warner Bros.
Are we surprised that yet another movie starring Chevy Chase is racist? I'm not. The film uses antiquated and racist terms for Black people and is overall just a cesspool of stupid, offensive dialogue.
11. Basically just the whole premise of Better Off Dead:
Warner Bros.
Better Off Dead is a comedy that follows a kid who wants to kill himself after his girlfriend dumps him, so he halfheartedly tries a variety of methods. It's kind of like the sequence in Groundhog Day but much worse, because beyond being triggering, it reinforces ideas that teenagers who want to die by suicide are not serious, and overall just makes light of the issue.
12. Relatedly, the scene where Cameron pretends to try to kill himself in Ferris Bueller's Day Off:
Paramount Pictures
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a near-perfect movie that holds up surprisingly well by 2023 standards. But I remember when I watched this movie for the first time as a teenager, this one scene felt so out of place to me (even in the early 2010s, when this old lady was an adolescent). It's so dark, and the viewer doesn't realize it's a joke...and then afterward, it's just immediately brushed off. Pulling a prank that you're attempting suicide is just in bad taste, as is including a scene of it in the movie for laughs.
13. In Heathers, when J.D. plots to blow up the school:
New World Pictures
A black comedy about teen suicide is already treading dangerous waters in the context of today (see: Better Off Dead). But what really makes Heathers almost impossible to enjoy today (at least in the US) is the whole "kids killing their classmates" (sometimes with guns) thing, which is brought to a head when J.D. plans to blow up the school in a pep rally. That didn't carry the same weight in the '80s as it does today, but I think now, for much of Gen Z'ers in the US, this one would hit too close to home. There's a reason the Heathers musical (as great as it is) only plays in the UK.
14. And also when Veronica and J.D. plot to make people think Ram and Kurt are gay in order to humiliate them:
New World Pictures
While J.D. is obviously not a good guy, we're supposed to find the whole prospect of making Kurt and Ram look gay funny, as Veronica does. That's bad enough, but then J.D.'s comments about the "props" really put the cherry on top.
15. The twist ending of Sleepaway Camp:
United Film Distribution Co.
I feel like they were more shocked by the fact that Angela was really Peter than by, I don't know, the severed head Angela/Peter was holding. The movie also gives no justification for Angela/Peter being evil besides the fact that Peter was forced to live as a girl. While, yes, it would be traumatizing to be raised as a different gender from the one you identify with (which of course is what trans kids face), the film suggests it would turn people into unbalanced, bloodthirsty murderers.
16. In Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, when Bill and Ted pull out of a hug and say a homophobic slur:
Orion Pictures/De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
Because showing affection to another man is gay, I guess. It's such a stupid throwaway moment that adds nothing to the film, and it so easily could've just been cut.
17. And the casual homophobic slurs, insults, and moments in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, like the scene below:
Universal Pictures
This was present in sooo many '80s films, and I had to point out at least one. Unfortunately, I remember this remaining common in films into the 2000s.
18. In St. Elmo's Fire, when Kirby spends the entire movie stalking Dale — including threatening her roommate's life so that she'll tell him where Dale is — and this is how Dale reacts:
Columbia Pictures
Kirby is a terrifying character, and yet Dale acts as if it's her responsibility to make him feel better and show him that he doesn't really love her. And then she actually ends up liking him?!? What kind of message is that?
19. And finally, in When Harry Met Sally, when Harry asserts that men are incapable of being friends with women:
Columbia Pictures
This is by no means the worst one on this list, but still, the central theme of the movie reduces women to sex objects and reduces men to beings incapable of seeing women as human. You'd expect that by the end of the movie, Harry would be proved wrong...but instead, the movie offers him no personal growth, and he ends up being right.
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