Well, I was over at the Ms Forums (yes yes, don’t say it), and someone mentioned how they used to like “Sixteen Candles” but then later found it horribly sexist, due to what is actually a date rape occurrence. I guess the whole thing with Farmer Ted and that girl doing it in the car was supposed to be it, but I’ve mainly seen the movie in bits and pieces. Neither of them really seemed to remember what happened, so I always took it as a somewhat innocent, if bizarre, part of the movie.
Also, would the inclusion of that Asian exchange student be considered racist? I thought he was pretty funny, especially after getting drunk in front of the grandparents, but maybe I’m not being PC enough.
Funny, but that scene never even occurred to me and I’ve seen the movie many times. What bothers me now is the scene in the kitchen after the wild party when Jake says that Caroline is passed out in his room upstairs and that he could violate her ten different ways if he wanted to. Ted says, “What are you waiting for?” Jake says he just isn’t interested in her anymore!
Interesting what a difference twenty years can make in one’s perspective, isn’t it?
I admit to thinking Long Duck Dong is funny, if stereotyped.
But isn’t Airplane full of stereotypes too? It’s still funny.
Hey, no joke: I once had a student named Hung Wei Lo.
It’s been a while since I saw 16 Candles, sometime in college. I do remember, however, being appalled at the passed-out-upstairs scene. If I recall correctly, doesn’t the movie imply very heavily that the nerd did go upstairs and have sex with the passed-out girl? And then the next day she’s all over him for being such a good lover?
Crikey. It sure looked like rape to me. But maybe I completely misinterpreted what happened.
At any rate, the jock DOES suggest that the nerd can rape the girl, and the movie seems completely okay with the suggestion. After all, she IS the jock’s girl. He’s just being generous!
I think you’ve misremembered a bit, but the movie as I remember it is no better. IIRC, the jock puts his blonde girlfriend in the car with the nerd and tells him to drive her home. The girl is very drunk and mostly unconscious. She barely manages to question what is going on, but her boyfriend tells her that the nerd is her boyfriend and he is the nerd. The girlfriend is far enough out of it that she accepts this explanation. The nerd drives by his friend’s house and shows them the girl in the car (photos are taken), and I believe the next scene shows nerd and blonde girl waking up in the car. She is, indeed, “all over him for being such a good lover”.
I did not see this movie until I was 20, and was shocked and sickened by this casual depiction of date rape. The girl was obviously in no condition to consent to anything, and on top of that apparently believed that she was with her long-term boyfriend instead of a virtual stranger.
See, where as I always assumed that they didn’t do anything at all, since the relatively sober nerd doesn’t remember it, and the girl claims she does remember, but in a fuzzy way. I guess I just always assumed she was misremembering because she had been so drunk, and that he played along. Anyone else see it this way, or am I totally off base? It’s been a while since I saw the movie, I could be missing key details.
I’m with Melandry on this one. I also haven’t seen the film in a while, so I could be way off as well. But I think I’ve seen quite a few TV shows and films where a girl (or guy) gets drunk, and in the morning is “conned” into believing that they had hot sex with whoever was there. The other person will say, “Don’t you remember? It was incredible!!” And the hungover person goes “Oh, uh, yeah…Oh…uh…yeah!! Sure!”
And it’s all a big dumb joke, because no sex actually happened. That’s how I remember Sixteen Candles, but it’s been a while. I guess I need to see the film again.
I’m also pretty sure Melandry was right since they woke up in the back seat of the guys convertable, with the top down, across from the church. And when they wake up they are both pretty confused and both are asking each other “Did we?” And neither of them remember anything. So I side with nothing happened.
Which makes me think that even if they did do something that neither of them was in any shape for making that decision and she’s just as guity as he. Plus wasn’t she an adult and he just a kid?
Wow. Then I’ve been misrepresenting this movie to people for years :(. Has anyone seen it recently and can confirm? Am I remembering a scene from a different movie instead? What’s going on?
Blonde girl, incredibly drunk, makes a pass at Farmer Ted (AMH). She first puts her head in his lap, and we see Farmer Ted’s face react as if he’s getting a blow job. Blonde girl then reaches up and pulls Farmer Ted down.
So, you see, the drunk girl initiated the sex act. Farmer Ted might have been a gentleman and said, “Hey, I don’t think we should do this,”, but what high school kid in the 80’s would have done that???
I don’t remember the details of the nerd and blonde scene, so I got nothing to offer there, but I do know that the Long Duc dong sequences (which have been brought up) haven’t aged well. I now find them to be a huge embarassing chunk of an otherwise okay movie. I’m biased, though, as I have a place in my heart for Molly Ringwald, love 80s music, and appreciate John Cusack.
And Google isn’t showing me anything except for a few sites that hint at “the date rape scene at the end of the movie.” IMDB’s plot summary is useless.
My thought has always been that they did ‘something’ but neither remember exactly what. She only has the memory of whatever it was, it was nice (awwww, she’d not all bad after all!).
I believe her character was treated so badly in the movie, in respect to the comments and actions of the jock boyfriend, because she was such a pain in the ass herself. It is the same rule of morality that allows good guys to kill bad guys in movies, 'cause they deserve it.
And hey, ‘The Donger’ got some lovin’ in the movie. So if that’s stereotyping, call me honky and bring in the ladies!!!
From what I remember, nothing actually happened, but both mistakenly believe something did (or at least Farmer Ted is gullible/hopeful enough to believe it when she tells him so). That was supposed to be part of the humour, Farmer Ted’s “great conquest” never happened, though he was groped plenty.
When they wake up, they do exchange a sweet kiss initiated by the blonde which implicitly suggests that she is aware that he was a complete gentleman – whereas no other guy in her social circle would have been – and that she was touched by his respectful behaviour. (IIRC, she seems to really take note of the fact that she woke up in his arms – a gesture of tenderness – whereas most guys get their rocks off, roll over and go to sleep, then leave in the morning).
Since he doesn’t remember anything, she essentailly fabricates the “Farmer Ted is a fabulous lover” scenario because it makes him feel so gosh-darned-MANLY and raises his esteem in the eyes of his peers.
He was a genuinely sweet guy, and she lets him believe that this one great fantasy actually came true.
Jake does not give FT permission to go upstairs and violate his girlfriend. He has him take her home, and she gets all crazy. She gave FT a birth control pill to take and once she tells him what it is, he spits it out.
Remember in the morning, when they are in the car, Farmer Ted asks her, “Did we, you know?” and he makes the finger in the fist motion? And she replies that she doesn’t know, but she thinks so. I don’t think it was a case of date rape, but two drunk teenagers who don’t even know if they had sex.
I see a lot of justification going on here. The movie clearly shows us that blonde girl 1) is extremely drunk and mostly unconscious 2) believes that nerdboy is her boyfriend after her boyfriend tells her this. It also shows us that while nerdboy may not be 100% sober, he is conscious, coherent, and willing to take advantage of his situation. It also shows us both characters saying that they had sex. If this is true – and there is nothing in the film to suggest that it is not – then I don’t see how anyone could say that she has not been the victim of date rape. Perhaps worst of all, she is victimized by two different guys – both nerdboy and her own boyfriend, the nominal romantic hero of the film. That is sickening, and the fact that the character is a bitch does nothing to justify it.
“See, where as I always assumed that they didn’t do anything at all, since the relatively sober nerd doesn’t remember it, and the girl claims she does remember, but in a fuzzy way.”
I’m almost certain that they didn’t have sex, but I’m basing my feeling on a Dynamite interview from waaay back (whatshisface talking about playing nerds, about imaginary sex, etc.)
Oh! I just remembered more dialogue. Ted asks Caroline if he was any good, and she says something like, “You know, I have a strange feeling that you were.”
