Why is Molly Ringwald "bothered" by her iconic 80s films?
The iconic actress reflects on her past work
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CELEBRITY Molly ringwald
Molly Ringwald will forever be remembered as the golden (ginger) girl of 80s romantic comedies. Starring in hit films such as 'Sixteen Candles' and 'The Breakfast Club' Ringwald helped shape both the entertainment and culture of the time. Now, Ringwald looks back at her role in the films in a slightly negative light.
“Everyone says and I do believe is true, that times were different and what was acceptable then is definitely not acceptable now and nor should it have been then, but that’s sort of the way that it was,” Ringwald said of the ‘80s during an interview with NPR. “I feel very differently about the movies now and it’s a difficult position for me to be in because there’s a lot that I like about them.”
'Sixteen Candles' features a scene where Ringwald's love interest Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) discusses “violating” his unconscious girlfriend, Caroline (Haviland Morris). Later, audiences see Caroline not remembering having sex with Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) after Jake has her go him with him instead.
Ringwald continued to explain that “There were parts of that film that bothered me then. Although everybody likes to say that I had, you know, John Hughes’ ear and he did listen to me in a lot of ways, I wasn’t the filmmaker. And, you know, sometimes I would tell him, ‘Well, I think this is kind of tacky’ or ‘I think that this is irrelevant’ or ‘this doesn’t ring true,’ and sometimes he would listen to me, but in other cases, he didn’t,” she said.
In light of the #MeToo and Times Up movements, a lot of the prominent media from the past is being looked at in a new light.