The 1986 movie Sixteen Candles tells a dateless narrative of turning up in suburban America. The movie s star, Sam, played by Molly Ringwald, wakes up with large outlooks on her sweet 16th birthday merely to be wholly defeated. Not merely does she happen that she looks precisely the same as when she was 15, but her household is so bemused with her older sister s marrying that they forget her birthday wholly.
The movie opens with Sam on the phone with her best girlfriend Randy. She is analyzing herself in her full length mirror and is wholly horrified to happen that her organic structure didn T as if by magic transform overnight. She was trusting to wake up with a organic structure merely like Caroline s. Caroline is the caput cheerleader, prom queen, and girlfriend of the most popular male child in school, Jake Ryan. Sam is hopelessly in love with Jake and is convinced that he won T cognize she exists until she is more developed, more mature, more like Caroline. Little does she cognize, Jake does detect her. He is intrigued by a certain mispassed note incorporating some really personal information about Sam s sex life ( or deficiency of one ) .
In this note, Sam confesses that she is a virgin ( she has ne’er done it ) and is salvaging herself non for matrimony, but for Jake Ryan. Jake finds himself desiring to acquire to cognize Sam and desiring a existent relationship with person like her, instead than with person like Caroline. He knows Caroline doesn T love him, and he doesn t love her either. The lone existent ground they re together is because he s the most popular male child at school and she s the most popular miss. Throughout the film, Sam is preoccupied with going more similar Caroline, while the existent ground Jake is interested in her is because she is non similar Caroline. By the terminal of the film Sam learns a valuable lesson about being her ain individual and even gets the cat along the manner.
This movie contains some authoritative illustrations of the sorts of existent life issues striplings trade with. Issues such as popularity, peer relationships, family/sibling relationships, sex, and struggles with individuality are all addressed in this ninety-minute movie.
Sam s high school is like any stereotyped high school with it s assorted societal crowds. The popular crowd in this film is composed of largely athletes and cheerleaders. These striplings seem to be the most physically attractive and have the wealthiest parents. Harmonizing to a recent survey, the ways male childs and misss gain popularity or prestigiousness in school has non changed much over the last twosome of decennaries. Girls and male childs typically gain prestigiousness in school through wholly different, but really traditional agencies.
Most male childs addition prestigiousness through engagement in athleticss and school accomplishment while most misss gain school prestigiousness more through physical attraction, sociableness, and school accomplishment ( Suitor & A ; Reavis, 1995 ) . Jake and Caroline are perfect illustrations of the popular childs in school. Jake is on the football squad, has a fast auto, a large house, and is highly attractive and capturing. Caroline, on the other manus, is a societal butterfly. She is captain of the cheerleading squad, prom queen, and the life of the party. She has blonde hair, bluish eyes, and a absolutely developed organic structure that all the other misss enviousness.
Sam in peculiar is really covetous of Caroline s organic structure. I think this is because she isn t really comfy in her ain organic structure and is really self-aware about the manner others look at her. Sam has non yet established her ain individuality, so she theoretical accounts her individuality around the individuality of the one individual she wouldn T head being ; the girlfriend of Jake Ryan. Popularity and individuality go manus in manus in the sense that those who are popular are normally the 1s that set up an individuality foremost and so hold their equals patterning their individualities after them. This would explicate why so many striplings want to be merely like their friends, complete with the same apparels, hairdos, etc.
Sam sees that both misss and cats are attracted to Caroline s expressions and personality and wants more than anything to be merely like her. Small does she cognize, the chief ground Jack s takes an involvement in her is because she seems a small spot different. She isn t merely like everyone else, and he really sees that as an attractive quality. Sam is merely a sophomore, while Jake is a senior. He is a small spot more mature and more confident in his ain individual. After all, he s the one all the other cats want to be like. He can appreciate that Sam is beautiful non in a blonde hair, bluish eyes sort of manner, but in her ain particular manner.
Throughout the film, many sorts of relationships are explored. Sexual/romantic relationships are a large issue, as are peer relationships and household relationships. First, sexual/romantic relationships are slightly idealised and thought to be really glamourous. Sam is wholly infatuated with Jake and has this really romantic and slightly unrealistic outlook of what it would be like to be his girlfriend. Sam convinces herself that she is in love with Jake and ther vitamin E is no 1 else in the universe for her. In all world, I think Sam is in love with the thought of Jake and being the sort of miss that he would be interested in. After all, she doesn t even know him. She doesn Ts have any thought of the sorts of values or ethical motives he has, what he likes to make, etc.
Overall, Sam seems to hold a close relationship with her household. She is intelligibly upset with them for burying her birthday, but she is able to forgive them in the terminal. She seems to hold a pretty typical relationship with her siblings. She and her younger brother are invariably at each other s pharynxs, and she and her older sister seem to be near but besides slightly competitory with each other. I got the feeling that Sam was closer with her male parent than with her female parent since she ends up turning to him for advice about Jake. I found that slightly unusual in that I would anticipate her to travel to her
female parent or sister for advice on male childs. Her male parent seems to be really unfastened and supportive and is truly able to assist Sam with her job though. Research shows that striplings that report holding an confidant relationship with their parents are less likely to be at hazard for certain unsafe behaviours and are more likely to hold higher self-pride ( Field, Lang, Yando, & A ; Bendell, 1995 ) . Although Sam is self-aware and somewhat unsure of herself, I think she knows what she stands for and is confident when it comes to her ethical motives and values. She is non the sort of individual that would take unsafe hazards or make something she knew was incorrect.
Both sets of Sam s grandparents are besides in town for the nuptials and remaining with them, her male parent s parents in her sleeping room. They all make a large trade about the immature adult female Sam is going and her ma s ma even goes so far as to notice on her buoyant chests, which wholly humiliates Sam.
As for equal relationships, Sam has one best girlfriend with whom she is really near. She and Randy are invariably together or on the phone with each other. They tell each other their most personal ideas and feelings and frequently turn to each other for advice. On the other manus, male friendly relationships as portrayed in this movie are rather the antonym. They seem to be on more of an activity-based degree and non such an intimate degree. Ted, the dorky fresher who has a crush on Sam, and his friends are non about as loyal and honest
with each other. One illustration in peculiar comes to mind. Ted and his dorky friends manage to acquire into a senior party at Jake Ryan s house and every bit shortly as they walk in, Ted knocks over a beer can pyramid the rummy football participants have been constructing. Immediately, Ted blames it on his friend, who in bend incriminations it on the other friend. They don t see anything incorrect with abandoning their friends, merely every bit long as they don t take a whipping from the football participants.
Another illustration is when Ted borrows Sam s underpants. He makes a trade with Sam to borrow her underpants so he can state his friends that he had sex with her. He sees no job in being dishonest with his friends, as long as it makes him look good. There seems to be tonss of competition within male friendly relationships, particularly when it comes to sex.
There is no uncertainty that the issue of sex is a major issue among striplings, and Sam and her friends are no exclusion. Sexual activity is a major subject of conversation among Sam and Randy, and the topic of the mispassed note that ends up in Jake Ryan s ownership. This note asked some really personal inquiries about sexual experiences such as, Have you of all time done IT? This is a apparently simple and straightforward inquiry, yet Sam responded, I don t think so. From this, we can state that there is much confusion among the adolescent population about sex.
I think we can besides state that the males in the film felt more pressured into holding sex than the females. Ted, for illustration, was obsessed with holding sex, or at least flim-flaming his friends into believing he had sex, the full film. A survey conducted on gender differences in sexual attitudes among striplings concluded that males experienced merely every bit much equal force per unit area as females, but they were more likely to repress to it. They were besides much more likely to lie about sexual experiences ( Werner-Wilson, 1998 ) .
This is non to state that the females in the film were non holding sex. We know Caroline and Jake have sex since she admits, while she is intoxicated, that she takes birth control pills. However, I don t acquire the feeling that Caroline and Jake have the sort of romantic sex Sam imagines. Her thought of sex is tied to really strongly to fondness and being in love. It makes perfect sense in her head to hold sex with Jake since she is in love with him.
In decision, the movie Sixteen Candles is a authoritative illustration of some of the issues most everyone faces when coming of age. However stereotyped, the portraiture of the adolescent experience is genuinely captured in this movie. I think most everyone that watches it can associate and be reminded of how fficult, confounding, exciting, and wonderful that clip of their life.
