OK, we dragged our feet a little getting to our 100th episode — and getting to Sixteen Candles. We know John Hughes’ directorial debut is considered a landmark teen comedy, one that is loved and celebrated. And even coming upon our own celebratory landmark, we couldn’t find much to celebrate in this stale cardboard cake of a movie.
That said, our discussion of the film’s major problems isn’t incredibly thorough or personal, and we maybe back off of some things for which we should hold the filmmakers more accountable.
The hosts of Falling in Love Montage are acquainted with sexual assault, and we recognize that — no matter the decade or your age — we (womxn and men) sometimes lack the language to describe what’s happened to us. Sometimes we’re conditioned to believe nothing did. Sometimes we’re shamed into not disclosing.
Also, as white people growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, we were party to perpetuating stereotypes we learned through cultural osmosis and films like this one. It is our place to hold ourselves accountable, and in this and many cases, that means accepting a larger responsibility for our complicity — and recognizing it, listening, and doing better.
We can’t pretend that our discussion of a panty-centric coming-of-age movie or these show-notes about that discussion makes any real difference. But we can promise you that we will donate $1 to https://stopaapihate.org/ and https://www.rainn.org/ for every download of this episode up to 500 downloads.
Thank you for being with us, whether this is your 100th episode or your first.
Note: Valerie mentions a Vox article in this episode. She actually means this excellent New Yorker article.
