MovieChat Forums > Gidget (1959) Discussion > oddly sexual?

oddly sexual?

posted 19 years ago by yamichik
32 replies | jump to latest

Okay, is it just me or did this movie seem to give off some like, "innapropriate" vibes?

I mean, it's nothing compared to the more modern teen movies of today (Mean girls, Clueless, American Pie, etc...)

But I seemed to catch a few things that it just seemed like it would have been sort of racy for that time period. Like Gidget saying to her MOTHER that she went out on a "manhunt" on purpose, but still came back "as pure as the driven snow". Or the huge age gap between her and Kahuna, or the orgy on the beach. Plus that whole thing at Kahuna's beach house.

LoL, I mean, it doesn't bother me, but wasn't that kinda of taboo back then? I asked my mom if she liked Gidget when she was young, and she said yeah sure. But I asked didn't y'all think it was kinda suggestive? And she said they weren't as "enlightened" as we are today.

[–] starlitegirl890 18 years ago

or like when the guy is teaching gidget to surf and he is like all over her

[–] imdb-7702 17 years ago

Every generation thinks they are the first to invent sex. Mothers and fathers tend to reinforce this notion. (Fathers say they want their daughters to remain pure, forever, but what they REALLY want is for their daughters to have happy marriages with great guys.)

In the 19th century and early in the 20th century, many women were married at 12 or 14 (Gidget is 16) and it wasn't at all uncommon for eager young brides to accomplish in six months what cow or countess requires nine months for.

You might also want to learn about the "rumble seat" and the "bundling board".

[–] ajstars1183 15 years ago

12 or 14 is not as common as you think! most women were at least 20.

[–] ankharra 14 years ago

Very rarely were women ever married before 18 or 20. Until recently, females were in their mid-to-late teens before they started their periods and it wouldn't make much sense for a woman to get married before she is fertile because -- let's face it -- in the olden days, women existed for the sole purpose of being mothers and wives.

Even in Shakespearean times, 14 was considered young. "Romeo and Juliet" was written with that in mind; Juliet was 13.

===

Love isn't brains, children, it's blood...blood screaming inside you to work its will.

[–] queeniewahine71 14 years ago

What's "recently"?

In the novel, Gidget has just turned 16 when she writes down "what happened this summer".

In chapter 6 "she" writes, "[...]I had become especially desperate to grow up. Any minute I felt it would happen. Not biologically, I mean...that's long behind me."

Even if you bear in mind that at 16 "long behind me" can also mean a few months ago, I'd say she must have been 14 or 15.

[–] Zando777 13 years ago

I believe Gidget is 17 in the movie.

[–] thewhiterose-1 14 years ago

I have to say that my mother was married in 1953 after just turning 17, and it wasn't uncommon. And when I graduated high school in 1971, about a quarter of the girls in my class got married right after graduation. I honestly felt like an old maid when I "finally" got married a few months shy of 22. So I wouldn't go so far as to say "very rarely" when it comes to the age people got married. I guess it would depend on the customs, rituals, mores, etc. of your own family and community.

[–] nycruise-1 17 years ago

It comes off totally sexual - because the whole beach culture turns out to be inherently sexual: unchaperoned teens, lots of skin, guys showing off their surfing skills, primeval coastal/marine setting, moonlit nights, etc.

That 50s/60s beach generation then becomes the genesis for the whole sexual revolution that was to follow. After all, with many teens having their own cars, it was only a short time before they made the jump from malt shops to a place they could really call their own: the California surf.

Gidget's sentiments regarding her sexuality no doubt are grounded in the thoughts and feelings of that whole generation.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] soneill 17 years ago

orgy on the beach? there were a bunch of couples lying around making out after the luau, but since when has that qualified as an orgy? an orgy takes a lot more detailed effort. nothing happened at the beach house, except for kahuna realizing how attracted he was to this little girl, knowing he could take advantage of her youth and inexperience were he a lesser man, and almost hating himself for turning out to be a better one. this forces him to see that there are things in this world that he does care about. the episode at the beach house is the final bucket of icy-cold reality dumped over the big kahuna's head, and does it ever wake him up!

and i'm afraid that "as pure as the driven snow" was the outer limits of raciness, for screen teenagers, anyway, in 1959. doris and rock were allowed to say "bedroom problems," "sex maniac" and "freudian", but they were grown-ups and allowed to talk dirty in the movies.

and i bet people still had sex outside of marriage CONSTANTLY, just as they've always done--

and speaking of the oddly sexual, check out the scene at the front door between cary grant [in a negligee] and the old lady [in the usual sensible shoes] in "bringing up baby." you'll wonder if you've blundered into the twilight zone.

[–] cave_adsum-1 16 years ago

I believe the poster used the word 'orgy' because the party was called one in the movie by one of the surfers.

[–] frumwannabe 16 years ago

It was sexy rather than sexual. Movies in those days flirted with the possibility of sex or nudity; but a clever plot device always managed to rescue the heroine before anything irrevocable. Doesn't sweet innocent Gidget seem like someone who will be saved just in time?

[–] nandomaron 16 years ago

is like every male character in the movie(except her dad) wanna have sex with her

[–] jl-39962 8 years ago

Some people have always had sex outside of marriage, of course.

However, people were still more monogamous and had sex later in the past, usually after marriage, for a couple reasons.

First off, values were different, and there was far more stigma attached to being viewed as promiscuous (especially as a woman), or having a child out of wedlock.

Secondly, birth control was less effective/reliable prior to the pill. So you were far more likely to get pregnant. And abortion was far less available. So it was a much bigger deal all-around, and you were therefore more careful about it.

As a result, many people - women especially -- were actually virgins when they got married (which was also generally younger than today).

With the advent of the pill, and the sexual revolution in the 60's, values changed, and pre-marital sex became more accepted and less stigmatized. Partly because it became easier to prevent and terminate pregnancies, which has always been one of the core reasons for favoring chastity and monogamy in the first place.

Whether those changes are a good thing is another matter. Messing around (non-intercourse) with a few people before settling down is one thing, and fairly harmless. But multiple sexual partners means a much higher risk of STD's, including potentially fatal ones. And, despite better birth control, higher rates of illegitimacy and associated poverty, neglect, etc.

The fact people slept around less in the past is evident from the fact that STD and illegitimacy rates were far lower in the 50's.

[–] forlorn_rage (163) 7 years ago

Well, there is actually one brief shot of the luau with one guy chasing another girl into a hut. Then the guy comes back out briefly just long enough to grab another girl and pull her into the hut as well, before the camera shifts back to Jeff and Gidget arriving at the luau. Who knows what else went on outside of what the audience was allowed to see, lol.

[–] queeniewahine71 15 years ago

I think the problem was to turn the "shocking but wonderfully entertaining" (The Pittsburgh Press) novel into a movie that would get a rating fit for teenagers (I'm not familiar with the U.S. rating systems).
But, of course, the young audience should not be too disappointed by the lack of sexual references.
Considering this, I think they did quite a good job.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

The MPAA ratings system didn't exist in 1959. A movie was either "Approved" for public distribution, or it wasn't.

[–] kikiteka 13 years ago

It's totally suggestive and I love it! There is the Kahuna at the beach house stuff, there is her telling her parents that she knows what the boy of today wants, and she's going to make sure he gets it! Before storming off to the luau. Loverboy tries to "teach" her how to surf by basically attempting to mount her, that's when Moondoggie steps in. But that's the whole point. This pure, sweet, innocent girl is surrounded on all sides by not so innocent guys, yet she still manages to get the guy she wants and maintain her honor. It was the ideal 1950's outcome. The only appropriate outcome for a lighthearted comedy. However, that same year Sandra Dee was in "A Summer Place", a heavy melodrama. In that she's on another beach, but this time she totally goes for it with Troy Donahue, and ends up pregnant (as for you Troy Donahue..I know what you wanna do). She was also in "Imitation of Life", where she falls in love with her mother's boyfriend. Juicy stuff that girl was doing!

[–] cheedo 13 years ago

Are you joking?

Women get more unhappy the more they try and liberate themselves. ~Brigitte Bardot

[–] jl-39962 8 years ago

Hard to believe "A Summer Place" was filmed the same year.

I guess it was probably about 6 months later. You can tell that Dee is a bit more developed there.

(She was apparently 16 in Gidget, and 17 in Summer Place.)

[–] kaskait 13 years ago

The book was even more forthright.

Gidget spent the night with the Kahuna. And it wasn't Gidget who wanted to stop, it was the Kahuna who told her that he didn't take advantage of young women. Moondoggie found them sleeping together in the Kahuna's beach hut in the morning and immediately concluded that they were lovers. The book ends with them in a fistfight while Gidget grabs a surfboard and goes surfing.

I loved that book.

[–] jl-39962 8 years ago

Just to note, it was also the Kahuna who stopped things in the movie.

[–] Zando777 13 years ago

I thought it was more sexual than mean girls or Clueless. (Though less so than American Pie.)