Problems/Issues I have with this film 28 years later.
I remember seeing this film when it came out and I was still in high school. I also remember being a big fan of this film when it was shown on cable and later on when it came out on VHS during the 1980's. I watched this the other night on HBO and was kind of shocked that it wasn't the sweet comedy I remembered in my youth. Maybe I'm just older, smarter, or more mature or maybe we're a little more civilized then we were 30 years ago. I think I was most shocked by the casual treatment of rape and treatment of Caroline the Prom Queen.
I was troubled by 15 themes or incidents in this film:
1-Farmer Ted/Date Rape? This is something that people just didn't talk about back in '84 but Farmer Ted essentially rapes Caroline in Jakes father's car. She's inebriated and unable to give consent yet Ted has sex with her.
2-Rape is Love. The morning after the date-rape incident the Prom Queen admits that she actually "enjoyed" it and is now in love with the geek. Was there a bizarre date-rape fantasy theme in 80's movies because I seem to remember this similar theme repeated in several 80's films.
3-Caroline/Misogyny. Jake essentially "gives" the inebriated Caroline to a total stranger (Ted the Geek) and tells him to basically to "have fun" and "take her home" wink, wink. Jake also tells the inebriated caroline that Ted is really Jake thus it's okay to have sex with him. I guess In this film It's okay to have the Geek rape her because she's the prom queen and a bitch.
4-Jake the romantic hero? Jake tells the geek referring to Caroline, "I could violate her 10 different ways if I wanted to" WTF?? Wow, what a romantic guy. He's the hero? He gives his inebriated girl-friend to a total stranger and implies that he can have sex with her as long as he gets her home?
5-Long Duck Dong. This has to be one of the most racist characters in film during the last 50 odd years. His character is like some cartoon version of an Asian person from the 1940's. I guess he's supposed to Chinese but his name is Vietnamese and there's a point in the film when he's in a tree wearing a Japanese samurai outfit yelling Banzai?? Also not to mention they give him a name that's the sounds like a large duck's penis in English.
6-"A Black One". This didn't seem that bad back then but it's kind of awkward today.
7-The Rizchecks- The "Oily Beau-hunk" is Italian so of coarse in this film that means that his father is involved in organized crime/mafia.
*beep* retarded". I guess were more sensitive about these words today.
9-There's a weird scene at the end of the wedding were Mr. Rizcheck pays the reverend to kiss his wife?? There's also a disturbing part were Grandpa Fred is "encouraging" Rudy to get his granddaughter into the back of the limo.
10-"Chinamon". Even the little brother refers to Dong as "Chinamon"
11-25 year old Jake.
12-Cinderealla Myth. Usually in the classic Cinderella myth the girl/woman goes through some kind of drastic transformation in order to get the prince to notice her and win his hear. In this film, Sam doesn't change at all yet we are to believe that Jake becomes head over heels in love with her because she's just an average girl who secretly wishes to have sex with him.
13-Rescue the princess/Slay the dragon. Usually in the classic rescue the princess/slay the dragon myth the boy/man has to do some kind of extraordinary courageous deed in order to win the heart of Princess/Queen. I guess by the 1980's all you had to do was trick the queen or get her drunk and then you could just rape her.
15-Shallow Sam. Why does she love Jake? Because he's cute and rich? That seems rather shallow. And what if he gets "bored" with her as well? What happens if she gets drunk at a party? Will Jake "violate" 10 different ways?
Not to mention the plot is ridiculous. Rich good looking Seniors don't "suddenly" drop their gorgeous Prom Queen girlfriends in order date some average Sophomore. Senior Prom Queens don't fall in love with Freshman geek hipsters that date-rape them.