Sixteen Candles :: Film Analysis

The 1986 film Sixteen Candles tells a timeless tale of ontogeny up in suburban America. The films star, surface-to-air missile, played by Molly Ringwald, wakes up with big expectations on her sweet sixteenth natal day only to be completely disappointed. Not only does she find that she looks scarce the same as when she was fifteen, but her family is so preoccupied with her older sisters wedding that they for startle her birthday altogether. The film opens with Sam on the phone with her best girlfriend Randy. She is examining herself in her full length reverberate and is totally horrified to find that her body didnt magically translate overnight. She was hoping to wake up with a body just uniform Carolines. Caroline is the head cheerleader, prom queen, and girlfriend of the most popular boy in school, Jake Ryan. Sam is hopelessly in love with Jake and is convinced that he wont know she exists until she is more developed, more mature, more like Caroline. Little does she know, J ake does notice her. He is intrigued by a certain mispassed keep an eye on containing some very someoneal information about Sams sex life (or lack ofone). In this note, Sam confesses that she is a utter(a) (she has never done it) and is saving herself not for marriage, but for Jake Ryan. Jake finds himself wanting to get to know Sam and wanting a historical relationship with mortal like her, rather than with someone like Caroline. He knows Caroline doesnt love him, and he doesnt love her either. The only real origin theyre together is because hes the most popular boy at school and shes the most popular girl. Throughout the motion picture, Sam is preoccupied with becoming more like Caroline, while the real author Jake is interested in her is because sheis not like Caroline. By the end of the movie Sam learns a valuable lesson about being her own person and even gets the guy along the way. This film contains some classic examples of the kinds of real life issues adolescents de al with. Issues such as popularity, peer relationships, family/sibling relationships, sex, and struggles with identity element are all addressed in this ninety-minute film.Sams full(prenominal) school is like any stereotypical high school with its various social crowds. The popular crowd in this movie is unruffled of mostly jocks and cheerleaders. These adolescents seem to be the most physically attractive and comport the wealthiest parents.