Molly Ringwald has changed her opinion about classic 1980s movies. She’s not just a mom to three children, but she is also a mother of adolescent twins.
Ringwald is the mom of Mathilda (17), and Roman (12). She has been open about her changing perceptions of her early films, including “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club (1985), and “Pretty In Pink” (1986). She told TODAY in 2016 that she had let Mathilda see those films and was thrilled to see how “connected” the young lady was with them.
However, Andy Cohen of SiriusXM said that the films didn’t go down well with her twins during a SiriusXM Radio Andy chat on Wednesday.
She says that it is definitely a different time. refers in part to an essay she wrote for the New Yorker in 2018 about watching and sharing the films. People ask me if they’ve seen them with my children, and I have watched the first one with Mathilda. It was so emotional that I didn’t feel strong enough to watch it with my other children.
Her daughter Adele is a “woke” person, which is part of the reason. Adele, my 12-year-old daughter is the most awake person you’ve ever seen. I don’t know how to deal with that. I watched it with Adele and (her) asking, “How can you do that?” How can you be part ….’ of this?
Perhaps she will share the notion of gray areas in art with the twins. Ringwald has always been a cheerleader for her films, even though she has changed her views over the years. She told TODAY in 2015 that she loved the script and loved the movie. But, she didn’t imagine we would still be discussing it thirty years later. It would still be a great conversation with my children, I thought. It keeps speaking to my children, I feel. It keeps talking to me generation after generation.
However, a year later in light the #MeToo movement she was less enthusiastic. Her films often make fun of subjects that are now taken more seriously, such as rape and assault and racism.
She stated that “what was acceptable back then is certainly not acceptable now” , and she said so to NPR at the time. “I feel very different about the movies now, and it’s difficult for me to stay in that position because there are so many things I love about them.”
She told Cohen that she is aware of the “troubling” elements in films, but she can also see how they can be a positive. They’re about people who felt like they were outsiders. They can speak to many people. They are complex. It’s why I think the movies are so wonderful.
She doesn’t want them to go. Ringwald says, “I’m proud to those movies, and have a lot affection for them.” They are an integral part of my life.
