Molly Ringwald, star of the 1985 classic “The Breakfast Club,” has revealed that her 13-year-old daughter is not interested in watching the movie due to its outdated and sexist tropes.
Ringwald, who played the character Claire in the coming-of-age drama, explained to The Guardian that her daughter Adele is “very liberal,” and won’t watch the movie because of the issues it presents.
“There were certain things that were accepted that just wouldn’t be accepted now,” she said, noting that the film’s depiction of harassment and sexual assault would not be tolerated today.
In the film, Ringwald’s character is harassed and berated by Judd Nelson’s character, Bender, who is presented as her love interest.
Despite the problematic nature of their relationship, the two characters ultimately get together in the film’s climactic scene.
Ringwald also pointed to another troubling scene in “Sixteen Candles,” another film she starred in with director John Hughes.
In that movie, a drunk teenage girl is traded for sex, a scene that Ringwald was unable to change due to her lack of power on the film’s production team.
In a 2018 essay for The New Yorker, Ringwald discussed how she had convinced Hughes to cut a scene in “The Breakfast Club” in which a female gym teacher swam naked in the school’s swimming pool as the male teacher spied on her.
Ringwald argued that the scene was sexist and unnecessary.
While “The Breakfast Club” was praised upon its release in 1985, Ringwald acknowledges that it was a product of a different time, and that its problematic elements would not be acceptable today.
She expressed relief that her daughter is aware of these issues, and won’t watch the film because of them.
“She’s very liberal. I mean, I’m very liberal, but she’s another level. Which she should be, and I’m glad,” she said.
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