Molly Ringwald has admitted she doesn’t know if she’ll show all her children her films, including The Breakfast Club, due to how they might view them in today’s context.
The actress, who previously expressed how her views on her past movies have changed over the last few years, said she’s worried about showing her two youngest children, 12-year-old twins Adele and Roman.
‘It definitely is a different time. People ask me if I’ve watched them with my kids, and I did watch the first one — which was the impetus to write that article — with Mathilda,’ she explained.
‘And it was such an emotional experience that I haven’t found that strength to watch it with my two other kids.’
The 53-year-old added on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy: ‘My 12-year-old daughter Adele is the most woke individual that you’ve ever met, and I just don’t know how I’m gonna go through that, you know, watching it with her and [her] saying, “How could you do that? How could you be part of something that…”‘
Molly pointed out that the films are ‘complicated’, explaining that they have problematic moments but also have moments that she’s still very proud of, for example how they celebrate outsiders.
Molly is best known for her roles in 80s teen classics, including The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, and Sixteen Candles.
In 2018, she opened up how problematic some of the scenes in the films were.
One of the most uncomfortable scenes in Sixteen Candles features the male lead Jake Ryan, played by Michael Schoeffling, discussing the possibility of ‘violating’ his unconscious girlfriend Caroline, played by Haviland Morris.
Reflecting on the movie, Molly told NPR: ‘Everyone says and I do believe is true, that times were different and what was acceptable then is definitely not acceptable now and nor should it have been then, but that’s sort of the way that it was. I feel very differently about the movies now and it’s a difficult position for me to be in because there’s a lot that I like about them.’
Referring to John Hughes, who also directed ‘80s classics The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Molly added: ‘But I do oppose a lot of what is in those movies,’ but said she doesn’t want to ‘appear ungrateful’ to John for the opportunity.
The Riverdale actress continued: ‘There were parts of that film that bothered me then. Although everybody likes to say that I had, you know, John Hughes’ ear and he did listen to me in a lot of ways, I wasn’t the filmmaker. And, you know, sometimes I would tell him, “Well, I think this is kind of tacky” or “I think that this is irrelevant” or “this doesn’t ring true,” and sometimes he would listen to me, but in other cases he didn’t.’
‘Having a teenage daughter myself, I know that it’s not always easy to get teenagers to talk. But these films or to break through that. There’s something that really touches teenagers, especially The Breakfast Club I feel like sort of gives them permission to talk about their feelings — says that teenagers’ feelings really matter.’
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