Image via Universal Pictures
Published Apr 5, 2026, 2:49 PM EDT
Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.
Dyah graduated from Satya Wacana Christian University in October 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, concentrating on Creative Writing. She is currently completing her Master's degree in English Literature Studies, with a thesis on intersectionality in postcolonial-feminist studies in Asian literary works, and is expected to graduate in 2026.
Born and raised between Indonesia and Singapore, Dyah is no stranger to different cultures. She now resides in the small town of Kendal with her husband and four cats, where she spends her free time cooking or cycling.
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The ’80s were some of the best times, but for certain movies, they might have missed the mark. With larger-than-life hair and neon everything, the decade helped define pop culture, and with social media non-existent, people looked to movies as their main source of entertainment and cultural influence.
However, social awareness wasn’t as prominent, leading to questionable creative decisions that don't bode well with certain groups. As a result, some films don’t hold up well with today’s audiences, where knowledge and understanding are much stronger and more accessible in the digital age. Without further ado, here are seven ’80s movies that have aged like milk.
1 'Sixteen Candles' (1984)
Sixteen Candles is the quintessential teen love story of the '80s. However, the rom-com is guilty of the obvious portrayal of yellowface. The film's exchange student, Long Duk Dong (Gedde Watanabe), is shown in stereotypical Asian fashion. On top of his exaggerated accent, his broken English purposely dumbs him down for cheap laughs, making him "too foreign" for American high school. His silliness extends to his physical comedy scenes. Long Duk Dong becomes the school's literal punching bag at a party, enforcing the idea that foreign students are clumsy and chaotic.
The idea of consent is also blurry in Sixteen Candles. Samantha (Molly Ringwald) is constantly spied on and even sexualized without her realizing it. One troubling scene involves Jake Ryan's (Michael Schoeffling) girlfriend being given away while intoxicated to another student in exchange for his car. Back then, being drunk was seen as a joke, but these days, violating the rights of an unconscious person is a serious crime.
2 'Soul Man' (1986)
Image via New World PicturesToday, the line, “These are the ’80s, man. It’s the Cosby decade,” carries a very different — and more negative — meaning. Soul Man is not simply about a man with “soul.” On the contrary, the title relies on a stereotype of Black Americans, who are often associated with soul music. But the title is only the tip of the iceberg. More troubling is the fact that the film’s protagonist uses blackface to obtain a scholarship intended exclusively for Black students at Harvard Law School.
Even worse, the privileged lead character, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell), turns to blackface after being financially cut off by his father. A reasonable alternative would be to get a job and pay for his own college expenses, but his sense of entitlement drives him to pretend to be Black. With no prior knowledge of the African American experience, he foolishly believes that they have no problems in American society and are even allowed special treatment.
3 'Police Academy' (1984)
Image via Warner Bros.When Police Academy says that anyone can join the police force, it literally means everyone. From this theme alone, audiences can expect a misfit group of unassuming individuals to pick up a badge and fight crime despite their poor resumes. This serves as the movie’s trademark juvenile comedy. Although humor isn’t new in police procedurals, as made popular by shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Police Academy’s brand of humor is tasteless, as it relies on discriminatory jokes.
On a personal level, Police Academy’s poor treatment of women would not be tolerated in today’s cinemas. Female police cadets are constantly mocked and sexualized, and these behaviors are often played off as harmless jokes instead of being recognized as misconduct. On a broader scale, the institutional portrayal of power is reckless and rule-breaking. In today’s view of law enforcement, this would be considered irresponsible.
Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz
Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?
Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.
🪜Parasite
🌀Everything Everywhere
☢️Oppenheimer
🐦Birdman
🪙No Country for Old Men
FIND YOUR FILM →
01
What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind.
ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching. DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours?
AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity. BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different. BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face. BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?
AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it. BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible.
AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person. CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.
AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience. CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. ESilence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.
ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure. BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.
AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal. BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. CEpic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?
AUnsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about. BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. CHumbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. DExhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days.
REVEAL MY FILM →
The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…
Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.
Parasite
You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about.
Oppenheimer
You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
Birdman
You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible. Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.
No Country for Old Men
You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.
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4 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984)
Image via ParamountIn an era when the internet was barely accessible to the public, movies were one of the main mediums through which audiences learned about the world. However, this also carries the risk of misrepresenting certain communities, which has often occurred in American cinema. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is one such example. While the Indiana Jones franchise is known for its adventurous spirit, this entry is widely criticized for its racial stereotyping of so-called “third-world” countries.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’s plot revolves around the fictional Thuggee cult, which is loosely based on depictions of India. Members of this community are divided into two stereotypical categories: helpless, desperate villagers lacking proper hygiene and a violent, fanatical underground group, reinforcing the “savage” imagery of non-Anglo-American countries. One controversial scene includes Indiana Jones being served dinner at Pankot Palace, where it is implied that Indians eat gross body parts such as chilled monkey brains and eyeball soup.
5 'The Breakfast Club' (1985)
Image via Universal StudiosThe Breakfast Club is a lesson in common high school archetypes: brain, athlete, basket case, princess, and criminal. Therefore, it's not surprising that the characters live up to the label they had been given. Still, Bender's (Judd Nelson) early behavior towards Claire (Ringwald) is unacceptable. As the designated bad boy, Bender's bound to break some rules, but invading Claire's personal space and verbally harassing her is one step too far.
On a more sensitive note, The Breakfast Club oversimplifies mental health issues. In turn of events, Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) is revealed to be suicidal. Instead of taking him seriously, the other four initially laugh in disbelief, unable to fathom that a jock like Brian could even write a suicide note. In its conclusion, The Breakfast Club makes a statement that people of different cliques can connect, but the message becomes contradictory when Allison (Ally Sheedy) is given a goth-to-girl makeover, which goes to show that you're only attractive when you fit in with conventional beauty standards.
6 'Dirty Dancing' (1987)
Image via LionsgateDirty Dancing takes the line, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner," a little too literally. Whether it's the 2020s or the 1980s, teenagers are bound to rebel at some point. Dirty Dancing's Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) finds herself swept up by the sheer charisma of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) at Kellerman's Resort. There's nothing more thrilling than a vacation hook-up, but with Johnny being 25 and Baby only 17, the age gap is problematic.
Age gap aside, Dirty Dancing presents itself as a critique of classism. Baby's cardiologist father, Jake (Jerry Orbach), exhibits an internalized ignorance toward working-class employees like Johnny. Baby going behind her father's back to be with Johnny initially seems like a protest against class divisions. However, that rebelliousness feels less convincing when we remember that Jake is a working professional and that Baby is merely a guest at the resort. In this light, the much older Jake should've also been more aware of respecting professional boundaries.
7 'Porky's' (1981)
Image via 20th Centruy FoxBefore American Pie, there was Porky's. Despite the 18-year difference, both films address one of high schoolers' biggest urges: losing their virginities. Of course, a film revolving around underage students and the carnal need for sex is already a red flag from the get-go. The alarming pursuit of sex is deemed a rite of passage. In their boyish fashion, these young men think that the ultimate source of sex is in adult environments like strip clubs.
Blinded by the need to pop their cherries, the boys deem women as nothing more than objects to fill their urges. Porky's then turns female characters into inappropriate jokes. The film normalizes the boys spying on girls in the locker room without consent. Porky's humorizes their dangerous behavior, presenting it as a "boys will be boys" attitude that dismisses their recklessness. However, many major cases of sexual assault stem from microaggressions such as this one.
Release Date November 13, 1981
Runtime 94 minutes
Director Bob Clark
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Don Carmody, Harold Greenberg
English (US) ·