American Pie called 'deeply problematic' by teens watching for first time

American Pie has been called ‘deeply problematic’ by teens watching the movie for the first time.

When American Pie was released in 1999, it was instantly thought of as a cult classic. A throwback, coming-of-age teen comedy that pushed its humour to the limits. The late 90s/early 2000s was certainly a weird time and even then, American Pie was considered controversial, which is saying something. In a nutshell, the story of American Pie revolves around a group of horny male teenagers that make a pact to lose their virginity by prom night so that they can no longer be looked at as losers.

At the time of writing, 24 years have passed and times are different. Well, mostly anyway. Nearly a quarter of a decade later, does American Pie stand the test of time and how does it translate to modern audiences? As reported by our friends at UNILAD, that question has been somewhat answered by a group of 16 to 19-year-old teens that were asked to watch American Pie, as well as Bring it On, Clueless, Dude, Where’s My Car and Eurotrip.

“The only thing the male characters care about is having sex. They’re willing to say and do whatever just to convince the girls to have sex with them,” 16-year-old Taylor told Vice. Taylor continued: “I don’t know if that was realistic when the film came out, but I think men treat women with a lot more respect and equality now,” adding, “I seriously can’t imagine this movie being made today for so many reasons. Obviously, the whole movie is completely ridiculous, but it still annoyed me because the main characters are sexist losers and don’t deserve any female attention.”

Another teen named Olivia, aged 18 came down hard on American Pie, saying: “It’s bordering on incel attitudes. I think if you were a teenage boy watching this you’d basically feel entitled to behave however you wanted to towards women.” One particular scene that was brought up involved the foreign exchange student, Nadia, who was filmed by the leading character Jim. “The part where Jim and the other male characters film the foreign exchange student in his room is deeply problematic,” said 17-year-old Hannah. “The film doesn’t even question the morality of doing this, it makes it seem like a joke and that the dudes are all ‘legends’ for getting the plan to work."

Hannah continued: “It’s a huge violation of privacy and definitely a sexual offence for Jim to film her, let alone to then share that with his friends. There’s no way a teen film made now would allow it.” It would be interesting to find out how the opinions of those that enjoyed American Pie back in the day have changed.