Gen Z & Millennials Watch 'American Pie' And Maybe We Don't Have To Cancel The 1999 Movie After All
"This walked so that Euphoria could run."
Universal Pictures, Summit Entertainment The 25th anniversary of the widely popular comedy movie “American Pie” is quickly approaching, and many people are reflecting back on some of the most iconic moments of the film.
However, with a quarter of a century between the initial release of the movie and today, viewers are also looking back on some of the movie’s problematic dialogue and bordering on rather incel attitudes.
The movie deals with four high-school seniors — Jim, Kevin, Oz, and Finch — all with their own different quirks and challenges, venturing on a quest to lose their virginities before graduation.
We asked six members of the YourTango team to watch the controversial film and share their thoughts on how they perceived the movie 25 years after it first hit theaters.
3 Millennials and 3 Gen-Zs reacted to the classic comedy film ‘American Pie’ and unveiled their opinions.
Introducing our millennials: Bryon, Kayla, and Allie — all of whom had seen the movie years ago, and our Gen Zers: Nia, Dane, and Deauna — who have never seen the movie until being asked to react to it.
All six had to determine if the film still holds water today or if it should be left in the past.
Is it still funny?
When asked if the film still holds a lot of comedic value, the team members had mixed answers. “I feel like a lot of it was hidden behind innuendos; it wasn’t that bad,” Kayla said.
Bryon agreed, calling the comedic aspects of the film, “surprisingly tame in a lot of ways” compared to the comedy we see on screen today.
Our team members also agreed that they could not help but laugh when the term “MILF” was used when describing a portrait of the character Stifler’s mother (who is portrayed by the iconic Jennifer Coolidge).
“I sat up and was like, ‘Oh my god, is that the origin point?’ [of the term],’ Allie said.
However, back then, Bryon noted that most of the slang words that we all know today had to be spelled out for audiences.
Were you shocked?
While the film obviously has its moments of peak comedy, there were a few specific moments that shocked the team.
For one, the scene where Stifler takes a gulp of the “pale ale.”
Not only was it gag-inducing, but it depicted the late '90s and early 2000s use of homophobia as humor when Stifler is called “gay” for drinking the tainted beer.
Allie said that even though she saw it coming, it was “still shocking” today to see it on screen since most comedies have strayed away from using offensive topics as the subject of jokes.
Another particular scene that stood out was when Jim’s dad has the dreaded birds and the bees talk with his teenage son. While he was trying his best to connect with his son, it made most of the team squirm.
Kayla, a parent herself, wanted teens like Jim to know that it is an uncomfortable conversation that no parent looks forward to having.
What was also rather shocking was the xenophobic depiction of foreign exchange student Nadia.
While she was secretly being broadcasted changing her clothes in Jim’s room, the footage was leaked to the email inbox of every student who attended their high school.
As Bryon pointed out, Jim or none of the other boys who knew about the secret web camera face any repercussions — yet Nadia gets deported.
“I would leave the country too!” Deauna said.
Somehow, they all still got to attend prom and graduate with their class.
Is there still the same pressure on teens to be sexually active?
While the four main characters are determined to lose their virginity, they also face an extraordinary amount of peer pressure to do so.
However, can the same still be said for today? Some of the team members believed so.
“I remember feeling it from as early as 13,” Dane recalled.
Sex should never be something you do just to “get it over with” because all of your peers are doing it. It should be entirely up to you when you are ready, and no one — especially not your friends or partner — should be pressuring you to have sex.
“This idea of being ahead versus being behind and that it has something to do with how cool you are, and really you’re all just kids trying to scramble for some sort of identity and meaning,” Allie noted of the pressure people face when it comes to losing their virginities.
As Jim declared during the prom scene, “I’ve never even had sex and already can’t stand it!”
While we see in the film that men especially are rooting for one another to lose their virginities, women are advised differently in real life.
“The concept of virginity for women especially and how it’s seen as this pure thing you’re supposed to hold on to and cherishit was made to put women in one box and men in another box,” Nia said.
The stigmatization of women who have lost their virginities at a younger age still exists today, with many of them being labeled rather unfavorably by societal standards.
After watching movies like “American Pie,” people also often have an unrealistic, romanticized view of what losing their virginity will be like.
“Growing up, we think it’s gonna be perfect,” Dane pointed out.
How do you think it influenced other movies and TV shows?
Bryon pretty much summed it up: “This walked so that "Euphoria" could run.”
After “American Pie,” directors likely felt they had the green light to include more racy and graphic sex scenes in their projects since audiences obviously responded well to them.
And finally, did you enjoy it, and would you recommend it?
For the most part, our team members gave the movie the thumbs up!
Kayla claimed that some of the inappropriate humor was not as shocking as she remembered.
Allie said watching it again was like opening a time capsule from the '90s.
Deauna was happy to report that it was “not as cringy” as she thought it would be.
Nia would recommend it to anyone above the age of a high school senior.
And Dane stated, “The point is that they were sexist losers that don’t know any better and learn a little by the end of it.”
While the film may have its fair share of sexist, homophobic, and problematic humor, generations today are able to recognize the time it was made.
While we cannot change what was acceptable in the past, we can only move forward from it.
And anyone today can give a movie that stars Jennifer Coolidge in it a pass!
For now, "American Pie" gets to stay.
But if there’s one valuable lesson we can all learn from it, it’s that pies should only be for eating.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.