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AIBU to think that Rita, Sue and Bob Too isn’t a laugh riot of a film?

255 replies

StanfordPines · 28/03/2021 09:08

There was a Facebook post a little while ago about the film Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Lots of people were commenting about what a funny film is was.
I commented that while it is a fantastic film and certainly has a humorous side to it I wouldn’t say it was a funny film. I was told that I was without a sense of humour. I said that I didn’t find a grown man having sex with underage girls to be super funny and was told that that is just how it was then and it was fine.
I deleted my comments and walked away.
I’m the same age as Rita and Sue. It wasn’t how things were then and it wasn’t fine.

AIBU to think that while it is a great film comments like ‘such a funny film’ and ‘you wouldn’t be allowed to make that today’ are just missing the point?

(I know it’s Facebook and I haven’t taken it to heart but was I wrong?)

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StanfordPines · 28/03/2021 11:58

@Respectmyauthoritah

I think presenting tragedy as comedy is one of the things British cinema excels at. Another poster mentioned East is East, also a lot of Ken Loach films have funny parts in them but they tackle quite dark and gritty subjects.
But I don’t think it was presented as gritty. Just look at the poster. It was sold as bawdy sex comedy. And at the time it was viewed as that. Looking at it now it’s grim and I’m staggered that people today can still hold the ‘it’s just a comedy’ view.
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StanfordPines · 28/03/2021 12:00

I was only talking about this last night with DS but when I left school and certainly in the area I lived, there was no encouragement to go on to higher education, it was go out and earn your keep. Just my experience.

I went to a secondary modern having failed the 11+. My school had no sixth form. No one was given any guidance about what to do after leaving school beyond the two factories in the next town.

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Lightsabre · 28/03/2021 12:03

There was a famous poster from the 70's/80's (think it was the Tories showing a long line of unemployed people). Towards the front was a 14 year old girl from our school who was pregnant! This was a Catholic school too. She was a nice girl and just sort of disappeared. She wasn't the only one either - grim.

Respectmyauthoritah · 28/03/2021 12:05

@StanfordPines It was presented as a comedy, as you say, but was actually a dark and quite tragic film. Of course there will always be people that miss the point and think its just a funny film because it has a gangbang song. These are usually the same people that think The Crown is a documentary.

HunkyPunk · 28/03/2021 12:16

But I don’t think it was presented as gritty. Just look at the poster. It was sold as bawdy sex comedy. And at the time it was viewed as that

I don't think that was Andrea Dunbar's intention, though.

Sleepyblueocean · 28/03/2021 12:17

It was a dark film with humour. I would have been a similar age to the girls and looking at it now it does remind me of the early 80's and my life as a teenager at that time. Yr 11 ( 5th year) girls with men 'boyfriends' was common place. A teacher in his 30s at my school, moved one of his pupils in with him as soon as she left school and carried on teaching at the school.

dottiedodah · 28/03/2021 12:17

I think thank goodness attitudes have changed! Many poor young women were seen then as easy and avaliable .There were very few aspirations for young girls like this .The attitude being you would have children very young and be "grateful" that you were married off!.Alternatively few opportunities save working in a shop or factory . I had not heard of the "gang bang" song until now .Researched the lyrics and just ugh!

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StanfordPines · 28/03/2021 12:19

@HunkyPunk

But I don’t think it was presented as gritty. Just look at the poster. It was sold as bawdy sex comedy. And at the time it was viewed as that

I don't think that was Andrea Dunbar's intention, though.

It wasn’t, but I think that what she wanted got very lost.
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Hankunamatata · 28/03/2021 12:20

Never thought of it as a comedy. Thought it was a bit dark

SweatyBetty20 · 28/03/2021 12:30

@Lightsabre - I often wonder if this was the problem with my school, with 25% of girls pregnant by the time they picked up their GCSE results. Mine was a Catholic school, run by Christian brothers, and used to be a boys grammar before that all stopped in the early 80s. We never had any sex education, we learned about reproduction if you chose biology as a GCSE option but that mysterious stopped before human reproduction and jumped on to photosynthesis! There was absolutely no advice on contraception, and PSE classes were devoted to Just Saying No to drugs. We did get to see a programme on childbirth but that was turned off abruptly when a lad commented on the size of the newborn’s balls...

Honeyroar · 28/03/2021 12:34

I remember seeing it in the 80s when I was a teenager myself. I remember thinking some bits were hysterical and they were what balanced the dark, revolting side of the film. I remember thinking it was a sad story overall.

Buggerthebotox · 28/03/2021 12:39

It was very "of its time". I found it bleak, darkly funny, edgy and quite possibly realistic. It was a portrayal of Thatcher's Britain which is reflected in culture at that time: Boys from the Blackstuff, Mike Leigh films such as Meantime both have that kind of vibe. Great writing and really conjoir up what life was like for ma'y back then.

It's the kind of film that brings to mind Shane Meadows' writing and reminds me a lot of This is England.

Buggerthebotox · 28/03/2021 12:40

Apols for typos.

AliceBlueGown · 28/03/2021 12:49

It was never sold as a bawdy sex comedy. It was always bleak and in places darkly funny. A film of it's time. I went to a secondary modern, in Bradford near Buttershaw estate during the 1980's There were Bob's, Rita's and Sue's - Andrea Dunbar was writing her experiences.

sausagedogststandupandtakeover · 28/03/2021 12:51

I was a young teen when I watched it so I thought it was funny but a bit grim. Now I think I'd find it just a bit grim. But, it's a good film.
I'm only a few years younger than Rita and Sue would have been, and I had friends at school (so 15/16) who were sleeping with creepy men in their late 20's. Some ended up pregnant by them. This was in a predominantly working class northern town. Very sad Sad

JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil · 28/03/2021 12:52

It’s a good film but not a comedy. He was a letch. Going to secondary in the 90s, you’d see guys in cars outside school with girls aged 13-16 claiming that’s their boyfriend Hmm. We knew it felt wrong but nobody ever did anything about it so it wasn’t seen as a crime.

I remember back when the Bill Wyman marriage to Mandy (can’t recall surname) happened. he was about 50 and she was 16 and the tabloids were like ‘this is a scandal but she’s hot, good on him’. Exploitation of teens was rife. Even as recently as the late 90s you had Chris Evans marry Billie Piper and the tabloids were pretty much giving him a pat on the back.

I have a tween and the thought of her being with a a grown man in his 30s when she is 15 makes me feel sick. He’d be ‘warned off’ not welcomed into the family home.

sausagedogststandupandtakeover · 28/03/2021 12:52

(What I meant was, I was 15/16 in 1990 so not too long after the film came out)

sausagedogststandupandtakeover · 28/03/2021 12:54

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil you're right. It's really not that long ago that it was seen as acceptable for middle aged men to be sleeping with 15/16 year olds.

FrankieFalcone · 28/03/2021 13:02

@StanfordPines exactly this, there was no guidance.

Where I lived there were lots of factories, where generations of families had worked before, school leavers were often encouraged to follow suit.

I started work in a factory immediately after leaving school and lasted 6 months. Went off in a different direction in an office based role on a YTS scheme and have stayed in similar roles ever since. This was all my own doing though, the YTS scheme just allowed my employer at the time to allow me to work for a pittance, from memory anyway.

DogsAreShit · 28/03/2021 13:06

I think it's an amazing film. The dialogue is spot on, so well done. The story is sadly very accurate ie man grooming young girls who see having sex with him as a way of gaining status, even if that status is notoriety.

Where I think it tips over into genius is that it becomes a fantasy in that the girls triumph with their friendship intact, and even have a nice house to live in, while calling the shots with Bob. Ofc this would never ever happen in real life but because it's been so well set up and structured and it happens within that tight structure we accept it. It's very very clever.

Knowing the writer's story makes this poignant because there wasn't such a happy ending for her.

Mrsjayy · 28/03/2021 13:10

YTS was £29.50 a week I remember I got a top up because I did extra responsibility where I would worked but i think it was a fiverHmm

Strangekindofwoman · 28/03/2021 13:14

The way racism was portrayed in the film was absolutely spot on for the time.

DogsAreShit · 28/03/2021 13:16

@StanfordPines and @HunkyPunk agree that it's sometimes misrepresented. Probably a few reasons for that : a bit too close a mirror for lots of people, the fact it's a story about working class teenage girls, the fact it's written by a working class teenage girl, loads of things.

Dunbar is pretty clear I think that Rita and Sue are smart resourceful girls but have little agency due to their position in society but they think they do have agency. And there's a lot of people out there who also think that teenage girls groomed by older men have agency so that's what they'll get from the film. Like I say, maybe the mirror is just that bit too close.

IHaveBrilloHair · 28/03/2021 13:22

The P racist word used in the film was a word we all used in my childhood.
I'd never dream of it now and think it's awful.
Actually I was scoffed at a few months ago for objecting to an offensive word in connection with Chinese takeaways used in a FB group I'm on.
I'm no longer on that group.

I wonder what my 19yr old would make of the film?
I imagine she'd be horrified.

JaceLancs · 28/03/2021 13:26

I grew up in the 60s and 70s on a council estate in the north
Having an older boyfriend was an aspiration especially if they had car, house, money etc - boys of same age seemed very immature by comparison
Teachers and bosses would make lewd comments and even touch girls and few batted an eye it was very much like a bad Benny Hill sketch
I don’t remember many girls getting pregnant though we had the pill by then, and were mostly worried about what our parents would say
I had a few near misses with creepy older men, thankfully never raped but would not have reported the assaults as I would have been too frightened not to be believed or told I was asking for it
I found the film black with funny moments Bob was far too sleazy for my taste - I knew many Rita’s and Sue’s who had far less opportunities than I did mainly due to family situation