Morals of the Story? *spoilers!*

There is a similar debate about the film 'Looking For Mr Goodbar'. Some people feel it is punishing a woman for her sexual behavior and that the message is that women should be chaste. I've always defended Goodbar and said that it is a true story and that it is very dangerous for a woman to have sex with lots of strange men. Of course she didn't deserve what happened to her but if you engage in that kind of behavior then there are risks just like if you skydive there are risks.

Where the Boys Are is a bit different because its not a true story and Melanie isn't half as promiscuous as the Goodbar character. However she does behave foolishly in that she is very fickle, she believes whatever lines men feed her and thinks that sex on the first date is going to lead to marriage. That kind of gullibility can lead to people especially naive young women being victimized by unscrupulous people. I didn't see the film as punishing Melanie I saw it as showing how the vulnerability overprotected ingenues such as her.

Though really only the writers can say what their intention was.

I don't think that there was any moral to the story. It's only a movie!

Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen - totally hot!

I recently watched WTBA again and it occurred to me that there were conflicting messages. Despite Meritt's progressive view that of men and women "playing house" that she proclaims in class, in the end the women who hold onto their "virtue" get their men and seem to be on their way to a happy ending, while the one girl, Melanie, gives in too easily and ends up putting herself I a situation that results in her rape. So I ask what is the message? Is it that a woman needs to hang onto her virtue to lead a respectable life, or is it that although men and women should be equally responsible and face equal consequences for their behavior, women need to be more cautious and protect themselves from men who are more than willing to take advantage of a woman who is too trusting? Or maybe it's both. Regardless, a woman still needs to be more cautious and suspicious of a man she doesn't know well and sometimes even ones she does know well.

The "message" of the movie is save it till you're married. All the sex talk was pretty hot for 1960, but the girls remained "good"--except for Yvette, who is too easy and ends up raped. So, there, the movie says, see what happens?

I can't say I have much sympathy for Yvette's character, not because the girl deserves to be used and abused, but the actress herself made a career out of playing girls who always seemed slightly "slow." Her infantile line readings always drove me crazy. I guess that's why she was perfect for "Light in the Piazza." And Weena in "The Time Machine."

I always saw the movie as a bit of a cautionary tale for the female college set. That belief of anything goes when on vacation can prove disasterous. You can either end up hurting someone without meaning to (Merrit, TV, Basil), or get hurt yourself by someone whose intentions are not the same as yours (Tuggle, Ryder, Angie). Melanie was the best example of it, she though the guys she met would remain gentleman - instead they saw her a fun diversion on vacation.

The rape - it's not that going out with a lot of men is dangerous - it's that MEN are dangerous, and the more you go home with, the more it increases your odds of landing with a creep. Sexual expectations and alcohol are a bad combination! Or sex, period. Especially in a transient environment, like spring break or a bar.