Few motion pictures infiltrate the cultural hivemind the best way Grease has managed to since its 1978 launch.
The Paramount Photos movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John nonetheless manages to be a family favourite, almost 50 years later. From the Biggest Technology to Gen Alpha, almost everybody in Western tradition has seen or no less than grown aware of Grease.
Due to our altering occasions with actions like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, youthful generations have criticized Grease for its sexist, homophobic, and racist leanings. However as a former theater child, I’m pressured to disagree. Grease was truly far forward of its time, introducing anarchical ideology and riot to a technology that was taught to comply with of their dad and mom’ footsteps: go to school, get a job, get married, have a household, and retire at 65. To this present day, millennials and Gen Z are nonetheless combating in opposition to this societal custom. So to anybody battling their Boomer dad or mum’s hope for traditionalism, simply remind them of how a lot they beloved Grease.
Lots of Grease’s “offensive” moments are tongue-in-cheek.
A number of folks have taken up challenge with Grease due to its overt sexism. Lyrics in “Summer season Nights” reminiscent of when the T-Birds ask Danny if Sandy “put up a struggle” and the Pink Women ask Sandy if Danny “had a automotive.” After all the actors appear like adults—one other nod to Grease’s emphasis on satire—however the characters are youngsters. Teenagers nonetheless ask issues like this right now; all Grease is doing is highlighting the sexist tropes that existed in the course of the ‘50s and the way they ran by way of younger minds.
As a result of Grease was written and created within the ‘70s, the objective of the movie is to not promote the backwards pondering of an period twenty years earlier however to poke enjoyable at it. Plus, for the youngsters who grew up within the period of Grease, it was a technique to remind their dad and mom that in addition they mentioned and did despicable issues as children.
Many individuals have criticized lyrics in “Greased Lightning,” wherein the blokes work on a automotive to get chicks. However in case you’re taking the lyrics sung by a bunch of flamboyant males singing and dancing in an extravagant musical quantity significantly, society has some larger issues. It’s the true epitome of camp, evidenced all through Grease between “Magnificence College Dropout” and even the costumes. Did the rebellious cool-girl cliques actually put on matching pink jackets? After all they didn’t, however in Grease, it’s an over-the-top indication of their standing. The picture of the pink and leather-based jackets continues to be synonymous with Grease itself.
The characters in Grease are difficult and well-rounded.
In The Guardian’s oral history of Grease, we study that most of the characters had been truly based mostly on actual folks. “Grease began in a basement in Chicago and these characters are based mostly on actual folks,” Jamie Donnelly, who portrayed Jan, shared, “which is why they really feel so relatable.” Every character has their very own journey, and whereas romantic relationships and friendships are on the coronary heart of Grease’s plot, it’s uncommon to see principal and supporting characters expertise their very own arcs. Every of those character’s arcs influences the principle story and backbone that results in Sandy’s option to date Danny and be part of the Pink Women.
Nobody needs to observe a film filled with 100% morally upright characters; that’s simply not reasonable. Humanity and people themselves are filled with contradictions and complicated opinions. The T-Birds can discuss and joke about intercourse in a seemingly offensive manner however nonetheless act in methods which are largely respectful to their feminine counterparts. In reality, it may be argued that whereas the T-Birds egg one another on whereas collectively and attempt to play into the macho tradition of the ‘50s, all they needed was to be beloved by the ladies they beloved again. On the time, they had been instructed that to get the ladies, they needed to be masculine, to drive sports activities automobiles, to neg their romantic pursuits. However by the top of the movie, we study that the Pink Women are really those calling the pictures.
When Kenickie exhibits up for Rizzo in the course of the rumors of her unplanned being pregnant, she shoots him down, and he’s left damage and unhappy, like a misplaced pet. He doesn’t lash out aggressively, he takes the damage and tries once more when Rizzo is able to obtain his love. Danny tries his hand at turning into a jock, sporting a letterman jacket and working observe, to win Sandy’s coronary heart. When Sandy rejects him on the drive-in film, he doesn’t comply with her or act violently; he sings “Stranded on the Drive-In,” a heart-wrenching (and barely humorous) inside monologue about his emotions of failure and loneliness. The T-Birds could have tried to look powerful on the outside, however they had been actually the OG tender boys.
The Pink Women, then again, encapsulated femininity and an unbiased power concurrently. Whereas they’d romantic relationships, in addition they held onto their distinctive personalities, refusing to succumb to the whims of the lads who courted them. Jan’s binge consuming is performed up as a joke in Grease, however her confidence and sexuality was an early illustration of physique positivity versus fats shaming. Rizzo will get slut-shamed at numerous factors all through the film, however she owns her sexuality and in doing so, is a pacesetter as each a good friend and a feminist. However relating to her emotional peak in “There Are Worse Issues I May Do,” she battles the complexity of being a forward-thinking and unbiased lady in a society that continues to disgrace her.
The conclusion of Grease is decidedly feminist and progressive.
The most important criticism of Grease usually comes with its conclusion wherein Sandy exhibits up clad in leather-based from head to toe, sporting stilettos, hairspray, and exuding a extra open sexuality. EW’s Kristen Baldwin mocked it: “Hey ladies! Right here’s a fool-proof trick for holding your man: Change every part about your self!” On a primary re-watch as an adolescent, many consider that the concept Sandy adjustments herself, going from a “good woman” to a “unhealthy woman,” is definitely a nasty message. We glance again on our childhoods, shocked that our dad and mom allowed and inspired us to observe Grease.
However what many people failed to appreciate was that maybe Sandy’s change wasn’t simply to win a person. Sandy moved to the States with a conservative and conventional upbringing — she was becoming into society’s mildew of what was anticipated of younger ladies. She wore keds, poodle skirts, and even tried to befriend Patty Simcox, the boring head cheerleader. Even when Danny tries to suit into the extra acceptable jock tradition, Sandy simply doesn’t really feel proper. She enjoys her time extra with the Pink Women than with the cheerleaders, even when they’re a bit extra biting and sarcastic.
She learns to take dangers and insurgent in opposition to societal norms. Frenchy drops out of highschool to go to magnificence faculty, and finally ends up dropping out of magnificence faculty and returning to highschool along with her pals. That’s not a conventional path but it surely’s the one Frenchy needed to take to search out the place she really belonged. Sandy went on her personal journey of self-discovery, helmed not solely by her summer time romance with Danny (throughout which she noticed his sort and uninfluenced inside self), however her experiences with numerous classmates and societal figures.
In reality, the learn that Sandy adjustments herself for a person is extra anti-feminist than the movie itself. When Sandy walks out within the remaining scene, she’s extra assured and joyous than she was all through all the movie as she struggles with understanding her id, a relatable journey for any younger particular person. Danny needs to be along with her it doesn’t matter what, so simply because she walks out in a horny black outfit doesn’t imply she “modified herself for a person.” Criticizing Sandy’s transformation is its personal model of slut-shaming as an alternative of understanding {that a} lady can select to insurgent, to decorate how she needs to, to be at liberty, and that by doing these issues, she lastly learns to like herself.
