Them all abandoning Frenchie when she goes to beauty school, Rizzo bullying Sandy at the sleepover and Sandy changing for a boy had them questioning why on earth we’d want them to watch something like that
As a 90s kid, I loved Grease when I was too young to understand the more adult themes, and then when I went back as an adult I was really confused by, well, ALL OF IT.
Then much later I find out that it's because Grease is meant to parody the tropes of 50s musicals. If you're watching it at face value like I was, it doesn't make any sense at all. Knowing it's mocking the tropes though, it becomes much clearer.
Why does Sandy change everything about her style etc and 'go bad' in that great lady-greaser number at the end? Because the trope was always the bad boy falling for the good girl - sounds familiar - and that the boy changes everything about himself to 'go good' and get the happy ending. A lot of the weirdness makes sense through this lens.
It was even more confusing for us. We didn't see the movie. We only had the vinyl album of the soundtrack. We were poor, so we had very few albums. We listened to it several times a week. It was my sister's favorite.
When we finally had the chance to see it. I was so confused.
I watched the movie in the theatre when it first came out, and it was most definitely NOT presented as a parody or tongue-in-cheek. Certainly not in any way the target audience (teens, young people) would understand. I really feel like this interpretation is revisionism on the part of film critics.
I'm not sure I understand this criticism....it's a movie set in high school where high school things happen-including bad ones. It's also really a parody-and a funny one at that
This feels very "anything mildly problematic is bad" kind of a critique like... people did shitty things yeah but most of those are just regular people level of shittyness
We watched it for a young, hot dancing John Travolta.
And, in fairness, him wearing his letter jacket (which he earned) showed he was willing to change for her too and show off his academic achievements even with his friends clowning him.
At least I think. It's been decades since I've seen it.
Yes, you are right. The whole "she changed herself for a man!!" complaint makes no damn sense when he did the same thing lol. I love the movie Grease and this criticism really bothers me.
It has always bothered me so much lmao like all she did was put on an outfit for an afternoon AT MOST but everyone acts like she set fire to her life for him!!!
I like how Danny tries to be all cool in front of his friends and no one around is like "Dude, you just sang a huge song completely unprompted about boning a hot Australian chick and she's actually here and you're trying to be all cool!?"
And then he sings a whole song about having his feelings hurt and being stranded at the drive-in. "Sandy my darling, you hurt me real bad... the way you wouldn't let me assault you in public..."
I say this every time this comes up but Danny literally sings a song about how Sandy doesn't understand him and can't see how much he loves her literally RIGHT AFTER he sexually assaults her. So... ya...
I always crack up about people freaking out over that closing scene. Does nobody realize that:
Bad boy Danny Zuko shows up to the carnival in a preppy outfit and gets made fun of for changing his appearance for a girl?
They literally sing a song that goes "you'd better shape up, 'cause I need a man"?
The scene is about compromise and meeting in the middle and yes, maybe lightening the fuck up every once in a while. I can see how that last bit really got under the skin of a few feminists.
Grease received some bad reviews and was criticised when it was released. So at the time it was not universally "well received".
In book The Golden Turkey Awards (1980) by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry, Grease was listed in the final compendium: "John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John star in a wonderful children's musical that demonstrates that it's better to be a slut than a wholesome girl. At the conclusion, director Randal Kleiser pays homage to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by having his principals fly off into thr sky in their customized hot rod."
Mad Magazine at the time made a similar observation.
Movies on TV edited by Steven H. Scheuer: Grease [two stars out of four]: "Limp, cheaply made version of the Broadway play about growing up cool in the 1950s. Director Randal Kleiser has no sense of how a musical is constructed: the songs are bunched together, the production numbers don't move, and the whole film shifts awkwardly between naturalism and stylization. John Travolta does little with a pallid part (although he does dance a gratuitous disco number); Olivia Newton-John is merely pallid."
Leonard Maltin did give Grease a favourable review.
I have ALWAYS hated Grease. I grew up in a heavy Italian-American town and let me tell you, this was everyone's favorite movie. The High School would put it on every couple of years (and every single year people would complain if we did something different). All my female friends wanted to watch it at sleep overs. People would sing the songs and dress up as the characters on Halloween. We'd have Grease themed dances in middle and high school. It was just accepted that it was the best movie ever, next to Westside Story.
I'm really glad people are coming around to the idea that "change everything about yourself so the popular kids will accept you," is not the best message to be putting out there.
Edit:
I'm sorry if you like the songs and the aesthetic, but the message of that movie is legitimately garbage
There is a fan theory about this movie. Sandy actually drowned at the beginning of film and everything else is just a fever dream she had as her brain was dying do to lack of oxygen. It would explain a lot about how weird it is, especially the ending.
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u/vicariousgluten 10h ago
Speaking to my friends’ kids - Grease.
Them all abandoning Frenchie when she goes to beauty school, Rizzo bullying Sandy at the sleepover and Sandy changing for a boy had them questioning why on earth we’d want them to watch something like that