Grease was on TV on Wednesday and it got me thinking...
I saw Grease for the first time when I was three years old. My parents were completely unaware of the content rating as I held my boombox microphone to the TV and recorded "Summer Nights" and "Blue Moon," memorizing the hand jive as the movie progressed. When I was six, I wanted to marry Danny Zucco. When I was ten, I wanted leather pants, Grease's official symbol of conformity and change...all to please the boy. When I was twelve, a girl in my seventh grade class and I sang that final number, which marks the demise of Sandy's individuality, when she interrupted, "Grease is just so sexist!"
I did not understand how a movie I saw as such a positive romance could coincide with a word that spouted patriarchal venom and encouraged outrage. Thanks to my bad-ass classmate, I have never seen Grease the same way. Sandy starts out as an innocent idealistic high school student coming to a new school where her kindness is a fault (especially according to the Pink Ladies' very own "feminist" Rizzo) when trying to win over the bad boy. Pretty soon, she learns that in order to win over the guy who treats her like crap and is ashamed to introduce her to his friends, she has to pick up a cigarette, some leather pants, and become utterly unrecognizable. She becomes a new Sandy, transforming for the sake of the Rydell High patriarchy.
This is not to say that I have boycotted Grease since the seventh grade. However, I have watched it with open eyes, peering through my feminist glasses at this truly sad message. The only way to fight this sexism is to tell those three year olds watching Grease for the first time (I'm sure I wasn't the only one) that they should not change for the benefit of anyone but themselves.
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I had these same realizations a few months ago. I was watching Greese with my boyfriend and his mom, and we were all a little dismayed at how Sandy had to change. I also found it disturbing/odd that Danny changed but that only lasted for about two minutes. Because why should a guy ever have to change for a woman?
I remember in high school when our drama teacher always used to say the biggest problem with Grease was that Sandy had to turn into a "slut puppy" at the end to get the guy.
Although I never agreed with the word slut puppy although it does make me think of long john silvers, I did get what she was saying. Unfortunately I had also always thought the old sandy was boring so i welcomed the change. Now though I can see the problematic problem or really all the characters there...every single one was a stereotype and none of them were good
"The only way to fight this sexism is to tell those three year olds watching Grease for the first time (I'm sure I wasn't the only one) that they should not change for the benefit of anyone but themselves."
My sentiments exactly!
The first time I watched it, I was about the same age, I said to myself "what happened to sandy?" I couldn't understand why the sweet girl turned into the un-classy skank.
Ew, I never liked Grease. Not just because of the obvious sexism but I didn't like John Travolta. He annoyed me.
Thanks for posting this! I always thought Grease was screwed up.
Christina, I agree with you on the the obvious sexism point, though I still have a small thing for John Travolta (but NOT Danny Zucco). However, I find that the Sandy who smokes and wears leather pants (i.e. the "un-classy skank") is just as acceptable as the "sweet girl." My problem with the "un-classy skank" is that she changed not of her own accord. She didn't change for herself; she changed to catch the attention and acceptance of a boy. Nonetheless, "skank" is a harsh term. I am unsure if it has an equivalent in the male lexicon. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who saw Grease at 3. I truly do not think this movie has been analyzed this much before and I'm glad that it is. Thanks for the feedback!
I had this same revelation when I watched GREASE for the first time a few months ago! I used to love that movie as a kid and I soon realized what the "real" message was.
I also had the same revelation when I saw a few other "classic" musicals that I loved as a child (we had a tradition at Thanksgiving of watching some from my aunt's vast movie collection). When I saw CAROUSEL for the first time in about 10 years while on Thanksgiving break from college, my cousin and I were both appalled at how much we had LOVED that movie and how atrocious it really was (ahem, domestic abuse anyone?).
Thank god for musicals like HAIRSPRAY...
"I did not understand how a movie I saw as such a positive romance could coincide with a word that spouted patriarchal venom and encouraged outrage."
Maybe because you were very young at the time, and did not yet share the sensibilities of that classmate? Grease certainly is offensive on a number of levels, but perhaps more so because it is a movie from the 70s, based on the culture of the 50s, being viewed by people of the 2000s. I assume our children will consider our entertainment offensive, equally certain that their sensibilities are the only correct ones.