Did you do anything for Mother’s Day? I guess you can't really answer that, it's not like my blog has a comment-box for you to scroll down to. I won’t judge you if you didn’t call your mom, and you have my sympathies if you wanted to but couldn't.
As for me, I went with my mom to a showing of Grease (1978) at the movie theater right by my home. Pretty strategic choice to re-release it on that day, no? A whole lot of moms are fond of this thing. It’s being shown to celebrate its 45th anniversary, but in truth its anniversary wont be for another month.
The timing worked out for me, because it was an easy way to make my mother happy. And lo, I spent my Sunday evening rewatching Grease, my first time seeing it as an adult.
Overall, I had a nice time! It has a snappy pace, nice choreography, lots of eye-candy; it’s basically a live-action cartoon world. I feel like you could watch this movie with no subtitles and no understanding of the English language and basically get the gist of it (except for the pregnancy scare subplot, and the dance contest subplot, which kinda dragged).
I can appreciate these vintage mean girls and campy leather-boys, with their bloodless little gang and squirt-guns. But just like with 50’s bike gangs in any other media, or Tom of Finland police officer smut, or the YMCA’s costumes, there’s this part of me that kinda wonders… Is this weird? Am I at odds with myself in finding it so harmless and fluffy?
There’s something basically sinister to me about the wave of 50’s nostalgia that Grease was banking on. People were anxious about progress, about civil rights, about disco. A lot of people craved the escapism of a world where boys get to giggle about forcing themselves on girls, girls bend over backwards to please boys, and you only see black people when they’re singing and dancing for a white audience’s enjoyment.
Most of the conflicts in Grease come down to gender expectations and the tensions they cause, particularly the expectation for young men to perform callous sexual aggression for one another. But it doesn’t really have like… A moral, or very much to say for itself in the end. Well, I guess apart from “Be sexy, but not too slutty” and “Don’t be a jerk to your girlfriend!”
Grease isn't really trying to have a tight script with tight themes. Scenes sort of just happen, it’s a string of meandering episodes that hit their climax in a car race between the baddies’ flame-spewing villain-mobile and the heroes’ cum-wagon.
It’s fine. It’s cute. It’s just that you can’t avoid a certain fascist stink when it comes to 50's Americana.
I find myself wondering how much of that fluffy, frivilous feeling comes from the fact that, although I have a lot of disdain for my country, and consciously I know better, I'm white and was raised in America, and have internalized a lot of this imagery as harmless camp. Milkshakes and poodle skirts, you know the score.
There will be a moment that jolts me awake, or makes me groan "Oh God no", particularly when it comes to sexual harrassment. But then we’re right back to the boys doing Three Stooges bits. And Danny saying “SaANdy!”. And then yayy, time for a slumber party!
Like I said, each episode just tumbles into the next. If there’s a part that you find distasteful or boring, you take that opportunity to go take a leak and refill your drink. If ALL of it is distasteful or boring to you, then, well, you probably knew that going in. What you see is very much what you get.
Although… I was surprised on rewatch by how sexual it is, in that weird, pent-up, adolescent way.
As an Oldies-Enjoyer and a guy who listened to the soundtrack as a kid, I enjoy quite a few of the songs. Not the final song so much though. It’s alright, it’s just weaker than the one right before it, and it’s part of the weirdest episode in the whole thing – Not because of the flying car, it's a cartoon world, remember? Not even because of the inexplicable Alvin and the Chipmunk vocals slipped in at the end.
The weird thing to me is that trope of a random American high school having an absurdly high-budget event. In this case, an entire carnival springing up in a convenient, empty field of grass. Did Grease kick that trope off? Or is it just an instance of it? I have no clue.
That’s Americana, I guess. Money, money, money. Look at all this prosperity, and by prosperity we mean hotdogs and candy. And PHEW, thank goodness, the pregnant chick isn’t pregnant after all, no need to take a stance on a woman’s right to choose.
I get the sense that most people don't overthink Grease. It’s either “Awww my childhood ♡”, or “Woah, did you guys read these lyrics? I think this is… Problematic”. Neither are illegitimate! Suppose not everyone going into it has rewatched Scorpio Rising upwards of ten times, or had a moment of introspection thinking “Why does so much vintage gay art include the men who are must likely to abuse us?”
Maybe I'm at the risk of sounding douchey somewhere in this post. These are just the thoughts I had while sitting there in the theater, in-between swaying along to the nicer songs and mumbling to myself “I bet that shot was a pain in the ass, it looks great”.
Oh, and staring slack-jawed at John Travolta in those little gym shorts. The words "HIGH SCHOOL" written on his shirt are a turn-off, but Travolta was 23. None of the high schooolers are played by ACTUAL high schoolers, which was a wise casting decision, given they spend the whole movie groping and humping each other.