Classic musical Grease has once again become the focus of debate as “woke” online activists lunch their attacks.
Forty-four years after its huge cinema release, the classic doesn’t appear to be aging quite well, with several critics calling it, “misogynistic” and, “Rapey,” saying it encourages “slut-shaming.” and “sexism” Some people were extremely outraged and offended that they even called for Grease to be removed from screens altogether.
Grease, the 1987 musical starring Olivia Newton-John, and John Travolta, has come under the woke cancel culture’s radar in recent times for its “sexist and anti-feminist” themes. However, Newton-John, who died on August 8 after a battle with cancer, defended the movie in recent times, saying people shouldn’t take it “too seriously”.
Although Grease follows the love story of Danny and Sandy, who could not come from more different backgrounds, internet activists hope their righteous outrage at the flick will cause streaming services to stop showing it on their platforms.
“Grease is far too sexist and overly white and should be banned from the screen. It is nearly 2021 after all,” she wrote on social media.
The most recent to take issues with the movie were students from Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) and Scotch College in Perth, who refused to take part in a play based on the musical as they found it offensive and anti-feminist.
The play was scheduled to be performed at the start of the year, just months before the tragic death of Newton-John, who co-starred with Travolta in the 1978 classic. PLC principal Cate Begbie and Scotch College acting headmaster Peter Burt issued a joint statement in November last year announcing their decision to cancel the musical. “A number of PLC students raised concerns about whether the musical was appropriate in modern times,” it read.
More details of this story from AWM:
In the movie, John Travolta plays a “greaser,” bad boy in 1958. Meanwhile, Olivia Newton-John’s character is a wholesome girl next door who does everything right. Because they have such different personas in the movie, their love is not supposed to work. Nevertheless, by the end of the movie, Sandy becomes a greaser and disavows her wholesome ways to be the type of girl that Danny could spend the rest of his days with – or at least the remainder of the school year.
In the song, “Summer Nights,” Danny details his summer romance with Sandy, in which his friends ask if she “put up a fight” during his sexual advances.
The film was a hit when it was released in 1978, but now the “rapey” line draws a lot of criticism from online activists, according to AWM.
“So turns out #Grease is actually pretty rapey,” Samantha Johnson wrote. “Also no one wants to watch Grease with me anymore.”
In the movie, Rizzo does not like Sandy because she is a wholesome girl. In the song, “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” Rizzo grills Sandy for being the girl next door instead of a bad girl like her. Later in the movie, Rizzo gets knocked up by a greaser and then has to deal with the fallout of that issue.
So, other critics pointed out that it was wrong of Rizzo to bully Sandy for not having sex with Danny whenever and wherever he wanted to.
“Grease is the worst. Rizzo is a bully who is then ‘slut shamed.’ Sandy has to change herself for a man. Ugh. The men are all sex pests, to be honest.”
During a 2020 interview, Newton-John stated that she believed it conveyed a strong female character that was relevant in today’s society.
”It’s a movie. It’s a story from the 50s where things were different,” she said of its criticism. ”Everyone forgets that, at the end, he changes for her too. There’s nothing deep in there about the #MeToo movement.”
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Source: AWM