Why "Grease" Should Not Be Our Favorite Love Story

Grease is the highest grossing musical to date, was selected by Empire as one of the 500 greatest movies of all time, and won the People's Choice Award for favorite overall motion picture in 1979. It is a popular musical, movie, and soundtrack. Most people can't help but at least tap their foot (if not break into song and dance completely) when they hear "You're The One That I Want".

But what does Grease really teach us? Well, just look at the first song after the credits: "Summer Nights". The first thing Danny mentions about Sandy is that she was crazy for him (note: he doesn't mention being crazy for her) and the first thing Sandy tells all her friends about Danny is that he is cute. Danny's friends then ask about the "important stuff". They ask him about how far he got and Sandy's friends focus on "important things" too. They make sure Danny had a great car (because of course the measure of a guy is by how great his car is, right?). Thankfully Sandy's friends do later get back to the real questions ("was it love at first sight?") but Danny's friends never seem to care much about love (their next question is "did she put up a fight?"). They both say it is a fling that "don't mean a thing" right in the song. Yet at the end they also say they made a "true love vow". What was it: a fling or true love? They don't seem to focus too much on actually being in love with one another and neither do their friends.

Still, the part of the movie I want to draw the most attention to is the end. Sandy changes herself completely for Danny. She starts smoking, she dresses in leather and dark clothes, and she changes her attitude. And Danny eats it up. He loves this new fake version of Sandy, not the real and true Sandy. Then they sing "You're The One That I Want" as a duet. I might buy that Sandy wants Danny but I don't buy that Danny really wants Sandy, not as she really is. Look, love is sacrifice but it is not changing who you are for someone. And that is exactly what she did. 

What kind of message does this send to people, especially young teens? Change yourself for a man. Pick up some leather pants, start smoking, and play hard-to-get and then he will throw himself at your feet. We shouldn't strive to be like Sandy and Danny. Enjoy the movie for its music but make sure you don't ever let yourself take the "love story" or terrible life lessons to heart. It may have catchy tunes but movies like Grease shouldn't be our favorite love stories.