Episode 150 - Grease 2

[Soapstef 36]

 

I feel like I HAVE to see that [just that scene].

 

Everyone needs to see North & South...mainly for the world's most questionable accent from this dude:

 

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

I'm listening to it again. Paul really wants to talk about the

number, which always upset me as a kid. That guy totally became a serial rapist when he grew up. Who fakes nuclear war and thinks it's funny?

 

It's stuff like that which makes me wonder if this version really is more empowering for girls (as June asserts) than the first movie. Like I never found Sandy's transformation at the end to be totally satisfying--again because it's like she becomes a different person as June said. In a way it's fun because the whole movie has basically been the Greasers being cooler than the Patty Simcoxes of the world and such. (Plus we had Rizzo who had her own sexual agency and didn't need Kenickie and all that. ) So we root for her to become friends with that group. But I want her to be more like the Sandy in the "Summer Loving" number--which is not poodle-skirt, uptight Sandy. She was kissing a boy she barely knew. I don't believe Danny's interpretation that they had sex but they must've fooled around a bit.

 

So it's like when she's in school, she's not really being herself either. And the Greaser chick look at the end also isn't her. (I should also acknowledge that in Grease 1 it is shown that Danny is willing to transform himself for Sandy but getting the letterman sweater and looking like a nerd. He just shucks it as soon as he sees her. So they are both as committed to the relationship, which might not be seen as the case in Grease 2. Stephanie doesn't do anything for whatshisname that I recall. She is just his ideal from the start. So in a *way* he is also tricking her into falling for him the same way our Do It For Your Country rapist is.)

 

Ugh. I don't know. I need Taylor Anne to do a this week in feminism on this one.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I'm listening to it again. Paul really wants to talk about the

number, which always upset me as a kid. That guy totally became a serial rapist when he grew up. Who fakes nuclear war and thinks it's funny?

 

It's stuff like that which makes me wonder if this version really is more empowering for girls (as June asserts) than the first movie. Like I never found Sandy's transformation at the end to be totally satisfying--again because it's like she becomes a different person as June said. In a way it's fun because the whole movie has basically been the Greasers being cooler than the Patty Simcoxes of the world and such. (Plus we had Rizzo who had her own sexual agency and didn't need Kenickie and all that. ) So we root for her to become friends with that group. But I want her to be more like the Sandy in the "Summer Loving" number--which is not poodle-skirt, uptight Sandy. She was kissing a boy she barely knew. I don't believe Danny's interpretation that they had sex but they must've fooled around a bit.

 

So it's like when she's in school, she's not really being herself either. And the Greaser chick look at the end also isn't her. (I should also acknowledge that in Grease 1 it is shown that Danny is willing to transform himself for Sandy but getting the letterman sweater and looking like a nerd. He just shucks it as soon as he sees her. So they are both as committed to the relationship, which might not be seen as the case in Grease 2. Stephanie doesn't do anything for whatshisname that I recall. She is just his ideal from the start. So in a *way* he is also tricking her into falling for him the same way our Do It For Your Country rapist is.)

 

Ugh. I don't know. I need Taylor Anne to do a this week in feminism on this one.

 

That's funny you brought all this up because I was thinking something along the same lines. After watching Grease 2, I went back and watched the original (no contest, waaaaaaaay better) and I didn't have the same issue with Sandy's transformation as I've had in the past. In fact, I found it kind of endearing. I think what changed my mind on it was, just before the finale, she is watching Danny win at Thunder Road, and there is a quick "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" reprise. What I never noticed in the lyrics before is she sings, "Look at me, there has to be, something more than what THEY see" I don't know why, but this line makes a world of difference to me in terms of interpreting the ending.

 

She's not doing it for Danny. She's not even really doing it for the Pink Ladies or the T-Birds. She's basically taking a look at herself and saying, "When people look at me they see this 'scared' and 'unsure' person, but is that the person I truly am? Is that the person I want to be? Is there more to me that even I don't know?" So while I'd say Danny's transformation is a bit more superficial, hers is her taking back her agency. She's saying, "I won't be this wilting flower anymore! I'm asserting myself. I want things (e.g. Danny), and I'm going after them."

 

I think what makes it confusing is her transformation conveniently makes it easier for them to be together as it breaks down the social barriers that have, heretofore, been keeping them apart. But remember, he fell in love with her at the beach long before her transformation. If all he wants is someone to have sex with, he doesn't really seem to have any trouble (Rizzo and Cha Cha for two). So while it might seem like Danny is only really interested because Sandy suddenly seems to be down to clown, what I think Danny is actually responding to is Sandy's newfound confidence.

 

I don't know. That's how I saw it anyway...

[Soapstef 36]

 

That's funny you brought all this up because I was thinking something along the same lines. After watching Grease 2, I went back and watched the original (no contest, waaaaaaaay better) and I didn't have the same issue with Sandy's transformation as I've had in the past. In fact, I found it kind of endearing. I think what changed my mind on it was, just before the finale, she is watching Danny win at Thunder Road, and there is a quick "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" reprise. What I never noticed in the lyrics before is she sings, "Look at me, there has to be, something more than what THEY see" I don't know why, but this line makes a world of difference to me in terms of interpreting the ending.

 

She's not doing it for Danny. She's not even really doing it for the Pink Ladies or the T-Birds. She's basically taking a look at herself and saying, "When people look at me they see this 'scared' and 'unsure' person, but is that the person I truly am? Is that the person I want to be? Is there more to me that even I don't know?" So while I'd say Danny's transformation is a bit more superficial, her's is her taking back her agency. She's saying, "I won't be this wilting flower anymore! I'm asserting myself. I want things (e.g. Danny), and I'm going after them."

 

I think what makes it confusing is her transformation conveniently makes it easier for them to be together as it breaks down the social barriers that have, heretofore, been keeping them apart. But remember, he fell in love with her at the beach long before her transformation. If all he wants is someone to have sex with, he doesn't really seem to have any trouble (Rizzo and Cha Cha for two). So while it might seem like Danny is only really interested because Sandy suddenly seems to be down to clown, what I think Danny is actually responding to is Sandy's newfound confidence.

 

I don't know. That's how I saw it anyway...

 

Thanks for that one. Now that you mention it..I do remember the Sandra Dee reprise after the race & it does give me another way to look at the end of the movie. Although, I just don't see Sandy as a smoker at all. I also would like to think that she hung up her leather pants after the fair and opted for tight, but sensible capris or something. She probably kept the hair...the hair was good.

 

Elektra is right in that Stephanie really doesn't do anything specific for Michael. It isn't really a mutual pining since she doesn't know her Cool Rider is Michael. I think that's why we get the bonding scenes of them at the diner. The tutoring is there to show us that these two like different sides of the other and to let us know that they do in fact spend time together.

 

Michael may transform into a biker, but he's still a hot nerd that is Stephanie's friend. Michael gets to see Stephanie not just as the coolest girl in school, but the bad English student and someone who will put herself out there for her friends in a talent show she doesn't give a shit about.

 

I sum them up as Grease 2 "the person you want is more than you realized you wanted"....more so in Stephanie's case anyway.

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

 

That's funny you brought all this up because I was thinking something along the same lines. After watching Grease 2, I went back and watched the original (no contest, waaaaaaaay better) and I didn't have the same issue with Sandy's transformation as I've had in the past. In fact, I found it kind of endearing. I think what changed my mind on it was, just before the finale, she is watching Danny win at Thunder Road, and there is a quick "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" reprise. What I never noticed in the lyrics before is she sings, "Look at me, there has to be, something more than what THEY see" I don't know why, but this line makes a world of difference to me in terms of interpreting the ending.

 

The lyrics are:

 

Look at me, there has to be

Something more than what they see

Wholesome and pure, oh, so scared and unsure

A poor man's Sandra Dee

 

Sandy, you must start anew

Don't you know, what you must do

Hold your head high, take a deep breath and sigh

Goodbye to Sandra Dee

 

There's also the bit where she's the one kicking him around in the "You're the One that I Want" number. (Which was originally

for the musical.)

 

But then, I am assuming that since Sandy is positioned as watching the action on her own, she is thinking that she wants to be part of the group not just Danny's girlfriend. It depends on how it is staged. It would be interesting if they had her hear Rizzo's "There Are Worse Things I Could Do", though I have never seen it done that way. Usually Rizzo is alone and Sandy is alone.

 

Michael may transform into a biker, but he's still a hot nerd that is Stephanie's friend. Michael gets to see Stephanie not just as the coolest girl in school, but the bad English student and someone who will put herself out there for her friends in a talent show she doesn't give a shit about.

Hmm. I will have to think on this some more.

 

I do agree that Stephanie is more who a young girl would want to be. But, like, I'd also rather be Michelle Pfeiffer over Olivia Newton John.

[Soapstef 36]

Found a fun UC Berkley performance of Reproduction! Obviously There are a 100 million performances for Grease. I did find more Grease 2 performances than I expected though.

 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Ugh. I don't know. I need Taylor Anne to do a this week in feminism on this one.

FUNNY YOU SHOULD MENTION THAT!

 

THIS WEEK IN FEMINISM!!!

 

So with nothing to do with Grease 2 at all my weekly movie feminist thoughts are as such - Is Grease an empowering movie about a girl getting away from the 1950s patriarchal expectations thrown at her so that she can finally be free to be herself and love the bad boy that she fell for over the summer? Or is it a movie about a girl throwing away who she is as a person to get with the hot guy just because that's who he is more comfortable being with?

 

I am inclined to believe that it falls somewhere in the middle. There was a certain 0-60 mentality about the way the women would act in these movies. You were either the prudish cheerleader nerd who would eventually end up with your nuclear family, or you were the bad ass smoking girl who had a terrible reputation after sleeping with a few guys. There was absolutely no in between and that's where I think Sandy (and probably Stephanie) truly lie.

 

The lyrics are:

 

Look at me, there has to be

Something more than what they see

Wholesome and pure, oh, so scared and unsure

A poor man's Sandra Dee

 

Sandy, you must start anew

Don't you know, what you must do

Hold your head high, take a deep breath and sigh

Goodbye to Sandra Dee

Those lyrics help and don't help me at all. The first stanza tells me that she wants to break away from this image that she doesn't feel comfortable with, but that second stanza tells me that she is almost forcing herself into a new image that is the complete opposite of what she has always been.

 

I feel like I need more than a week to really dive into this topic. This may be the trickiest "this week in feminism" ever.

[Aoqi888 43]

I'm just gonna assume you guys saw Pajiba's treatise on why Grease 2 is a feminist masterpiece.

http://www.pajiba.co...grease-film.php

[tomspanks 9039]

The only other things she sings about specifically is that she wants "a man growing out of the seat" and that when he's around "the ground will be shakin'."

 

I thought this was a reference to his boner, lol.

 

Anyway, it doesn't make sense that the T-Birds, a bunch of high school kids, ditched their cars for motorcycles. I mean, they can't really go cruising down Main Street with your pals on a bike or take a chick up to the necking point to make out. What do they do at the drive-in theater?

 

So, I've mentioned this before, but Michael's bike, the Honda scrambler, was inappropriate for the time period. Greasers rode BSA/Triumphs or Harleys in the 50s, they didn't ride Japanese bikes. The first Japanese bikes were introduced into the US market in 1959, way too early for Michael to find one in the salvage yard.

[Cameron H. 23786]

...but that second stanza tells me that she is almost forcing herself into a new image that is the complete opposite of what she has always been.

 

I can definitely see resignation in that stanza, but I can also see it as someone who is making the courageous decision to cast aside the security blanket that she has wrapped herself in her entire life.

 

I really feel like Sandy comes to the decision by herself. Danny loves her for who she is. And while his immaturity does make him act out in dumb ways, he never says at any time, "I like you, but I can't be with you unless you're more like this..." And it's the same with the Pink Ladies. Frenchie wants Sandy in their group as is. While Rizzo does make fun of her, there's never a discussion of, " You can't join unless you change. " Since their isn't any external pressure for her to change, I can only assume that her transformation is because it's something that she actually wants.

 

But honestly, I think it all really depends on the production you're watching and how they decide to interpret those lines. I really believe it can go either way.

 

On a slightly different note, after re-watching the first movie, I'm even more depressed about where Frenchie ends up. Yes, she tinted her hair pink, but she was able to give Sandy a very successful makeover. It seems like her failure at beauty school has less to do with her ability, and more that they had her working in the wrong genre--they were teaching her Classical while she excells at Rock and Roll. When Sandy transforms, we're also getting closure on Frenchie's storyline. Frenchie is going to be okay. She's going to be an excellent beautician, just as long as she continues to be herself. Having her end back up at Rydell seriously undermines that triumph.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

I'm listening to it again. Paul really wants to talk about the

number, which always upset me as a kid. That guy totally became a serial rapist when he grew up. Who fakes nuclear war and thinks it's funny?

 

 

Yeah, I find this hugely problematic too. What's his end game here? We assume that Sharon is Louis's ongoing girlfriend, and they seem to be in a monogamous-yet-chaste relationship. Yet this asshat decides he's going to speed up Sharon's reluctance by trapping her in a steel box and faking the apocalypse, with his friends outside listening. Sharon doesn't seem like she's even considered sex with Louis ('Do IT? Louis, let me out of here!') so we can't even pretend she's been leading him on. This is a simple matter of male sexual entitlement, even though no one in this gang seems to be having any sex (unlike in the first film, where it's very clear that Rizzo and Kenickie, at least, are sexually active). The worst of all of this is the GIANT call he's making, which is that he'd anticipated the Russian invasion and also he is automatically enlisted in the Red Dawn-style army, and so he's going to need to get it on before he goes out and presumably either gets shot by a Russian or dies from nuclear fallout. So, let's say that he succeeds in his task and Sharon sleeps with him. What happens when they open the door and find his friends there and no war? He's basically giving up this fairly positive boyfriend-girlfriend relationship for the sake of five minutes (tops) of sex, after which she'd almost certainly feel violated and never speak to him again. Surely if he just kept being a good boyfriend, sex would come and there would be no need to manipulate and attempt to rape her?

 

Then, when she opens the door (presumably to begin her new career as battlefield nurse - I didn't realise that nurse hats were part of the bomb shelter kit), the other dufuses fall in (who were for some reason going to get off listening to their buddy rape his girlfriend??!?!?!?!), Sharon realises she's been tricked, everyone laughs, Louis falls down from blue balls. The biggest problem I have with this is the next time we see Sharon and Louis, they're sharing a motorbike, as though nothing happened. There are absolutely zero consequences for their actions. It's just like it never happened. I have serious issues with the idea of 'Grease 2' as being a feminist movie in this sense, when it explicitly uses the 'boys will be boys' excuse to let these troglodytes off the hook. If anything, Sharon is depicted as being in the wrong (and certainly worth laughing at) for being uptight and ruining the boys' fun. I don't know if it's trying to take her down a peg from being the strict stage director, but the public entrapment for the entertainment of boys, only to have it dismissed as 'try a different trick next time silly boys', is hugely problematic.

[The_Other_MikeD 68]

One more observation, during "Reproduction" one guys lays across the desks of three girls and the one who is closest to his crotch is staring at it very intently.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I can definitely see resignation in that stanza, but I can also see it as someone who is making the courageous decision to cast aside the security blanket that she has wrapped herself in her entire life.

 

I really feel like Sandy comes to the decision for herself. Danny loves her for who she is. And while his immaturity does make him act out in dumb ways, he never says at any time, "I like you, but I can't be with you unless you're more like this..." And it's the same with the Pink Ladies. Frenchie wants Sandy in their group as is. While Rizzo does make fun of her, there's never a discussion of, " You can't join unless you change. " Since their isn't any external pressure for her to change, I can only assume that her transformation is because it's something that she actually wants.

 

But honestly, I think it all really depends on the production you're watching and how they decide to interpret those lines. I believe it really can go either way.

 

On a slightly different note, after re-watching the first movie, I'm even more depressed about where Frenchie ends up. Yes, she tinted her hair pink, but she was able to give Sandy a very successful makeover. It seems like her failure at beauty school has less to do with her ability, and more that they had her working in the wrong genre--they were teaching her Classical while she excells at Rock and Roll. When Sandy transforms, we're also getting closure on Frenchie's storyline. Frenchie is going to be okay. She's going to be an excellent beautician, just as long as she continues to be herself. Having her end back up at Rydell seriously undermines that triumph.

This is why I'm really not ready to jump on the "she changes herself for a man!" train so quickly. However, I don't think you need an outright saying of, "I like you, but we can only be together if you're like this," because it's there in the actions of those around her. There is a very clear line of who hangs out with who in the school and if you get made fun of enough you're inclined to not hang out with those people anymore. Only once is there really a time where Danny pushes her beyond where she is comfortable himself and that's at the drive-in, but no other time does he do or say anything to her to get her to change. In all honesty I think the pressure purely comes from the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds towards both of them to act a certain way, and we see with Rizzo that she was feeling those same pressures because her reputation was already at that bad place.

 

OKAY THIS IS WHY I THINK THERE IS A 0-60 MENTALITY! Rizzo didn't want to be the kind of girl that stayed home every night and felt lonely, but the only kinds of girls that didn't stay home were not considered to be good people. So Rizzo just went full on with that shit and didn't act like a good person. She was having an inner crisis herself after having been with and loved Danny and then seeing him go to Sandy. But Rizzo at the end doesn't change herself at all she just moves on to someone else.

 

I still truly believe that Sandy fell somewhere in the middle of those two personalities. Certainly she wanted to rid herself of that image that was getting made fun of by the people that Frenchey brought her around, but I don't think that hardcore image at the end is exactly who she is either. Just like the letter jacket jock isn't who Danny is either, but of course we only remember her look because literally 2 seconds after Danny sees her he throws that dumb jacket out.

 

See there's just too much for me to go through in a couple of posts about this. I'm more willing to say that Sandy is an empowering female character that blossoms at the end of the movie, however, it's not like telling women to change for their man in 1978 is unheard of lol. Shit there are still movies coming out where the classic "take off your glasses and ponytail then he'll love you" trope is prevalent.

 

Frenchey was my idol when I was a kid though. She was the one I was always focused on (I mean Rizzo is always the character you want to play because I sang "There Are Worst Things I Could Do" non fuckin' stop) and she was the one I wanted to dress like. That pink hair was fuckin' iconic. It looked so gd beautiful and it's everything I've wanted.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I always took the ending of the first Grease to be that Sandy was changing a bit for Danny, but she was also saying, "Dude, I'm willing to do this for you; now you need to get your shit together." Like, her change is mostly in appearance (although she also becomes more assertive), but his change is to stop being a douchebag that pretends like he's too cool for everything when he's around his friends. That's pretty much what "You're the One That I Want" is about.

 

Anyway, I mostly bring that up as a way to come back to Grease 2. Maybe it's because of of how on display toxic masculinity is now, but I see Grease 2 as way more problematic than the first movie. Stephanie Zinone doesn't want just any guy; she wants a Cool Rider. She wants a "devil in skin-tight leather" who is "wild as the wind." Basically, she needs a "real" man.

 

So when Michael comes along, he mousy, intellectual, and British (which, in 80s movies wasn't an uncommon way to label a character as effeminate). It's not just that he isn't cool; it's that he's not a "real" man. The first time we see the Cool Rider, he's riding a motorcycle and fighting dudes. His masculinity is on full display. He's a man's man.

 

Meanwhile, the Pink Ladies are basically owned by the T-Birds now, as someone (possibly Cakebug Tranch) mentioned earlier. It's still a patriarchal system. But again, she doesn't want any of the T-Birds because they aren't "man" enough for her. Then the Cool Rider shows up, and the only way his masculinity could be more on display would be if he were beating down Craterface's gang with his giant penis while chugging whiskey.

 

In the end, he reveals himself to be Michael, and it's not a "Oh hey! This guy is actually cool and we shouldn't judge a book by its cover" ending, which would make it somewhat redeemable. Instead, it's more like, "Oh, this guy is the biggest swingin' dick of us all, and now that we made him a T-Bird, Stephanie totally belongs to him."

 

The big difference for me is that Sandy chooses Danny on her own terms in Grease. We see Danny as both the toxically masculine greaser, but also as the caring boyfriend, and Sandy says, "Look, you can't be one thing while we're alone and one while we're around everyone else." We see two sides of Michael, too, but we only ever see Stephanie into the overtly masculine side, and in the end, she still just ends up as someone else's property.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Damn Fister, I couldn't agree more.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

I still truly believe that Sandy fell somewhere in the middle of those two personalities. Certainly she wanted to rid herself of that image that was getting made fun of by the people that Frenchey brought her around, but I don't think that hardcore image at the end is exactly who she is either. Just like the letter jacket jock isn't who Danny is either, but of course we only remember her look because literally 2 seconds after Danny sees her he throws that dumb jacket out.

 

 

I think we may need to be more philosophical about this. Maybe it's not really important if her change at the end is "good" or "bad." Maybe what's important, and ultimately meaningful, is her willingness to change. That change is good. What we see at the end isn't the end result of who Sandy will ultimately become, but the first step of a life long journey of self discovery. She was stagnating as Sandra Dee, but as Sandy, she can have whatever future she is willing to to carve out for herself. It doesn't matter if that future is to be the first woman to drive to the moon or to be the devoted wife of the local gas station owner. What matters most is that she has reached a point where she is making these these decisions for herself.

 

Also, I think we have to cut Danny some slack about the Letterman's jacket. He seems very proud of it. He even brags about it to the other T-Birds when he calls them out for still "stealing hubcaps." (Again, there's that theme of change and personal growth.) For all we know, after the credits roll, that there isn't a really awkward scene of them having to fly back to the carnival to pick it up.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

 

I think we may need to be more philosophical about this. Maybe it's not really important if her change at the end is "good" or "bad." Maybe what's important, and ultimately meaningful, is her willingness to change. That change is good. What we see at the end isn't the end result of who Sandy will ultimately become, but the first step of a life long journey of self discovery. She was stagnating as Sandra Dee, but as Sandy, she can have whatever future she is willing to to carve out for herself. It doesn't matter if that future is to be the first woman to drive to the moon or to be the devoted wife of the local gas station owner. What matters most is that she has reached a point where she is making these these decisions for herself.

 

Also, I think we have to cut Danny some slack about the Letterman's jacket. He seems very proud of it. He even brags about it to the other T-Birds when he calls them out for still "stealing hubcaps." (Again, there's that theme of change and personal growth.) For all we know, after the credits roll, that there isn't a really awkward scene of them having to fly back to the carnival to pick it up.

Yes this was something I left out of my post because it was just getting too long and ridiculous lol. But I don't view Danny's "change" the same way as Sandy's because his was really portrayed more as a responsibility change rather than just a physical change. But I'm still to this day trying to figure out what exactly Sandy's change means. Which takes us back to my original question - Is it an empowering change that shows a girl breaking out of the 1950s patriarchal expectations that were thrust upon her or is it a change for the boy she loves?

 

I'm never talking about what she changes into being good or bad in and of itself, but rather that willingness to do so. I just use the examples of the good girl vs the bad girl image because that is what the movie presents to us as the audience. That you have 2 choices to make, and honestly I think it's more complicated than that.

 

My meaning in that she falls somewhere in the middle is basically exactly what you are saying about being on that discovery of herself. She doesn't have to be either one of those choices if she doesn't want to be, but again the movie only sets up those two.

 

I could write a 10 page dissertation discussing all of this and still question all of it tbh lol

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

On a slightly different note, after re-watching the first movie, I'm even more depressed about where Frenchie ends up. Yes, she tinted her hair pink, but she was able to give Sandy a very successful makeover. It seems like her failure at beauty school has less to do with her ability, and more that they had her working in the wrong genre--they were teaching her Classical while she excells at Rock and Roll. When Sandy transforms, we're also getting closure on Frenchie's storyline. Frenchie is going to be okay. She's going to be an excellent beautician, just as long as she continues to be herself. Having her end back up at Rydell seriously undermines that triumph.

Oh my gosh, yes. The Frenchie in this movie is sad. She's back at HIGH SCHOOL. And I always thought that, yeah, she turned her hair pink in Grease 1 but it still looked pretty awesome. Then she helped Sandy. So that she was on her way to being like a cool beautician. And it was also a little bit about rejecting the high school norms (Beauty school dropout go back to high school). So sending her back is so depressing. Then cutting her out too!

 

I still truly believe that Sandy fell somewhere in the middle of those two personalities. Certainly she wanted to rid herself of that image that was getting made fun of by the people that Frenchey brought her around, but I don't think that hardcore image at the end is exactly who she is either. Just like the letter jacket jock isn't who Danny is either, but of course we only remember her look because literally 2 seconds after Danny sees her he throws that dumb jacket out.

A thought I had while reading this, which may apply to the above about sending Frenchie back: is it possible it is the school itself that is forcing people into roles that don't quite fit them? Like Rizzo isn't truly the bad ass bitch she pretends to be. Danny isn't a juvenile delinquent. Sandy isn't perfect Sandra Dee. Is there something about Rydell that wants to force them into boxes?

 

Frenchey was my idol when I was a kid though. She was the one I was always focused on (I mean Rizzo is always the character you want to play because I sang "There Are Worst Things I Could Do" non fuckin' stop) and she was the one I wanted to dress like. That pink hair was fuckin' iconic. It looked so gd beautiful and it's everything I've wanted.

I wanted to be Rizzo so badly. I should also point out the oddness of that. Like a seventh grade me hoping to one day be cool enough to have a pregnancy scare.

 

Then, when she opens the door (presumably to begin her new career as battlefield nurse - I didn't realise that nurse hats were part of the bomb shelter kit), the other dufuses fall in (who were for some reason going to get off listening to their buddy rape his girlfriend??!?!?!?!), Sharon realises she's been tricked, everyone laughs, Louis falls down from blue balls. The biggest problem I have with this is the next time we see Sharon and Louis, they're sharing a motorbike, as though nothing happened.

Yeah I really wanted a musical number about her reporting him to the cops for wrongful imprisonment and attempted rape.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

A thought I had while reading this, which may apply to the above about sending Frenchie back: is it possible it is the school itself that is forcing people into roles that don't quite fit them? Like Rizzo isn't truly the bad ass bitch she pretends to be. Danny isn't a juvenile delinquent. Sandy isn't perfect Sandra Dee. Is there something about Rydell that wants to force them into boxes?

I think it's a reflection of 1950s (and early 60s for Grease 2) America. The women's liberation movement wasn't until the late 60s/early 70s and so this idea of what men and women were supposed to be like left them with very little choices.

 

Even nowadays people are fighting so hard against this idea of a "spectrum" and "non-binaries" like why are there still so many ideas of what a person should and shouldn't be?

 

EDIT: Okay Grease was made during the height of that movement and maybe this is exactly why this musical and movie were made during this time. This idea that women could break out of the boxes that were thrust upon them and go to whichever side they wanted was liberating and is what Sandy does in the end.

 

I think now I'm focused so much on the fact that there are sooo many other possibilities laid out in front of her that I forget about not only what time these movies are set but what era they were made. But I still believe that Sandy can do whatever the fuck she wants and she has more than 2 choices, dammit!

 

I wanted to be Rizzo so badly. I should also point out the oddness of that. Like a seventh grade me hoping to one day be cool enough to have a pregnancy scare.

Okay I understand this completely because even in middle school I don't think I understood how they were supposed to be high schoolers having pregnancy scares lol.

[tomspanks 9039]

I wanted to be Rizzo so badly. I should also point out the oddness of that. Like a seventh grade me hoping to one day be cool enough to have a pregnancy scare.

 

I was #teamRizzo. She's a total babe. Sandy's kind of boring.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Taylor Anne, I had typed this whole thing out in response to one of your posts until I realized that we were basically arguing the same point...

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

 

I was #teamRizzo. She's a total babe. Sandy's kind of boring.

#TeamFrenchy, y'all

 

I'm with Taylor Anne on this one. She's my favorite character in the first one, and it's a shame they brought her back to high school for the sequel.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

I roll #teamSandy - back home in Australia she was a national hero. The way they used to market that movie on TV there you'd hardly know John Travolta was in it.

 

Completely agreed about the waste of Frenchie, though. Why is she back after two years to take chemistry at her old school yet never interacts with any other students? How utterly dehumanising.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I roll #teamSandy - back home in Australia she was a national hero.

 

Completely agreed about the waste of Frenchie, though. Why is she back after two years to take chemistry at her old school yet never interacts with any other students? How utterly dehumanising.

 

What's even worse is that she tells Michael that Stephanie is one of her very best friends, yet she gets shut out the Pink Ladies like she's a fucking leper.

 

I have to think about my team. Might be team Patty Simcox, not sure yet.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

I have to think about my team. Might be team Patty Simcox, not sure yet.

 

Poor Patty. She did so much for the Rydell community, and this is how she's repaid, on national television:

 

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/grease/images/2/29/Patty_Simcox_with_her_dress_lifted./revision/latest?cb=20150419212030