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100%. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t make this recommendation myself , but yes! Ordinary people is such a phenomenal movie. People get angry that it won the Oscar instead of raging bull, but the depth in that movie is just untouchable
Elle Woods initially tried to go to law school and become a lawyer to get back together with her boyfriend. However, what makes Legally Blonde different from Grease is that Elle still retains many qualities of her original self by the end even though she has a notable character arc. Additionally, she realizes that Warner isn’t a good partner for her and when he tries to get back with her at the end, she says no. Moral of story: Watch Legally Blonde instead of Grease (and maybe we could get an Elle Woods video in the future)!
@@l.m.hammond1927 Legally Blonde is so much better. She becomes a great lawyer and makes friends with the woman her boyfriend had left her for. I think she left him eventually. Plus uses her fashion knowledge to win a case.
@@lemsip207 "So Much Better" - also a song title of the musical! And it was her knowledge of the beauty industry (specifically perms) that saved the case.
Yes, she initially did it for Warner, but then she realizes law is a part of her that she never knew she had. She has a passion with law and finds who she was meant to be.
I’ll never forget what my Spanish teacher told a few of us girls when we were performing a few Grease songs for a winter program. She said “like Sandy, you will fall for boys who are Dannys. They can be sweet in the beginning but they will be idiots. Set your boundaries. Say what you want in a relationship. They don’t follow or meet them. Then you tell them you better shape up cause I am worth it. They still don’t follow them then find someone who will.” We were all very confused teenage girls cause it was randomly in class when she brought it up but you could tell she meant well.
Good teacher, looking out for you girls. Telling you to separate fiction from reality and when to leave when reality is falling disrespectfully short of expectations.
This is exactly why I teach people that movie romances are not real life. Can we enjoy them onscreen? Totally! Are these words to live by? Absolutely not!
I don’t really enjoy watching everyone badgering this poor girl into becoming something she’s not just so she can conform to the sexual revolution norms of the late 50’s whether she likes it or not. The music is kinda fun though. Like the outfits.
@@tell-me-a-story- I like the music and the outfits, not the message. Sandy was fine the way she was, being a good girl who had some really awful "friends"!
I would like to point out, that Danny had the jacket on UNTIL Sandy came out. Then all that change he promises goes away when he throws the jacket off. Then he goes back to just being who he is.
That's what I've been saying since I first saw the film in middle school or high school. Like it's so weird that they both change, but only she stays in that change for him. The message is a girl needs to change everything about herself and her core values to please the man she likes. The music and style is catchy, but the message is not it.
@@JonathanDecker I sing 🎵 why-y-y-oh 🎶 far too often to be healthy 😂😂😂. Also, she changed her personality after the race because they were racing for pinks... and she's wearing pink 💕😂.
I love Danny's song at the drive-in so much, even though Danny was in the wrong in the scene prior. He shouldn't be singing about what Sandy did to him, when it was him doing something to her. But man if I don't want to sing along to it.
I once had "We Go Together" stuck in my head at Thanksgiving and my relatives had the (un)fortunate pleasure of my attempts to get it out because I was going crazy!
I watched the Director's Cut before going to work yesterday, and I couldn't stop singing the songs. Every person I worked with started singing along, too 😂.
See, I liked it because it was going so incredibly hard on this one girl for no real reason. Couldn't help but laugh at how over the top it was. Which is honestly how I view the movie as a whole. It was The Room before The Room.
Maturing is realising that Rizzo and Kenickie were by far the healthier love story. Kenickie defends Rizzo when the other T Birds are being sexist, doesn't try to force her into being intimate when they briefly pause, due to faulty protection, and only resumes when she makes the first move, and is there for Rizzo when he learns that he might have gotten her pregnant. I'd much rather watch THAT movie over Sandy and Danny's toxicity.
Rizzo was always my favorite character, she knew what people said and she owned it. Growing up as a gay boy afraid, she was the one person I could identify with. I saw somebody that was strong and determined to maintain her SELF-RESPECT regardless of what people thought or said.
@@peteallen8420 I always thought she was supposed to be a bully, so I didn’t mind her. But when when I realized that other people who watched the show didn’t see her that way, I started hating her. And she gets zero consequences for being a bit hey mean girl.
Just started the episode and I can't thank you enough. Twenty years ago, we had to give presentations at school about musicals, and I was assigned Grease. I ended my conclusion with the statement that I found the relationship between the two main characters terrible, because (back then I didn’t know the term in that context) it was extremely toxic. This caused a lot of unrest with my teacher and some of my classmates. They couldn’t understand it at all, because the story was supposed to be so romantic. Thank you for addressing a childhood memory and giving me a bit of validation that I wasn’t wrong back then.
Good for you for your honesty. I've never even seen it but it didn't sound like it had any depth to it at all. I've noticed women gushing online over clearly villainous characters* so it's not surprising they'd gush over a handsome protagonist. *For example, the Goblin King in Labyrinth. David Bowie does a great job, but he is portraying a toxic, manipulative character, not some ideal man.
Me when I saw the thumbnail: Ooooo, Cinema Therapy just released a Toxic or Not on Grease! My mom, who adored that movie growing up: * flat tone * Toxic.
Even as a child, I always found Danny to be a really horrible boyfriend. He constantly chooses his shallow buddies and cool image over a kind girl he genuinely likes, and Sandy responds by changing for him, after the horrible way he treats her. While it was meant to subvert the messages of classic 50's films, where the bad boy changes his ways with the love of a good girl, in real life, this would lead to much resentment. I honestly don't see Sandy and Danny lasting much longer after graduation.
When I was finally old enough to grasp what was actually going on in the story, I could only think there was no way they'd still be together a year later.
Am I weird in thinking Danny wasn't (and still isnt) cute? Like even seeing this movie as a teen during my "I like bad boys" phase I just didn't like Danny at all. Maybe if they got a different actor, but I just couldn't see it
@@Jenkinscraftingco2.0 Makes sense. He was 23 when he filmed it. It was filmed in the 70s and took place in the 50s so I always saw the target audience as adults who were teens in the 50s- so 40 year olds. But maybe you just aren't attracted to his type.
"I enjoy the movie. I watch it with my brain turned on. I don't internalize the messages or model my life after it." + *that* -- right there -- is key.
True but unfortunately a lot of people can't do that, some people don't even approach a relationship with their brain turned on. I don't think they model their life choices on Grease, but I do think some women are somehow unable to recognize a toxic or abusive relationship in real life OR in film.
I remember one essay that argued that Sandy changed because she realized she was unhappy in purity culture and when she discovers her sexuality in the end she's happier. But the only reason she's unhappy is because literally everyone makes fun of her for her beliefs. Sex isn't important to Sandy and is turned off by it (I wouldn't say repulsed but she's probably just saving herself for marriage), but at her new school it's important and anyone who doesn't have sex is a loser and shunned. Like, Sandy needs to get away from all of those people.
I gotta say, I don't see any support for this in the movie. Perhaps they cut out the scene where she discovers masturbation, but without that it's definitely reading into this.
That's how I interpreted Sandy's "transformation" as well: the purity persona was not cool at all. At the end of the movie, we're supposed to root for her becoming more acceptable and desirable
"at her new school it's important and anyone who doesn't have sex is a loser and shunned." Unless they get pregnant from it, in which case they are shunned for having _too much_ sex. The whole culture is toxic when it comes to sexuality.
This. She changes not only because she thinks she has to for Danny, but also because EVERYONE around her is basically calling her a prude. Her reasons for change were 1000% because of pure pressure and not because of personal desires. She literally walked in on all her "friends" making fun of her at the sleepover. Those aren't friends. Friends support your choices. Both Sandy and Danny needed better friends and shouldn't be with each other.
For the longest time, my sister thought Sandy after the change was some random girl at the end of the movie. Like “Goodbye to Sandra Dee” was her *literally* leaving, never to be seen again 😂
I have always had this problem with this film. Sandy changed FOR Danny but she should have changed for herself, because she wanted to. It teaches a really bad lesson
@@CinemaTherapyShowI was wondering if you would do a video that would feature The Lion King 2 so much pride I know it's a directive videos movie but it still explores the things of trauma specifically and Simba and I also like the Kovu development
Also, he ultimately doesn’t actually change, he ditches that jacket that symbolises his “change of heart” immediately and at the end he’s back in a leather jacket. So ultimately the message of the film is that SHE needs to change for HIM and he doesn’t have to change for her
she didn't have to change at all. There was nothing wrong with her. She should have found someone who made her feel special for who she was and not made her feel bad about being who she was.
Danny: puts on a jacket and throw it away as fast Sandy: changes her whole life and values to fit his ideals... Wouldn't say they both torch their personalities, he barely stood up to his friends for a minute
Well, to be fair, he LETTERED in track, which means that he worked hard and won meets. That is a huge change to his character arc, vs the "greaser" he was known for.
I was a senior in high school when this came out, and unfortunately, it all rang true. Some level of sexual assault was almost a daily thing, and anything short of forced intercourse was dismissed as "Boys will be boys." Even literal rape was somehow the girl's fault because she was "asking for it," unless it was a stranger. "No" just meant to try harder and wear her down. A girl was either frigid or a slut. If a guy said he'd had sex with a girl, she was a target for every other boy, whether it was true or not. Despite all of that, I do enjoy the movie. I also love that consent and boundaries are talked about and more respected than they were back then.
The more things change, etc., etc. (Millennial here, hi.) This was also true to some extent while I was in grade school. Grade. School. I still have memories of being a small child and someone thought that Grease was suitable viewing for all of us together. Yes to consent and boundaries being talked about and more respected!
I’m a teacher and was beyond angry when one of the boys grabbed a girl in the hallway and forced a kiss on her. She slapped him pretty hard. The principal said since they used to date that the ex-boyfriend didn’t do anything wrong. Want to guess which one actually got in trouble for assaulting another student? I would like to say this was in the far past; but it was 2022. Unfortunately, problematic behavior and excusing it still exists.
My mom has said things were pretty bad in the sixties. Unfortunately in my experience some guys don't understand "no", they were respectful but if I were them I would have realized they had zero chance and just left the person alone. But it's not AS bad for women now and sometimes there's a bit of a double standard with women not respecting men's boundaries.
Yeah, instead of being aspirational, I always thought it was a cautionary tale of the dramas of teenage romance; everything is all or nothing, worrying more about what your friends think than how you feel; how boys/girls communicate differently etc. The 'did she put up a fight' line always grossed me out tho!😬
Ikr? When I was a kid, I only watched it once and that was it. Never watched it again. I liked some of the songs but the story itself didn't make much sense in my childish mind. Lol
I would go “she told him to stop!” (In reference to all these kinds of old movies, not just grease) And my mom and sisters would go “it’s romantic!” And call me a “buzzkill” and a “man hater” for not liking it…. they still do! I think i live in hell; lol
I am glad you included the point that the audience is supposed to recognize that he is toxic, and a jerk, and only cares about himself and his image. The relationship wouldn't be toxic if they'd stop caring so much about what their friends think and I think they missed that moral of the story. The hilarious part to me though is that Danny's friends liked Sandy. He had no reason to act weird around her or be embarrassed by her. I think Rizzo went through the same thing with him which is why she gives him that look. Sandy didn't only change for him, she also changed to fit in with her friends as well.
If Danny isn’t even willing to stand for Sandy in public, then what exactly is he bringing to the table? The entire musical just shows that they do not work together and that Danny would rather string her along than fully commit to her like he did in the summer. It drives me absolutely crazy. And the fact that she takes him back in the end aggravated me to no end.
One thing I did actually appreciate about Danny at the end was that he -told his friends- that Sandy was important to him. That was an actually good change since he had spent the whole movie being embarrassed about caring about her. The track sweater was at least partially a way of visibly indicating that he was willing to show in public that he cared.
63 yo woman here. I always hated Grease, fumed about how Sandy totally abandoned herself. I didn't have the resources then to see the massive toxicity of the whole thing like I do now. I do very much like Stockard Channing's moment, though. That rocked.
@@cathyn7640 Me too, the message of Sandy changing everything about herself to get a guy who was embarrassed to be seen with her in public, and even tried to sexually assault her, really hasn't aged well.
reading this feels kinda sad since many ppl justify it as "oh it was romantic back in the day" when it has always been toxic. Kind of me to anime fanservice and ppl my age (high school at the time) were okay with underaged/braely legal girls getting into toxic romance, very sexualized, or horribly written by a mangaka who is most likely to be male and 20+ y.o. i wasn't okay with it back then (looking at u mha), still not okay now (college kid here, and yet everyone around me whos 18-20, is okay watching dandandan, I feel disgusted by the males around me to recommend it and without warnings too) srry for the ramble.
@@inazuma2332as a 45 year old I started watch dandandan and stopped after the first episode because of the smut that was already in it and those things usually get worse so I quit.
Grease was written in Chicago about the blue collar kids and their lives. Sandy is from Joliet and moves to Chicago and attends Lane Tech HS. The Pink Ladies is based on an actual group of girls (the girls who went to Catholic grade schools and then the public high school - so needed to form a gang as "new kids" against the kids who all grew up through the public school system) The Pink Ladies were actually a 401c3 non-profit group that helped the elderly. At school, though, they needed to fight and many wore razor blades in their hair to prevent hair grabs fights. You should see "The Original" Grease. Marilou Henner (from Taxi) played the girl who wrote to her boyfriends. The play was supposed to run for 1 weekend, it lasted 8 months. Broadway got wind of it. So the show got cleaned up for Broadway version, then cleaned up again for the film version. Song differences:: "Summer Lovin" was originally called "Foster Beach" (a beach in Chicago). "You're the one that I want" was originally called "Kiss it and make it better". There was even a reprise of "Greased Lightning" where Roz was telling Knickie "you're not getting any in Greased Lightning. Also "I'd never do that" was a song that Riz sang TO Sandy. Unfortunately, the show was more racist due to the tone of the migrants in the 50s and these being the migrants children (Italian, Mexican, Irish, etc slurs were thrown around), The play was set as a "Reunion" with the audience all being reunion guests. Then as the "host" moved by memories and into specific stories, the story started. The opening song "Grease" was much more gritty showing how the blue collar kids were considered dirty and they had to be tough to survive. A theater in Chicago revived the original version back in 2008 or so. There was a lot to learn about the history of the production.
@@thenerrdpit7441 they do?? i only watched b99 recently so i might have seen the video at a time where it went completely over my head, but thank you, i'll search it back!!
20:00 Alan saying "I am a completely different person now for no other reason than I want to be with DIS BOIIII" just gave me my weekly dose of serotonin
I finally decided that "to my heart I must be true" was her saying that, yes, she likes Danny, but also that she's going to retain her core values even if she's willing to change her outward appearance. Which is still misleading Danny, and I give them 5 weeks tops before they break up again. 😂😂🙈
Why did you have to remind me of the kind of crap I used to be willing to put up with for an attractive man? Past me really needed a hug. I'm so glad I grew out of the mindset that had me thinking ANY relationship was better than nothing. Being single is SO much better then being with someone who keeps your self esteem in the toilet! I'd like to give my therapist a big thank you.
my ex-girlfriend loved Grease but i hated it because the message i took away from it was "to be together you have to change everything about yourself". ironically that was a teenage relationship and we just grew up to be extremely different people and didnt learn the wrong message
Growing up Christian and waiting until marriage, I found Sandy quite relatable and admirable. And also a bit of a cautionary tale - Rizzo’s song was iconic but also very mean… Sandy didn’t judge them at all but they judged her without trying to understand where she was coming from. For all they knew, waiting until marriage was very common where she grew up & also for girl friends… that’s a pretty small aspect of what makes a friend a friend (if it’s even relevant). This story was so much about social approval and people not really seeming to be in touch with their true selves. Lol I love that line “it’s horny High School Musical”
People might poke fun at "waiting until marriage" but you don't see a lot of married people saying they regretted it. I'm a Christian and a pretty rational person and never understood the desperation of some women to be in a relationship with a jerk just because he gives her attention.
@julietardos5044 I suggested it as a Patreon, and it got enough votes by us to be pushed through 😊. I'm so excited to see what they decide to talk about!
@@angelm1832 Totally, especially on Bender and Claire's relationship, which really hasn't aged well through a modern lens. Molly Ringwald even wrote an essay, where she discusses the outdated sexism and homophobia of John Hughes films, despite otherwise standing by his work.
I performed one of the songs with an all female choir once. We ended up changing the "did she put up a fight" to something else because we were almost unanimously appaled by singing that line
I first saw this movie when I was fairly young, my parents were always fans of showing my brother and me classic movies. I remember being confused by Sandy's shift at the end of this movie because it very much felt like it came out of nowhere.
no so real. i did NOT expect it. even when it did happen, i half expected danny to be like "wait no sandy i like u for who u are!" but alas! they were doomed from the start
I grew up on this movie and my entire family holds this movie up so high. When I showed it to my wife who was not raised on Greece, she hated it because of the relationships and message the movie had. I agree, I watch this movie with my brain turned off but realize how bad it’s aged.
I never liked the ending to Grease, even as a kid I thought Sandy changing so much was awful. As an adult I simply wish they'd realised that they're not meant to be together and went their separate ways
Now do Romeo and Juliet. :) Always hacks me off how people say it's the "greatest love story of all time!" when, no, they don't love each other. They don't *know* each other. They're both just projecting their ideas of each other onto one another and calling that love. Just about everybody in the entire play is doing that, except possibly for the Duke.
"Greatest love story of all time!" Teenagers knew each other for, what, three days? and have a body count of 5. Cease. Love the story. Love the prose. But come on.
I like to quote what Nostalgia Critic said. “It’s not about true love, but about young love.” You have two people in terrible family situations that saw freedom in one another and ran for the chance, and both suffered greatly for it. The message from the Bard is ‘your actions have consequences that will be paid for by next generations’.
When I watched it as a teenager I was very heavily confused, my personality is much like Sandy and I kept thinking why would she change for him, she is loosing herself.
I could see changing for the better because of the person, if you're going to do that it should also be the person you want to be and your partner/spouse is providing the motivation.
Thanks for this. Growing up my friends idolized this play. I hated it. I am so sick of movies portraying toxic relationships as romantic. It's dangerous.
Oh yeah, toxic! Toxic as HELL! Danny literally pulls a “I thought you loved me!” And Sandy is actually happy with who she is until everyone around her shames her for it.
As a 6th grader, my choir teacher handed us all the music for this movie, and it was the first musical I really got to STUDY. As a class, we adored it, and it was the first time I realized musicals are a GENRE. As a kid, I thought the biggest issue in this movie was the peer pressure they both faced. As an adult, I wish Danny would’ve had a backbone and stood up to his friends at the bonfire. The only people looking out for Sandy were Frenchy and The Pink Ladies.
From the moment I saw Sandy show up smoking that cigarette while watching this movie with my mom at 12 years old, I knew I hated Grease with a burning passion
My mom loves this movie so she made me watch it as a child and I HATED it. His blatant disrespect was such a turn off and I was horrified that they abandoned themselves to be a fake person to get with someone who they shouldn't be with. I asked what "did she put up a fight" meant and the answer made me hate it even more. Needless to say I haven't seen it since and I'm ok with that. Even though I was a child and haven't reached 40, I feel the energy Allen has with it 😂
I remember working at a junior high/middle school when the Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as the Joker movie came out...way too many young girls told me they wanted a romance like theirs.....that startled the heck out of me and I told them what I could as gently as I could as a fan of the 90's cartoons/knowing its highly HIGHLY toxic. The first time I saw this movie, Grease, as an adult in college my first reaction was "MY PARENTS LET ME WATCH THIS AT FIVE YEARS OLD??"
The movie was meant to be satire of Greaser and 1950's culture and that point is largely missed. The toxic stuff is spot on. Oh, and Sandy's jock boyfriend with the biceps turned into this: "He was a cop, and good at his job, but he committed the ultimate sin-and testified against other cops gone bad. Cops that tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved instead. Framed for murder, now he prowls the badlands... an outlaw hunting outlaws... a bounty hunter... a renegade." Renegade!
i played rizzo in this play. i would love to see you guys dig deep into her, her trauma, her relationship with kenickie, and how he grows and matures, and how she realizes that she doesnt have to objectify herself in order to not be treated badly, etc.
Lucky you! I am always disappointed when productions cut her song, "There are worse things I could do ". I think it's the best and most authentic part of the show.
Thank you. I have been saying this since it was in movie theaters the first time, and everyone has acted astonished that anyone could think this wasn’t a “wholesome” relationship. I loathed the final scene where she gave up herself to become who she thought he wanted…and he was good with it. 🤮
Attempt #(38) of asking for Spirit : Stallion of the Cimarron!! Was my absolute childhood movie growing up and the filmmaking is so beautiful with amazing scores and concepts of loss and staying true to once nature even in the face of adversity!
Thank you guys for addressing this! My preschool showed this film over and over when I was 5 years old. I grew up loving this movie and wanting to transform myself into end of movie Sandy. I went to show this much beloved movie to my daughter once she turned 13, and put a stop to it almost immediately, quickly realizing this wasn't a lesson I wanted her to learn. It was a sad day for me to recognize this movie I loved wasn't good for me or my daughter.
Preschool?! Wow, so interesting that your school showed this movie to preschoolers...I think that's a bit too young of a crowd for this movie and some of its themes. 😂
@@dubblebubbletoilandtrouble6646 they did fastforward through the condom scene, lol. Yeah, I totally agree, the counselors usually switched between Grease, Pete's Dragon, and Mighty Mouse cartoons😆
I grew up watching Grease, and I had issues with the message when I was ten. It baffled me to see so many of my girl friends obsessed with Danny and this movie.
I think it's notable that Danny throws off the letter jacket at the end. If he had worn it through the last song it would have shown that they were somewhat on equal footing. However, as soon as he sees her makeover he removes the jacket. So she changed for him, but he went right back to how he'd been before. Still love the song and dance numbers though. It's not a story to model relationships on, but it's a thoroughly entertaining musical.
I was about nine when this came out and we all loved it and knew all the words to all the songs. We missed a lot of the detail (only watching it as an adult did I notice the pregnancy scare subplot) but did get the general idea that guys will only like you if you do things you might not like. I remember the line "did she put up a fight?" really freaking me out as a kid. I still love the songs and the choreography and the acting (Stockard Channing is sublime) but I do wonder if it made a whole generation of girls like me a bit scared of growing up and dating.
My mom loves this movie a lot and so i grew up with it. Some years ago I watched it back with my friends and I was really shocked how toxic it is. thanks for this episode!
For years, I warned my mom not to watch the version of Grease that wasn't "made for TV" (which was the only version she'd ever seen / loved. She was not prepared for Greased Lightning unedited.
I used to love this movie as a kid, but when I watched it as an adult, I was floored. It's so toxic on every level. How was my mom okay letting me watch this??? Thanks for covering this movie.
Grease was a soundtrack that always got put on for Girl Scout outings that involved riding in a mom van for a while. I didn't care for the songs, but I didn't know them, and was in a car full of girls that did know them. The sing-a-long rides with a crowd of preteen girls didn't put me off on a good foot with the music. I didn't see the movie until I was in my mid-thirties, I spent the whole movie wondering why people let little kids watch this movie. Particularly, little girls.
I’m so glad we have a genuine example of a toxic relationship out of this series of videos. All of the other videos were either healthy, or skirted the line, but without an example of a genuinely toxic relationship, the series wasn’t providing guidance on what NOT to do (I mean, it should be obvious what not to do, but now, we have a baseline for what is truly toxic).
I loved the brooklyn 99 Amy&Jake reference while talking about a non toxic relationship because they're honestly one of the healthiest couples on tv and I love them so much
I'd argue Danny DIDN'T change who he was in the end. It was only her that ended up changing. Danny saw her new look and completely abandoned the jock persona. Which sends out just as bad of a message. And ngl, when I watched this as a kid, I think I had a bit of a queer awaking there from Sandy's change 😂
Thank you. Whenever I brought up that she completely changed who she was and he didn’t change at all, people always said, “ BuT He ChaNgEd TOOO!” No, he put on a letterman jacket for 5 minutes.🤨
This one came at just the right time for me. I have started dating a friend of mine recently who I absolutely adore and pushes me to be better. Lately I had been noticing that I started making changes. I have ADHD and am notorious for being a bit of a 'social chameleon' aka, changing myself to fit, not being my authentic self. So started worrying if I was doing that and changing myself for them. This video helped me realize that, the only thing they did was help me recognize parts of myself I had neglected to investigate which allows me to grow and be a better version of myself, all while having the patience to see they just helped me achieve it. I feel at ease when they're around, I feel like I'm authentic around them and can show them my identity full and honestly. So thank you guys, I kinda needed this.
I once VERY briefly dated a guy who tried to change me into his idea of the ideal girlfriend. "As my girlfriend, you should behave this way," or "as my girlfriend, you should say these things," stuff like that. The lesson I'd taken from Grease growing up, however, had me replying "I'll either be myself or be gone." Eventually I was gone anyway because I got tired of his toxic shit 😂
I can't believe that I was allowed to watch this film as a child. Rizzo's pregnancy scare, the various sexual innuendos, and most of Greased Lightning, went right over my head, and that the lyrics weren't "The Chicks will Scream..."
Me too! We watched it on repeat because we loved the music so much! I was probably in my late teens before I actually understood what they were singing about. It's easily toxic, but it's still a really fun watch, haha.
No, no, it's worse. So much worse. Here are just some of the official lyrics: You are supreme, the chicks'll cream for grease lightning You know that I ain't bragging, she's a real p*ssy wagon
I am SO very happy someone FINALLY said that. You wouldn't believe it, but when I wrote an article on a school performance of Grease about 12 years ago, finishing with the thought that the performance was awesome, but that we should discuss whether doing this play doesn't teach kids they have to lose their integrity for love the paper actually took out that sentence, maybe they were scared of a controversy. Later I thought the play maybe is kinda symbolic, Sandy being the Establishment and rigid morals of the war generation, making it "okay" for her to give herself up. This might be the intention, but sure as hell doesn't read that way when you are watching it.
Nathan did not need to go this hard on the edits but omg am I glad - well done! I’ve always loved Grease, but I love it with the understanding that it is the blueprint for what/how not to be in a relationship (or even just the type of person not to be, tbh).
This was my sister's favorite movie when she was a teenager and I haaaaaaaaaaaaaated it. I was too young at the time to articulate why it pissed me off so much, it's been a topic of debate between us over the years. The ending of My Fair Lady also hits me the same way.
The movie, "Mt Fair Lady," ends differently than the play, "Pygmalion," which ends with Elizabeth opening a florist shop with her husband, the kind man who respects her. Henry Higgins just continues his ways, iirc, sometimes visiting the florist.
Aaah, my teen comfort movie. I do see something interesting between the lines, though, and I wonder what everybody else thinks: Sandy does not appear to be a very confident person (which we hear when she sings "oh so scared and unsure"), and often looks insecure. With Frenchie's makeover, it almost feels like she finally gets a needed boost of confidence, rather than a whole personality change.
If you look at the beach scenes with Danny, she’s very sure and comfortable there. I think that is her true self, not what she portrays at the end of the movie. So if she’d a true boost of confidence, she would’ve relaxed about being that person from the beach and been that confidently.
Totally with Alan on this one, I watched it first as a production at my high school when a friend was cast as Sandy. I was really invested until the last musical number, wondering how all the interpersonal conflicts would resolve. I was sure that the changes they made for each other would blow up and they'd realize it was a mistake immediately upon interacting. Imagine my horror.
I mean, yes, but also Rizzo was mercilessly slut-shamed…She and Sandy probably shouldn’t have been friends. They both had valid but somewhat conflicting views on sexual relationships.
I’m surprised that none of the comments I’ve seen so far have pointed out that this movie is very much a satire. Is the relationship still toxic? Absolutely. But the whole thing was intended to poke fun at the culture of the 50s. It doesn’t necessarily make the relationship better but it’s important not to take it too seriously. The movie is still fun as heck.
My sister and I argue about Grease about three times a year. We both grew up with the movie. She loves it. I have always hated it. She defends Sandy's changes with Danny's, saying if it's a mutual compromise, it's romantic not nitwitted. I say Danny immediately ditches his jacket when Sandy makes the change-so if she's going to go that far, he feels he can just discard all the changes he's made because he didn't want to make them anyway, which just reads like the worst relationships you see in the real world, where one person does some cursory, surface work to get the commitment, then throws it away afterward, while the other person is stuck doing all the emotional labor to make the relationship work in perpetuity. I also argue that Sandy isn't even making her change for Danny. She's making her change for *his image,* which she knows isn't real. He's not worth it.
I'm not sure I agree with the claim that they change who they are for each other. For Sandy, the Sandra Dee reprise has a key line: "wholesome and pure - oh so sacred and unsure". She's holding her good girl persona and boundaries because they're who and how she was brought up to be, and because it's scary to unleash her new feelings and try to carve out a new self-image. Part of it is peer pressure, but part of it is that being who she's been is not bringing her happiness. The extreme makeover does go too far - sexy-Sandy is visibly faking it rather than presenting herself with integrity - but it's also an opportunity for her to play dress-up - to try on a new persona and see what she likes about it - and there are parts of it which she is comfortable with. The worst part of it is the movie ending there, creating the impression that that's her new permanent identity, and that sweet-Sandy has gone forever. For Danny, the key issue is his self-esteem. To start, he doesn't think he's ever going to amount to anything or be able to achieve anything - he's one of the losers hanging out with his loser friends, being "cool" because that means they never have to risk anything - you can't fail if you never try, and you can't disappoint someone if they never expect anything from you. Sandy gives Danny a reason to try making something of himself - he goes in for sport - and ends up literally running rings around the jocks - and letters. He is the one to convince the T-Birds they can make Greased Lightning into something, and has his worth recognised by Kenicke asking him to serve as second - and wins that race too. Danny gains in self-esteem through the movie, and by the end he's gone from acting cool to being cool. He no longer feels the need to front before the other T-Birds, and is confident being the Danny that Sandy met on the beach (though possibly still a horny virgin - I don't think it's ever made clear how far he and Rizzo, or he and Cha Cha, ever went)
Thank you! No one analyzing movie this ever seems to listen to her song. Her very first line is "Look at me, there has to be something more than what they see..." She admits to herself that she's scared and unsure. She tells Frenchie she is unhappy and she thinks she knows a way she could be. Of course Danny is a big part of that, but at the end of the day she's a teenager figuring out who she is and trying something on. She wants to figure out what else there is to her beyond what other people see - the perfect, wholesome girl next door. But ultimately it's still a fault of the movie that the first time we actually get a hint that she's unhappy with herself is during this 30 second song.
Excellently put! I think the issue is that the movie *tells* us they're changing for each other but it *shows* us that they are actually changing for themselves.
@@dtucker1984 Yeah, you really have to pay attention to that bit with Sandy after the race to realise she is changing for herself, but because it's sandwiched between an exciting drag race and the exciting finale, people gloss over it.
Feminists especially don't get that. Even the producers meant it to be empowering: From TVTropes: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey intended for Sandy's change to be seen as her becoming freer and sexually liberated, shedding the '50s "good girl" stereotype, as well as a reversal of the "bad boy becomes good" plot they'd seen in films of that era. The problem is that the rigid and repressing sexual mores that Sandy would be seen as adhering to in the beginning are no longer present in current media and haven't been for a long time; so what should have looked like her liberating herself from society's outdated expectations appeared instead to be her simply conforming to a different societal construct, one now seen as self-destructive, to appeal to her ex-boyfriend who's not obviously that nice to begin with. Even within the film itself, Sandy is never shown to feel pressured by her parents or society to act like an innocent "good girl," but she is shown to be heavily prude-shamed by the entire cast all film, so it comes off less like her embracing her true self and more like (as stated above) giving into new social mores thrust upon her. And the sequel had an arguably worse relationship in terms of changing. Michael is chasing after Stephanie who is the stereotypical Caliornian valley girl. She is a bully who treats him like crap. Her love is not sincere (she brags to her friends about how she can kiss and seduce the first boy who comes into From TVa room, and then kisses Michael, while she actually hates his guts). She only wants a boyfriend that is a biker boy. Mike is NOT that. Mike decides to change himself completely for her. Unlike Sandy we don't see much doubt about if he wants to be the "Oxford kid" anymore. He gets a song but unlike Sandy it's not being unsure it's him being nervous about Stephanie potentially noticing that he isn't the super macho boy she wants to get laid with. And for the rest of the movie Stephanie is still mean to the Oxford!Mike, and she never changes really. But it's a MAN who changes so the feminists of course don't care.
I agree. I was 13 when Grease came out. The message I received was, “sexy gets you approval and love”, and that I would have to change myself or I’d be doomed. Not the best age to process that. 😢
Thank you for doing this one! I've hated this movie since I saw it, despite how catchy the music is... saw it when I was in college and had similar values to Sandy, but was convinced something must be wrong with me for being unwilling to change. It hurt badly.
LOVED your video!!! I am kinda like Sandy in terms of values 🤗. I remember watching the movie when I was 15 and being HORRIFIED at the portrayal of girls who don't want sex in their relationships... I also felt a little forced, like "Is this what a man is going to want from me, to completely change my set of values?" Nowadays, I choose to interpret Grease as a parody for what NOT to do (hence, for example, the flying away as if they were a fantasy story in a movie that otherwise hasn't shown that style during any other scene)
My friend from high school brings up the point that danny doesnt ever change even when he gets the letterman sports jacket the second the song plays he throws the jacket and they both are essentially greasers. I get dancing in the jacket might have been hard work but olivia was literally sewn into those pants. He could have continued the scene in the jacket but the second it becomes convenient, it comes off. I do however like when his friends try to get on him at the end for joining track he doesnt hide it or stutter. He answers "yeah, i did" very definitively whereas the rest of the movie he was hiding his relationship (if you can even call it that?) with sandy from them and posturing. I think it's very high school, i saw this all too often when i was in school so it nakes sense theyd make a movie about stuff people actually experience.
It's so funny how there's SOOO many movies where we used to idolize these "romantic" couples, only to later see how toxic they actually are. I honestly never realized (or at least never really looked into) the relationships like that, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Notebook, Twilight, or this movie.
I have never been able to enjoy this movie because, even as a child, I hated the messaging in it. I'm grateful to, for once, not have someone saying, "But I love Grease!" while wholesale ignoring the toxicity.
I like to think this movie is about toxic friends and how a relationship can crumble because of them and how we portray ourself to get accepted by our peer group by not being our real self. That being said, when I was a teenagerI totally felt for a person like Danny. However I didn't want to change myself and become someone I wasn't, so it never worked out. Nowadays I'm grateful for that because I met an amazing people who supported me for being myself and while the romantic love isn't there anymore they are the bestest friend I could ever asked about. P.S. could you maybe react to Flow? It has no dialog and focuses on a group of animals trying to survive in an flooded post-apocalyptic landscape. It was purely done in Blender and has amazing visuals and sound. Also, maybe Jonathan can give us some tips about working together to reach a goal and how to react to people who sabotages said goal.
My Dad quit smoking cold turkey for my Mum. Not because she told him to, but because she hated kissing him when he'd just smoked and he loves her more than he loved the addiction. That's set such a strong example for me growing up - you can change for someone you love, but because you value their opinion and the change you make *feels right*.
As someone who saw this in 1979 as an older teen, I wrote off "did she put up a fight" as "dumbfvck stuff my mom had to put up with," or nostalgia for a thankfully bygone age. I was a little naive about the bygone part, I suppose.
It was the attitude that men were expected to test women by trying it on with them and only respecting them if they put up a fight. Well, if you only want a chaste girlfriend, don't try it on with them. Plus, many women have been killed or severely injured for putting up a fight.
You don’t have to see the whole movie - you guys got it exactly. I didn’t tell my daughter anything about the movie but she had friends who couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen this ‘amazing’ movie. So we watched it and within seconds she turned to look at me- and I said ‘give it a chance maybe it will grow on you’. At the end of the movie she glared at me and I said ‘ Yup I always hated it too- disgusting’. And we had a good discussion which she then took to ALL her social media. 😂❤
@@BatAmericai thought the 1955 movie Guys & Dolls was perfectly fine in terms of messaging because sky was upfront about everything basically from the start
I'll never forget my pastor's wife singing the songs in the church office. Then my cousin and I explained what the phrase "she's a real ***** wagon" meant. Her horrified expression still brings a smile to my face!
You know what? Grease totally gets it, this is such a common teenager behavior. Maybe not so drastic like sandy. But the peer pressure from the friends and need to change because the guy you like is a rebel and not the class nerd is so real.
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Can we do Ordinary People ? It's such an important movie for this channel ❤ Please 🙏 2025 ?
100%. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t make this recommendation myself , but yes! Ordinary people is such a phenomenal movie. People get angry that it won the Oscar instead of raging bull, but the depth in that movie is just untouchable
It's so relevant even today. The acting is brilliant.@@ceeeemdeedees7496
Can you do Prince of Tides? That therapist was pretty inappropriate.
Hey guys, I neeeddddd West Side Story toxic or not 😂❤
Jokes, hope you guys are taking care of yourselves ❤
Elle Woods initially tried to go to law school and become a lawyer to get back together with her boyfriend. However, what makes Legally Blonde different from Grease is that Elle still retains many qualities of her original self by the end even though she has a notable character arc. Additionally, she realizes that Warner isn’t a good partner for her and when he tries to get back with her at the end, she says no.
Moral of story: Watch Legally Blonde instead of Grease (and maybe we could get an Elle Woods video in the future)!
@@l.m.hammond1927 Legally Blonde is so much better. She becomes a great lawyer and makes friends with the woman her boyfriend had left her for. I think she left him eventually. Plus uses her fashion knowledge to win a case.
And if you still want the music legally blond has a Broadway version which is easy to find.
@ Yes! Also, Elle and Emmett in the musical version are absolute couple goals!
@@lemsip207 "So Much Better" - also a song title of the musical! And it was her knowledge of the beauty industry (specifically perms) that saved the case.
Yes, she initially did it for Warner, but then she realizes law is a part of her that she never knew she had. She has a passion with law and finds who she was meant to be.
"They're teenagers... ostensibly... in the script" really got me, LMFAO
As someone who played Frenchie in the musical, I think she was the only character that actually maintained her sense of self.
I could be remembering wrong but doesn't Rizzo kinda grow?
@ not really. And she still doesn’t fully know who she is yet. Frenchie is the glue that holds the group together.
@@GraceLaurenTaylor Ahhhhhh, I see. Thanks!
Also I agree that Frenchie is the glue and stays true to herself
Hard agree
@@KollbjornYT
No. I don’t remember her growing or becoming a better person at ALL.
I’ll never forget what my Spanish teacher told a few of us girls when we were performing a few Grease songs for a winter program. She said “like Sandy, you will fall for boys who are Dannys. They can be sweet in the beginning but they will be idiots. Set your boundaries. Say what you want in a relationship. They don’t follow or meet them. Then you tell them you better shape up cause I am worth it. They still don’t follow them then find someone who will.” We were all very confused teenage girls cause it was randomly in class when she brought it up but you could tell she meant well.
I love that she made a point of it! Sounds like a great teacher.❤
Setting and respecting boundaries is something that teenagers should learn. Both in Sex Ed and as a general life skill.
And you remember it now even if it didn’t make sense at the time which is really the best teachers can hope for - at least I try. 😅
Good teacher, looking out for you girls. Telling you to separate fiction from reality and when to leave when reality is falling disrespectfully short of expectations.
This is exactly why I teach people that movie romances are not real life. Can we enjoy them onscreen? Totally! Are these words to live by? Absolutely not!
Yes yes yes!
You " teach people" ? 😂 That's fk weird statement
I don’t really enjoy watching everyone badgering this poor girl into becoming something she’s not just so she can conform to the sexual revolution norms of the late 50’s whether she likes it or not.
The music is kinda fun though.
Like the outfits.
@@lurker668
Maybe they are a parent or a therapist.
@@tell-me-a-story- I like the music and the outfits, not the message. Sandy was fine the way she was, being a good girl who had some really awful "friends"!
I would like to point out, that Danny had the jacket on UNTIL Sandy came out. Then all that change he promises goes away when he throws the jacket off. Then he goes back to just being who he is.
yeah, that always bugged me too
YES!
I made the same comment, and even pointed this out in a paper I did my freshman year of college.
Exactly. I don't but that Danny "changes" who he is for her because of that.
That's what I've been saying since I first saw the film in middle school or high school. Like it's so weird that they both change, but only she stays in that change for him. The message is a girl needs to change everything about herself and her core values to please the man she likes. The music and style is catchy, but the message is not it.
Louder for the people in the back!
Is the relationship toxic? Hell yes.
Is the music still catchy as hell? Very much hell yes 🔥.
Agreed!
@@JonathanDecker I sing 🎵 why-y-y-oh 🎶 far too often to be healthy 😂😂😂.
Also, she changed her personality after the race because they were racing for pinks... and she's wearing pink 💕😂.
I love Danny's song at the drive-in so much, even though Danny was in the wrong in the scene prior. He shouldn't be singing about what Sandy did to him, when it was him doing something to her. But man if I don't want to sing along to it.
I once had "We Go Together" stuck in my head at Thanksgiving and my relatives had the (un)fortunate pleasure of my attempts to get it out because I was going crazy!
I watched the Director's Cut before going to work yesterday, and I couldn't stop singing the songs. Every person I worked with started singing along, too 😂.
I live for Beauty School Dropout. This hunky angel pops outta nowhere, and gives a PSA on the importance of education.
See, I liked it because it was going so incredibly hard on this one girl for no real reason.
Couldn't help but laugh at how over the top it was.
Which is honestly how I view the movie as a whole.
It was The Room before The Room.
When i went to cosmetology school at 26 i was waiting for the taunting with that song. Meanwhile i was the one singing it as i graduated 😂😂
Maturing is realising that Rizzo and Kenickie were by far the healthier love story. Kenickie defends Rizzo when the other T Birds are being sexist, doesn't try to force her into being intimate when they briefly pause, due to faulty protection, and only resumes when she makes the first move, and is there for Rizzo when he learns that he might have gotten her pregnant. I'd much rather watch THAT movie over Sandy and Danny's toxicity.
Is he the one who didn’t know her first name? 😅
@meinkanta LOL yes, but to be fair, I got the impression she doesn't use it often.
Rizzo was always my favorite character, she knew what people said and she owned it. Growing up as a gay boy afraid, she was the one person I could identify with. I saw somebody that was strong and determined to maintain her SELF-RESPECT regardless of what people thought or said.
I couldn’t stand a full movie about Rizzo.
She’s a bitchy mean girl who gets zero consequences.
@@peteallen8420
I always thought she was supposed to be a bully, so I didn’t mind her.
But when when I realized that other people who watched the show didn’t see her that way, I started hating her.
And she gets zero consequences for being a bit hey mean girl.
Just started the episode and I can't thank you enough. Twenty years ago, we had to give presentations at school about musicals, and I was assigned Grease. I ended my conclusion with the statement that I found the relationship between the two main characters terrible, because (back then I didn’t know the term in that context) it was extremely toxic. This caused a lot of unrest with my teacher and some of my classmates. They couldn’t understand it at all, because the story was supposed to be so romantic. Thank you for addressing a childhood memory and giving me a bit of validation that I wasn’t wrong back then.
Good for you for your honesty. I've never even seen it but it didn't sound like it had any depth to it at all.
I've noticed women gushing online over clearly villainous characters* so it's not surprising they'd gush over a handsome protagonist.
*For example, the Goblin King in Labyrinth. David Bowie does a great job, but he is portraying a toxic, manipulative character, not some ideal man.
"Sandy...you hurt me real bad"
Maybe that door slam did more damage than we appreciated?
Here's hoping!
He's still walking, he's fine.
Danny, YOU tried to FORCE Sandy into something that she didn't want to do and she defended herself. She hurt you less than you deserved.
“Sandy you hurt me real bad…”
Bro…you tried to force yourself on her.
And he was doomed to never make little Danny’s.
He deserved it too.
Me when I saw the thumbnail: Ooooo, Cinema Therapy just released a Toxic or Not on Grease!
My mom, who adored that movie growing up: * flat tone * Toxic.
Even as a child, I always found Danny to be a really horrible boyfriend. He constantly chooses his shallow buddies and cool image over a kind girl he genuinely likes, and Sandy responds by changing for him, after the horrible way he treats her. While it was meant to subvert the messages of classic 50's films, where the bad boy changes his ways with the love of a good girl, in real life, this would lead to much resentment. I honestly don't see Sandy and Danny lasting much longer after graduation.
Yeah, unlikely they had a "happily ever after." 😬
When I was finally old enough to grasp what was actually going on in the story, I could only think there was no way they'd still be together a year later.
Only if they ditch their friends and get married right after high school.
Am I weird in thinking Danny wasn't (and still isnt) cute? Like even seeing this movie as a teen during my "I like bad boys" phase I just didn't like Danny at all. Maybe if they got a different actor, but I just couldn't see it
@@Jenkinscraftingco2.0 Makes sense. He was 23 when he filmed it. It was filmed in the 70s and took place in the 50s so I always saw the target audience as adults who were teens in the 50s- so 40 year olds. But maybe you just aren't attracted to his type.
"I enjoy the movie. I watch it with my brain turned on. I don't internalize the messages or model my life after it."
+ *that* -- right there -- is key.
True but unfortunately a lot of people can't do that, some people don't even approach a relationship with their brain turned on. I don't think they model their life choices on Grease, but I do think some women are somehow unable to recognize a toxic or abusive relationship in real life OR in film.
I remember one essay that argued that Sandy changed because she realized she was unhappy in purity culture and when she discovers her sexuality in the end she's happier.
But the only reason she's unhappy is because literally everyone makes fun of her for her beliefs. Sex isn't important to Sandy and is turned off by it (I wouldn't say repulsed but she's probably just saving herself for marriage), but at her new school it's important and anyone who doesn't have sex is a loser and shunned.
Like, Sandy needs to get away from all of those people.
I gotta say, I don't see any support for this in the movie. Perhaps they cut out the scene where she discovers masturbation, but without that it's definitely reading into this.
That's how I interpreted Sandy's "transformation" as well: the purity persona was not cool at all. At the end of the movie, we're supposed to root for her becoming more acceptable and desirable
"at her new school it's important and anyone who doesn't have sex is a loser and shunned."
Unless they get pregnant from it, in which case they are shunned for having _too much_ sex. The whole culture is toxic when it comes to sexuality.
@@philopharynx7910 just watch the song “Sandra Dee” and you will see the friends mock her for her beliefs.
This. She changes not only because she thinks she has to for Danny, but also because EVERYONE around her is basically calling her a prude. Her reasons for change were 1000% because of pure pressure and not because of personal desires. She literally walked in on all her "friends" making fun of her at the sleepover. Those aren't friends. Friends support your choices. Both Sandy and Danny needed better friends and shouldn't be with each other.
For the longest time, my sister thought Sandy after the change was some random girl at the end of the movie.
Like “Goodbye to Sandra Dee” was her *literally* leaving, never to be seen again 😂
In a way, that is true. 😂😂😂
That's the funnier and I guess less toxic ending.
Dang I wish
Her twin sister Zandra Zee 😂
The change is quite drastic. I can totally see it.
I have always had this problem with this film. Sandy changed FOR Danny but she should have changed for herself, because she wanted to. It teaches a really bad lesson
You nailed it!
@@CinemaTherapyShowI was wondering if you would do a video that would feature The Lion King 2 so much pride I know it's a directive videos movie but it still explores the things of trauma specifically and Simba and I also like the Kovu development
Boom.
Also, he ultimately doesn’t actually change, he ditches that jacket that symbolises his “change of heart” immediately and at the end he’s back in a leather jacket. So ultimately the message of the film is that SHE needs to change for HIM and he doesn’t have to change for her
she didn't have to change at all. There was nothing wrong with her. She should have found someone who made her feel special for who she was and not made her feel bad about being who she was.
Danny: puts on a jacket and throw it away as fast
Sandy: changes her whole life and values to fit his ideals...
Wouldn't say they both torch their personalities, he barely stood up to his friends for a minute
Well, to be fair, he LETTERED in track, which means that he worked hard and won meets. That is a huge change to his character arc, vs the "greaser" he was known for.
He excelled at the track team and now might even go to college bc of it
While the songs and performances of the cast will always be iconic, the romance definitely did NOT age well.
Absolutely!
It wasn't that great in 1979, either.
I was a senior in high school when this came out, and unfortunately, it all rang true. Some level of sexual assault was almost a daily thing, and anything short of forced intercourse was dismissed as "Boys will be boys." Even literal rape was somehow the girl's fault because she was "asking for it," unless it was a stranger. "No" just meant to try harder and wear her down. A girl was either frigid or a slut. If a guy said he'd had sex with a girl, she was a target for every other boy, whether it was true or not. Despite all of that, I do enjoy the movie. I also love that consent and boundaries are talked about and more respected than they were back then.
The more things change, etc., etc. (Millennial here, hi.) This was also true to some extent while I was in grade school. Grade. School. I still have memories of being a small child and someone thought that Grease was suitable viewing for all of us together. Yes to consent and boundaries being talked about and more respected!
I’m a teacher and was beyond angry when one of the boys grabbed a girl in the hallway and forced a kiss on her. She slapped him pretty hard. The principal said since they used to date that the ex-boyfriend didn’t do anything wrong. Want to guess which one actually got in trouble for assaulting another student? I would like to say this was in the far past; but it was 2022. Unfortunately, problematic behavior and excusing it still exists.
@@Verdi771no one slapped the principal? Or called the cops on them?????? They let a young female student be sexually assaulted?
Sexual assault is a daily thing. And we’re not even allowed to talk about it
My mom has said things were pretty bad in the sixties. Unfortunately in my experience some guys don't understand "no", they were respectful but if I were them I would have realized they had zero chance and just left the person alone.
But it's not AS bad for women now and sometimes there's a bit of a double standard with women not respecting men's boundaries.
As a kid, I would literally say "why are they changing themselves? This isn't good..." And here I am, as an adult, doing the same thing 🙄
Yeah, he doesn’t deserve her at all and she shouldn’t have to change herself to be with him.
I was the exact same when Grandma put on the movie one night!
Yeah, instead of being aspirational, I always thought it was a cautionary tale of the dramas of teenage romance; everything is all or nothing, worrying more about what your friends think than how you feel; how boys/girls communicate differently etc. The 'did she put up a fight' line always grossed me out tho!😬
Ikr? When I was a kid, I only watched it once and that was it. Never watched it again. I liked some of the songs but the story itself didn't make much sense in my childish mind. Lol
I would go “she told him to stop!” (In reference to all these kinds of old movies, not just grease) And my mom and sisters would go “it’s romantic!” And call me a “buzzkill” and a “man hater” for not liking it…. they still do! I think i live in hell; lol
I am glad you included the point that the audience is supposed to recognize that he is toxic, and a jerk, and only cares about himself and his image. The relationship wouldn't be toxic if they'd stop caring so much about what their friends think and I think they missed that moral of the story. The hilarious part to me though is that Danny's friends liked Sandy. He had no reason to act weird around her or be embarrassed by her. I think Rizzo went through the same thing with him which is why she gives him that look. Sandy didn't only change for him, she also changed to fit in with her friends as well.
If Danny isn’t even willing to stand for Sandy in public, then what exactly is he bringing to the table? The entire musical just shows that they do not work together and that Danny would rather string her along than fully commit to her like he did in the summer.
It drives me absolutely crazy. And the fact that she takes him back in the end aggravated me to no end.
One thing I did actually appreciate about Danny at the end was that he -told his friends- that Sandy was important to him. That was an actually good change since he had spent the whole movie being embarrassed about caring about her. The track sweater was at least partially a way of visibly indicating that he was willing to show in public that he cared.
I grew up in an abusive family and saw this as a preteen. I still saw this as a cautionary tale. Granted, it's even worse than I thought.
63 yo woman here. I always hated Grease, fumed about how Sandy totally abandoned herself. I didn't have the resources then to see the massive toxicity of the whole thing like I do now. I do very much like Stockard Channing's moment, though. That rocked.
@@cathyn7640 Me too, the message of Sandy changing everything about herself to get a guy who was embarrassed to be seen with her in public, and even tried to sexually assault her, really hasn't aged well.
reading this feels kinda sad since many ppl justify it as "oh it was romantic back in the day" when it has always been toxic. Kind of me to anime fanservice and ppl my age (high school at the time) were okay with underaged/braely legal girls getting into toxic romance, very sexualized, or horribly written by a mangaka who is most likely to be male and 20+ y.o. i wasn't okay with it back then (looking at u mha), still not okay now (college kid here, and yet everyone around me whos 18-20, is okay watching dandandan, I feel disgusted by the males around me to recommend it and without warnings too) srry for the ramble.
@@inazuma2332as a 45 year old I started watch dandandan and stopped after the first episode because of the smut that was already in it and those things usually get worse so I quit.
@byuftbl Im sorry u had to see that, if you want thriller/more action shonen without fanservice try kaiju no. 8 or Wind Breaker 🦭
Grease was written in Chicago about the blue collar kids and their lives. Sandy is from Joliet and moves to Chicago and attends Lane Tech HS. The Pink Ladies is based on an actual group of girls (the girls who went to Catholic grade schools and then the public high school - so needed to form a gang as "new kids" against the kids who all grew up through the public school system) The Pink Ladies were actually a 401c3 non-profit group that helped the elderly. At school, though, they needed to fight and many wore razor blades in their hair to prevent hair grabs fights.
You should see "The Original" Grease. Marilou Henner (from Taxi) played the girl who wrote to her boyfriends. The play was supposed to run for 1 weekend, it lasted 8 months. Broadway got wind of it. So the show got cleaned up for Broadway version, then cleaned up again for the film version. Song differences:: "Summer Lovin" was originally called "Foster Beach" (a beach in Chicago). "You're the one that I want" was originally called "Kiss it and make it better". There was even a reprise of "Greased Lightning" where Roz was telling Knickie "you're not getting any in Greased Lightning. Also "I'd never do that" was a song that Riz sang TO Sandy. Unfortunately, the show was more racist due to the tone of the migrants in the 50s and these being the migrants children (Italian, Mexican, Irish, etc slurs were thrown around),
The play was set as a "Reunion" with the audience all being reunion guests. Then as the "host" moved by memories and into specific stories, the story started. The opening song "Grease" was much more gritty showing how the blue collar kids were considered dirty and they had to be tough to survive. A theater in Chicago revived the original version back in 2008 or so. There was a lot to learn about the history of the production.
YOU GUYS MADE A BROOKLYN NINE-NINE REFERENCE IN A POSITIVE WAY I'M SO HAPPY THANK YOU
in another episode they also feature it as a “healthy movie relationships” :)
@@thenerrdpit7441 they do?? i only watched b99 recently so i might have seen the video at a time where it went completely over my head, but thank you, i'll search it back!!
20:00 Alan saying "I am a completely different person now for no other reason than I want to be with DIS BOIIII" just gave me my weekly dose of serotonin
I finally decided that "to my heart I must be true" was her saying that, yes, she likes Danny, but also that she's going to retain her core values even if she's willing to change her outward appearance.
Which is still misleading Danny, and I give them 5 weeks tops before they break up again. 😂😂🙈
Why did you have to remind me of the kind of crap I used to be willing to put up with for an attractive man? Past me really needed a hug. I'm so glad I grew out of the mindset that had me thinking ANY relationship was better than nothing. Being single is SO much better then being with someone who keeps your self esteem in the toilet! I'd like to give my therapist a big thank you.
my ex-girlfriend loved Grease but i hated it because the message i took away from it was "to be together you have to change everything about yourself".
ironically that was a teenage relationship and we just grew up to be extremely different people and didnt learn the wrong message
Growing up Christian and waiting until marriage, I found Sandy quite relatable and admirable. And also a bit of a cautionary tale - Rizzo’s song was iconic but also very mean… Sandy didn’t judge them at all but they judged her without trying to understand where she was coming from. For all they knew, waiting until marriage was very common where she grew up & also for girl friends… that’s a pretty small aspect of what makes a friend a friend (if it’s even relevant).
This story was so much about social approval and people not really seeming to be in touch with their true selves. Lol I love that line “it’s horny High School Musical”
People might poke fun at "waiting until marriage" but you don't see a lot of married people saying they regretted it. I'm a Christian and a pretty rational person and never understood the desperation of some women to be in a relationship with a jerk just because he gives her attention.
This one was really fun! It'd be interesting to see a similar Toxic or Not on the relationships in The Breakfast Club.
@@angelm1832 they just filmed a Breakfast Club episode! Can't wait to see it 🤘.
@@SaucyJTD Oh sweet! I'm looking forward to it.
My Little Thought Tree has some good videos on The Breakfast Club.
@julietardos5044 I suggested it as a Patreon, and it got enough votes by us to be pushed through 😊. I'm so excited to see what they decide to talk about!
Or Pretty in Pink!
@@angelm1832 Totally, especially on Bender and Claire's relationship, which really hasn't aged well through a modern lens. Molly Ringwald even wrote an essay, where she discusses the outdated sexism and homophobia of John Hughes films, despite otherwise standing by his work.
I performed one of the songs with an all female choir once. We ended up changing the "did she put up a fight" to something else because we were almost unanimously appaled by singing that line
I first saw this movie when I was fairly young, my parents were always fans of showing my brother and me classic movies. I remember being confused by Sandy's shift at the end of this movie because it very much felt like it came out of nowhere.
I think I had a bit of an opposite reaction to Sandy's change, now that I think about it. I think I had a bit of a queer awaking there 😂
@@Sly-Moose Good for you!!!
no so real. i did NOT expect it. even when it did happen, i half expected danny to be like "wait no sandy i like u for who u are!" but alas! they were doomed from the start
I grew up on this movie and my entire family holds this movie up so high. When I showed it to my wife who was not raised on Greece, she hated it because of the relationships and message the movie had. I agree, I watch this movie with my brain turned off but realize how bad it’s aged.
The minute that Rizzo smelled the B.S. scent that Danny was wearing on him from a mile away.
Yeah, Rizzo was the only one who had an objective perspective on the relationship the entire movie.
I wonder if this mindset they have about changing for each other is why so many people around me, in their 40s, are now getting divorced.
I never liked the ending to Grease, even as a kid I thought Sandy changing so much was awful. As an adult I simply wish they'd realised that they're not meant to be together and went their separate ways
I feel so validated. I enjoy the movie very much, but even when I first watched it at 12 years old I was livid over Sandy’s transformation at the end.
Now do Romeo and Juliet. :) Always hacks me off how people say it's the "greatest love story of all time!" when, no, they don't love each other. They don't *know* each other. They're both just projecting their ideas of each other onto one another and calling that love. Just about everybody in the entire play is doing that, except possibly for the Duke.
We're prepping a Romeo and Juliet episode for our next shoot!
@@CinemaTherapyShow Wait... which version???
"Greatest love story of all time!"
Teenagers knew each other for, what, three days? and have a body count of 5. Cease. Love the story. Love the prose. But come on.
I like to quote what Nostalgia Critic said. “It’s not about true love, but about young love.”
You have two people in terrible family situations that saw freedom in one another and ran for the chance, and both suffered greatly for it. The message from the Bard is ‘your actions have consequences that will be paid for by next generations’.
@@SaucyJTD i'd assume Baz Luhrmann
When I watched it as a teenager I was very heavily confused, my personality is much like Sandy and I kept thinking why would she change for him, she is loosing herself.
Same!
I could see changing for the better because of the person, if you're going to do that it should also be the person you want to be and your partner/spouse is providing the motivation.
Thanks for this. Growing up my friends idolized this play. I hated it. I am so sick of movies portraying toxic relationships as romantic. It's dangerous.
I had happy memories of this film when I was a teenager. I saw it a year ago and was horrified! How perspectives change!
I saw it as a teen and the adult concepts confused me. I didn't know why I didn't like it. As an adult I know why.
Oh yeah, toxic!
Toxic as HELL! Danny literally pulls a “I thought you loved me!”
And Sandy is actually happy with who she is until everyone around her shames her for it.
Correct about Sandy
As a 6th grader, my choir teacher handed us all the music for this movie, and it was the first musical I really got to STUDY. As a class, we adored it, and it was the first time I realized musicals are a GENRE. As a kid, I thought the biggest issue in this movie was the peer pressure they both faced. As an adult, I wish Danny would’ve had a backbone and stood up to his friends at the bonfire. The only people looking out for Sandy were Frenchy and The Pink Ladies.
From the moment I saw Sandy show up smoking that cigarette while watching this movie with my mom at 12 years old, I knew I hated Grease with a burning passion
My mom loves this movie so she made me watch it as a child and I HATED it. His blatant disrespect was such a turn off and I was horrified that they abandoned themselves to be a fake person to get with someone who they shouldn't be with. I asked what "did she put up a fight" meant and the answer made me hate it even more. Needless to say I haven't seen it since and I'm ok with that. Even though I was a child and haven't reached 40, I feel the energy Allen has with it 😂
I remember working at a junior high/middle school when the Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as the Joker movie came out...way too many young girls told me they wanted a romance like theirs.....that startled the heck out of me and I told them what I could as gently as I could as a fan of the 90's cartoons/knowing its highly HIGHLY toxic. The first time I saw this movie, Grease, as an adult in college my first reaction was "MY PARENTS LET ME WATCH THIS AT FIVE YEARS OLD??"
The movie was meant to be satire of Greaser and 1950's culture and that point is largely missed. The toxic stuff is spot on. Oh, and Sandy's jock boyfriend with the biceps turned into this: "He was a cop, and good at his job, but he committed the ultimate sin-and testified against other cops gone bad. Cops that tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved instead. Framed for murder, now he prowls the badlands... an outlaw hunting outlaws... a bounty hunter... a renegade." Renegade!
i played rizzo in this play. i would love to see you guys dig deep into her, her trauma, her relationship with kenickie, and how he grows and matures, and how she realizes that she doesnt have to objectify herself in order to not be treated badly, etc.
Rizzo is definitely the most interesting character in the whole story.
Lucky you! I am always disappointed when productions cut her song, "There are worse things I could do ". I think it's the best and most authentic part of the show.
Thank you. I have been saying this since it was in movie theaters the first time, and everyone has acted astonished that anyone could think this wasn’t a “wholesome” relationship. I loathed the final scene where she gave up herself to become who she thought he wanted…and he was good with it. 🤮
Attempt #(38) of asking for Spirit : Stallion of the Cimarron!! Was my absolute childhood movie growing up and the filmmaking is so beautiful with amazing scores and concepts of loss and staying true to once nature even in the face of adversity!
great movie, hope they see this
Bumping
THIS!!
This needs to happen!!! It’s such a beautiful and emotional movie!!
C’MON, CINEMA THERAPY. *DO IT.*
Thank you guys for addressing this! My preschool showed this film over and over when I was 5 years old. I grew up loving this movie and wanting to transform myself into end of movie Sandy. I went to show this much beloved movie to my daughter once she turned 13, and put a stop to it almost immediately, quickly realizing this wasn't a lesson I wanted her to learn. It was a sad day for me to recognize this movie I loved wasn't good for me or my daughter.
Preschool?! Wow, so interesting that your school showed this movie to preschoolers...I think that's a bit too young of a crowd for this movie and some of its themes. 😂
@@dubblebubbletoilandtrouble6646 they did fastforward through the condom scene, lol. Yeah, I totally agree, the counselors usually switched between Grease, Pete's Dragon, and Mighty Mouse cartoons😆
So glad you guys called this out because the ending irked me so bad 😂
I grew up watching Grease, and I had issues with the message when I was ten. It baffled me to see so many of my girl friends obsessed with Danny and this movie.
I was thinking about this movie a few weeks ago, and hoping CT would do a toxicity analysis, and now we're here and I couldn't be more grateful
It's funny how High School Musical's plot is basically "What if Grease, but way less toxic?"
I believe the joke is the idea of believing that the “wholesome and innocence” 1950’s was wholesome or innocent.
The highest teenage pregnancy rate in the U.S. was in the 1950s.
I think it's notable that Danny throws off the letter jacket at the end. If he had worn it through the last song it would have shown that they were somewhat on equal footing. However, as soon as he sees her makeover he removes the jacket. So she changed for him, but he went right back to how he'd been before.
Still love the song and dance numbers though. It's not a story to model relationships on, but it's a thoroughly entertaining musical.
I was about nine when this came out and we all loved it and knew all the words to all the songs. We missed a lot of the detail (only watching it as an adult did I notice the pregnancy scare subplot) but did get the general idea that guys will only like you if you do things you might not like. I remember the line "did she put up a fight?" really freaking me out as a kid. I still love the songs and the choreography and the acting (Stockard Channing is sublime) but I do wonder if it made a whole generation of girls like me a bit scared of growing up and dating.
My mom loves this movie a lot and so i grew up with it. Some years ago I watched it back with my friends and I was really shocked how toxic it is. thanks for this episode!
I thought it toxic even at the time.
For years, I warned my mom not to watch the version of Grease that wasn't "made for TV" (which was the only version she'd ever seen / loved. She was not prepared for Greased Lightning unedited.
I used to love this movie as a kid, but when I watched it as an adult, I was floored. It's so toxic on every level. How was my mom okay letting me watch this??? Thanks for covering this movie.
My super toxic, alcoholic, divorced parents danced to grease lightning at their wedding.
Oh boy.
That's what we call foreshadowing!
What?!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
To be fair to the song "you're the one that i want" is actually really good out of context, and low key romantic.
Grease was a soundtrack that always got put on for Girl Scout outings that involved riding in a mom van for a while. I didn't care for the songs, but I didn't know them, and was in a car full of girls that did know them. The sing-a-long rides with a crowd of preteen girls didn't put me off on a good foot with the music. I didn't see the movie until I was in my mid-thirties, I spent the whole movie wondering why people let little kids watch this movie. Particularly, little girls.
I’m so glad we have a genuine example of a toxic relationship out of this series of videos. All of the other videos were either healthy, or skirted the line, but without an example of a genuinely toxic relationship, the series wasn’t providing guidance on what NOT to do (I mean, it should be obvious what not to do, but now, we have a baseline for what is truly toxic).
I loved the brooklyn 99 Amy&Jake reference while talking about a non toxic relationship because they're honestly one of the healthiest couples on tv and I love them so much
Jono singing “you’re the one that I want” before taking a bite of food 🤣
That was absolute cinema
I'd argue Danny DIDN'T change who he was in the end. It was only her that ended up changing. Danny saw her new look and completely abandoned the jock persona. Which sends out just as bad of a message.
And ngl, when I watched this as a kid, I think I had a bit of a queer awaking there from Sandy's change 😂
I agree with you, start running is not changing completily your persona... so...is a lot more bad for Sandy
I'm sure a LOT of people had some kind of awakening thanks to the greaser sandy
I was always more of a stockard Channing girl. I thought she was just so pretty and I just wanted to give her a hug through the whole dang movie.
Thank you. Whenever I brought up that she completely changed who she was and he didn’t change at all, people always said, “ BuT He ChaNgEd TOOO!” No, he put on a letterman jacket for 5 minutes.🤨
@@angrysaltycroutan3262then tossed it the moment he saw Sandy changed for him.
Thankyou. I’ve always felt that this movie is about giving in to peer pressure. But my family loves it
This one came at just the right time for me. I have started dating a friend of mine recently who I absolutely adore and pushes me to be better. Lately I had been noticing that I started making changes. I have ADHD and am notorious for being a bit of a 'social chameleon' aka, changing myself to fit, not being my authentic self. So started worrying if I was doing that and changing myself for them. This video helped me realize that, the only thing they did was help me recognize parts of myself I had neglected to investigate which allows me to grow and be a better version of myself, all while having the patience to see they just helped me achieve it. I feel at ease when they're around, I feel like I'm authentic around them and can show them my identity full and honestly. So thank you guys, I kinda needed this.
I once VERY briefly dated a guy who tried to change me into his idea of the ideal girlfriend. "As my girlfriend, you should behave this way," or "as my girlfriend, you should say these things," stuff like that. The lesson I'd taken from Grease growing up, however, had me replying "I'll either be myself or be gone." Eventually I was gone anyway because I got tired of his toxic shit 😂
I can't believe that I was allowed to watch this film as a child. Rizzo's pregnancy scare, the various sexual innuendos, and most of Greased Lightning, went right over my head, and that the lyrics weren't "The Chicks will Scream..."
Me too! We watched it on repeat because we loved the music so much! I was probably in my late teens before I actually understood what they were singing about. It's easily toxic, but it's still a really fun watch, haha.
No, no, it's worse. So much worse. Here are just some of the official lyrics:
You are supreme, the chicks'll cream for grease lightning
You know that I ain't bragging, she's a real p*ssy wagon
Wait, what? I-... I thought the song "Greased Lightning" was about racing cars. Is it not?? I'm 30!! 😭😭
@trinaq The actual lyrics are so much worse than you know. Look it up! It's so bad lol.
🙈🙈
I am SO very happy someone FINALLY said that. You wouldn't believe it, but when I wrote an article on a school performance of Grease about 12 years ago, finishing with the thought that the performance was awesome, but that we should discuss whether doing this play doesn't teach kids they have to lose their integrity for love the paper actually took out that sentence, maybe they were scared of a controversy.
Later I thought the play maybe is kinda symbolic, Sandy being the Establishment and rigid morals of the war generation, making it "okay" for her to give herself up. This might be the intention, but sure as hell doesn't read that way when you are watching it.
Nathan did not need to go this hard on the edits but omg am I glad - well done! I’ve always loved Grease, but I love it with the understanding that it is the blueprint for what/how not to be in a relationship (or even just the type of person not to be, tbh).
This was my sister's favorite movie when she was a teenager and I haaaaaaaaaaaaaated it. I was too young at the time to articulate why it pissed me off so much, it's been a topic of debate between us over the years.
The ending of My Fair Lady also hits me the same way.
The movie, "Mt Fair Lady," ends differently than the play, "Pygmalion," which ends with Elizabeth opening a florist shop with her husband, the kind man who respects her. Henry Higgins just continues his ways, iirc, sometimes visiting the florist.
Aaah, my teen comfort movie. I do see something interesting between the lines, though, and I wonder what everybody else thinks: Sandy does not appear to be a very confident person (which we hear when she sings "oh so scared and unsure"), and often looks insecure. With Frenchie's makeover, it almost feels like she finally gets a needed boost of confidence, rather than a whole personality change.
If you look at the beach scenes with Danny, she’s very sure and comfortable there. I think that is her true self, not what she portrays at the end of the movie. So if she’d a true boost of confidence, she would’ve relaxed about being that person from the beach and been that confidently.
Totally with Alan on this one, I watched it first as a production at my high school when a friend was cast as Sandy. I was really invested until the last musical number, wondering how all the interpersonal conflicts would resolve. I was sure that the changes they made for each other would blow up and they'd realize it was a mistake immediately upon interacting. Imagine my horror.
Danny wasn't the only one negatively impacted by peer pressure. Rizzo and most of the pink ladies were pretty chaste-shamey.
I mean, yes, but also Rizzo was mercilessly slut-shamed…She and Sandy probably shouldn’t have been friends. They both had valid but somewhat conflicting views on sexual relationships.
I’m surprised that none of the comments I’ve seen so far have pointed out that this movie is very much a satire. Is the relationship still toxic? Absolutely. But the whole thing was intended to poke fun at the culture of the 50s. It doesn’t necessarily make the relationship better but it’s important not to take it too seriously. The movie is still fun as heck.
Thank you two and the team for your hard work on these videos :)
We love making them! Thanks for watching!
My sister and I argue about Grease about three times a year. We both grew up with the movie. She loves it. I have always hated it. She defends Sandy's changes with Danny's, saying if it's a mutual compromise, it's romantic not nitwitted. I say Danny immediately ditches his jacket when Sandy makes the change-so if she's going to go that far, he feels he can just discard all the changes he's made because he didn't want to make them anyway, which just reads like the worst relationships you see in the real world, where one person does some cursory, surface work to get the commitment, then throws it away afterward, while the other person is stuck doing all the emotional labor to make the relationship work in perpetuity.
I also argue that Sandy isn't even making her change for Danny. She's making her change for *his image,* which she knows isn't real. He's not worth it.
I'm not sure I agree with the claim that they change who they are for each other.
For Sandy, the Sandra Dee reprise has a key line: "wholesome and pure - oh so sacred and unsure". She's holding her good girl persona and boundaries because they're who and how she was brought up to be, and because it's scary to unleash her new feelings and try to carve out a new self-image. Part of it is peer pressure, but part of it is that being who she's been is not bringing her happiness.
The extreme makeover does go too far - sexy-Sandy is visibly faking it rather than presenting herself with integrity - but it's also an opportunity for her to play dress-up - to try on a new persona and see what she likes about it - and there are parts of it which she is comfortable with. The worst part of it is the movie ending there, creating the impression that that's her new permanent identity, and that sweet-Sandy has gone forever.
For Danny, the key issue is his self-esteem. To start, he doesn't think he's ever going to amount to anything or be able to achieve anything - he's one of the losers hanging out with his loser friends, being "cool" because that means they never have to risk anything - you can't fail if you never try, and you can't disappoint someone if they never expect anything from you.
Sandy gives Danny a reason to try making something of himself - he goes in for sport - and ends up literally running rings around the jocks - and letters. He is the one to convince the T-Birds they can make Greased Lightning into something, and has his worth recognised by Kenicke asking him to serve as second - and wins that race too.
Danny gains in self-esteem through the movie, and by the end he's gone from acting cool to being cool. He no longer feels the need to front before the other T-Birds, and is confident being the Danny that Sandy met on the beach (though possibly still a horny virgin - I don't think it's ever made clear how far he and Rizzo, or he and Cha Cha, ever went)
Love this take over the video they both thought they had to change for the other but realize that it was for themselves really is what I see
Thank you! No one analyzing movie this ever seems to listen to her song. Her very first line is "Look at me, there has to be something more than what they see..." She admits to herself that she's scared and unsure. She tells Frenchie she is unhappy and she thinks she knows a way she could be. Of course Danny is a big part of that, but at the end of the day she's a teenager figuring out who she is and trying something on. She wants to figure out what else there is to her beyond what other people see - the perfect, wholesome girl next door.
But ultimately it's still a fault of the movie that the first time we actually get a hint that she's unhappy with herself is during this 30 second song.
Excellently put! I think the issue is that the movie *tells* us they're changing for each other but it *shows* us that they are actually changing for themselves.
@@dtucker1984 Yeah, you really have to pay attention to that bit with Sandy after the race to realise she is changing for herself, but because it's sandwiched between an exciting drag race and the exciting finale, people gloss over it.
Feminists especially don't get that. Even the producers meant it to be empowering:
From TVTropes:
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey intended for Sandy's change to be seen as her becoming freer and sexually liberated, shedding the '50s "good girl" stereotype, as well as a reversal of the "bad boy becomes good" plot they'd seen in films of that era. The problem is that the rigid and repressing sexual mores that Sandy would be seen as adhering to in the beginning are no longer present in current media and haven't been for a long time; so what should have looked like her liberating herself from society's outdated expectations appeared instead to be her simply conforming to a different societal construct, one now seen as self-destructive, to appeal to her ex-boyfriend who's not obviously that nice to begin with. Even within the film itself, Sandy is never shown to feel pressured by her parents or society to act like an innocent "good girl," but she is shown to be heavily prude-shamed by the entire cast all film, so it comes off less like her embracing her true self and more like (as stated above) giving into new social mores thrust upon her.
And the sequel had an arguably worse relationship in terms of changing. Michael is chasing after Stephanie who is the stereotypical Caliornian valley girl. She is a bully who treats him like crap. Her love is not sincere (she brags to her friends about how she can kiss and seduce the first boy who comes into From TVa room, and then kisses Michael, while she actually hates his guts). She only wants a boyfriend that is a biker boy. Mike is NOT that. Mike decides to change himself completely for her. Unlike Sandy we don't see much doubt about if he wants to be the "Oxford kid" anymore. He gets a song but unlike Sandy it's not being unsure it's him being nervous about Stephanie potentially noticing that he isn't the super macho boy she wants to get laid with. And for the rest of the movie Stephanie is still mean to the Oxford!Mike, and she never changes really.
But it's a MAN who changes so the feminists of course don't care.
I agree. I was 13 when Grease came out. The message I received was, “sexy gets you approval and love”, and that I would have to change myself or I’d be doomed. Not the best age to process that. 😢
Thank you for doing this one! I've hated this movie since I saw it, despite how catchy the music is... saw it when I was in college and had similar values to Sandy, but was convinced something must be wrong with me for being unwilling to change. It hurt badly.
LOVED your video!!!
I am kinda like Sandy in terms of values 🤗. I remember watching the movie when I was 15 and being HORRIFIED at the portrayal of girls who don't want sex in their relationships... I also felt a little forced, like "Is this what a man is going to want from me, to completely change my set of values?"
Nowadays, I choose to interpret Grease as a parody for what NOT to do (hence, for example, the flying away as if they were a fantasy story in a movie that otherwise hasn't shown that style during any other scene)
My friend from high school brings up the point that danny doesnt ever change even when he gets the letterman sports jacket the second the song plays he throws the jacket and they both are essentially greasers. I get dancing in the jacket might have been hard work but olivia was literally sewn into those pants. He could have continued the scene in the jacket but the second it becomes convenient, it comes off. I do however like when his friends try to get on him at the end for joining track he doesnt hide it or stutter. He answers "yeah, i did" very definitively whereas the rest of the movie he was hiding his relationship (if you can even call it that?) with sandy from them and posturing. I think it's very high school, i saw this all too often when i was in school so it nakes sense theyd make a movie about stuff people actually experience.
Even as a kid, when I watched Grease I could tell that the relationship wasn't really that good but I still loved it for the songs.
It's so funny how there's SOOO many movies where we used to idolize these "romantic" couples, only to later see how toxic they actually are. I honestly never realized (or at least never really looked into) the relationships like that, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Notebook, Twilight, or this movie.
I have never been able to enjoy this movie because, even as a child, I hated the messaging in it. I'm grateful to, for once, not have someone saying, "But I love Grease!" while wholesale ignoring the toxicity.
I like to think this movie is about toxic friends and how a relationship can crumble because of them and how we portray ourself to get accepted by our peer group by not being our real self.
That being said, when I was a teenagerI totally felt for a person like Danny. However I didn't want to change myself and become someone I wasn't, so it never worked out. Nowadays I'm grateful for that because I met an amazing people who supported me for being myself and while the romantic love isn't there anymore they are the bestest friend I could ever asked about.
P.S. could you maybe react to Flow? It has no dialog and focuses on a group of animals trying to survive in an flooded post-apocalyptic landscape. It was purely done in Blender and has amazing visuals and sound. Also, maybe Jonathan can give us some tips about working together to reach a goal and how to react to people who sabotages said goal.
My Dad quit smoking cold turkey for my Mum. Not because she told him to, but because she hated kissing him when he'd just smoked and he loves her more than he loved the addiction. That's set such a strong example for me growing up - you can change for someone you love, but because you value their opinion and the change you make *feels right*.
As someone who saw this in 1979 as an older teen, I wrote off "did she put up a fight" as "dumbfvck stuff my mom had to put up with," or nostalgia for a thankfully bygone age. I was a little naive about the bygone part, I suppose.
It was the attitude that men were expected to test women by trying it on with them and only respecting them if they put up a fight. Well, if you only want a chaste girlfriend, don't try it on with them. Plus, many women have been killed or severely injured for putting up a fight.
You don’t have to see the whole movie - you guys got it exactly. I didn’t tell my daughter anything about the movie but she had friends who couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen this ‘amazing’ movie. So we watched it and within seconds she turned to look at me- and I said ‘give it a chance maybe it will grow on you’. At the end of the movie she glared at me and I said ‘ Yup I always hated it too- disgusting’. And we had a good discussion which she then took to ALL her social media. 😂❤
This movie reminds me of Guys and Dolls, which is full of fun characters and great musical numbers, but it has a terrible message regarding dating.
You know, I remember thinking that Guys and Dolls did this better because Sky Masters had a genuine change. I'm gonna have to rewatch it to see!
@@SaucyJTD That's great!
@@BatAmerica Hell yeah! I was already thinking about rewatching it again, so this was a welcome comment to stumble upon 😁.
@@BatAmericai thought the 1955 movie Guys & Dolls was perfectly fine in terms of messaging because sky was upfront about everything basically from the start
I'll never forget my pastor's wife singing the songs in the church office. Then my cousin and I explained what the phrase "she's a real ***** wagon" meant. Her horrified expression still brings a smile to my face!
You know what? Grease totally gets it, this is such a common teenager behavior. Maybe not so drastic like sandy. But the peer pressure from the friends and need to change because the guy you like is a rebel and not the class nerd is so real.