A Rant of Quite Little Importance.
So tomorrow afternoon I'm going to see Grease.
It's a Swedish production that Dad could get tickets to quite easily and cheaply, and the whole family is going. So that's nice.
I am not looking forward to it that much though, because I don't really like Grease.
I was into it when I was younger. Actually when I was 11-12, my class did a show where Summer Lovin' was a component, and I thought it had a good beat and sang along quite happily. However, now I have given this a lot of thought (because I have that amount of free time) and figured out that the message of Grease really friggin' SUCKS. And because it really doesn't make sense when you think about it.
That Sandy gives into peer pressure and gives herself a complete make-over to fit in better is a SUCKY solution to her problems. I get that she feels very scared and hopeless about all this grown-up stuff, uncertain about what she wants to do and what kind of person she wants to be. And maybe she realises that she wants a change. So she... squeezes herself into leather trousers, puts on a ton of make-up, and starts smoking over night? No. Just... no. It's not that she even changes that bothers me too much. She probably would have benefited from loosening up a little, realise that it's actually not a sin to make out with the guy you're madly in love with, and try some new things. However, the conservative, sweet, rather insecure and nervous Sandra Dee is who Danny fell in love with. She's the one he promised eternal love to on the beach. She's the one he was so genuinely happy to see, and then blew off to impress his friends. That she has to change so dramatically to get him back is really, really dumb.
"But!" protests defenders of Grease. "Danny tries to change too, for her! He tries to do sports!"
Yes. He does that. But I can't help but thinking about the first image we get from Danny, in the very first scene with him and Sandy, on the beach. She's had the best summer of her life, he promises her that this isn't the end; you really get the impression that he really has spent the summer just holding hands with her and drinking lemonade and doing a whole bunch of silly romantic stuff because he genuinely cares about what she wants and realises what she isn't ready for. In the light of that, "trying sports" because he thinks that's what Sandy likes isn't enough. He's already been what she wants, and that's the person he is away from his friends. Who's to say that the Danny from the beach isn't the real Danny?
Then at the end of the movie, when Sandy shows up in her new apparel, you get the feeling that what Danny tried to do is completely erased anyway, because her change is so sudden and overwhelming that it practically screams, "Nevermind! I know you tried, Danny, but you don't have to anymore! She's just like you now and likes you for the huge tool you are and you can live happily ever after as two huge tools in leather jackets!"
Remember: If the person you feel is "the one" even though you're still in High School doesn't like you for who you are, you should change everything about yourself. Because it's always your responsibility to mold yourself into the preferred shape of your peers.
And that is why I don't like Grease.
It's a Swedish production that Dad could get tickets to quite easily and cheaply, and the whole family is going. So that's nice.
I am not looking forward to it that much though, because I don't really like Grease.
I was into it when I was younger. Actually when I was 11-12, my class did a show where Summer Lovin' was a component, and I thought it had a good beat and sang along quite happily. However, now I have given this a lot of thought (because I have that amount of free time) and figured out that the message of Grease really friggin' SUCKS. And because it really doesn't make sense when you think about it.
That Sandy gives into peer pressure and gives herself a complete make-over to fit in better is a SUCKY solution to her problems. I get that she feels very scared and hopeless about all this grown-up stuff, uncertain about what she wants to do and what kind of person she wants to be. And maybe she realises that she wants a change. So she... squeezes herself into leather trousers, puts on a ton of make-up, and starts smoking over night? No. Just... no. It's not that she even changes that bothers me too much. She probably would have benefited from loosening up a little, realise that it's actually not a sin to make out with the guy you're madly in love with, and try some new things. However, the conservative, sweet, rather insecure and nervous Sandra Dee is who Danny fell in love with. She's the one he promised eternal love to on the beach. She's the one he was so genuinely happy to see, and then blew off to impress his friends. That she has to change so dramatically to get him back is really, really dumb.
"But!" protests defenders of Grease. "Danny tries to change too, for her! He tries to do sports!"
Yes. He does that. But I can't help but thinking about the first image we get from Danny, in the very first scene with him and Sandy, on the beach. She's had the best summer of her life, he promises her that this isn't the end; you really get the impression that he really has spent the summer just holding hands with her and drinking lemonade and doing a whole bunch of silly romantic stuff because he genuinely cares about what she wants and realises what she isn't ready for. In the light of that, "trying sports" because he thinks that's what Sandy likes isn't enough. He's already been what she wants, and that's the person he is away from his friends. Who's to say that the Danny from the beach isn't the real Danny?
Then at the end of the movie, when Sandy shows up in her new apparel, you get the feeling that what Danny tried to do is completely erased anyway, because her change is so sudden and overwhelming that it practically screams, "Nevermind! I know you tried, Danny, but you don't have to anymore! She's just like you now and likes you for the huge tool you are and you can live happily ever after as two huge tools in leather jackets!"
Remember: If the person you feel is "the one" even though you're still in High School doesn't like you for who you are, you should change everything about yourself. Because it's always your responsibility to mold yourself into the preferred shape of your peers.
And that is why I don't like Grease.