People rewatching Grease have taken to social media to slam the once-beloved high school musical.
Rewatch the trailer for Grease:
Grease – Trailer
Credit: Paramount
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Modern viewers think Grease was anything but the word, with people branding the 1978 movie as “misogynistic”, “homophobic”, and “a bit r*pey”.
Starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the movie sees bad-boy greaser Danny Zuko and Australian sweetheart Sandy Olsson navigate high school life and their friendship groups to try to end up together.
However, among the catchy musical numbers, contagious dance routines, and that bizarre moment where they fly away in a car, there are some scenes that many people believe have not aged well.
For example, in the famous drive-in scene, Danny first tries to subtly grab Sandy’s breast, before attempting to force himself on her.
But Sandy is not game, and she gets so alarmed by the situation that she literally screams “Danny, get off me!” and runs out of the drive-in.
But dang… ‘Summer Nights’ is such a bangin’ tune.
Other scenes see the middle-aged celebrity Vince Fontaine hitting on high school student Marty, and who could forget about Rizzo being shamed by everyone in the school for having sex without a condom.
As a result, upon rewatching, viewers couldn’t help but take to Twitter to criticize the movie.
One person tweeted: “Ahhh man. Just watching #Grease one of my favourite films and it’s so of its time. Misogynistic, sexist, and a bit r*pey.”
And commenting on the predominantly white cast, some viewers labeled the musical “racist”, with one person saying it “should be banned from the screen.”
Another penned: “Hey, there’s one non-white couple at the dance! One! #Grease”
Other viewers also pointed out that all of the couples featured in Grease were heterosexual, with one person writing: “All couples must be boy/girl? Well Grease, shove your homophobia up your jacksy.”
Meanwhile, a different Twitter user stated that Grease was “peak of homophobia”.
Considering Grease was released in 1978 and set in a US high school in the 1950s, it is no surprise that there are certain themes and issues throughout the movie that are much more prevalent today.
In fact, per The Sun, Olivia Newton-John had previously shot down recent criticisms, saying: “It’s a movie and a fun story and I’ve never taken it too seriously.”
But should the movie be taken off our screens or simply enjoyed as a product of its time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
