Isabel McClain

Julie Frechette

Media Criticism

17 December 2019

The Truth About Grease

The hit movie Grease has been one of the most popular musicals since it was released in

1978. The film delivers an entertaining storyline as well as an iconic soundtrack. Even though

this might be the case to some people, multiple controversial statements have been made

regarding this 1978 hit. The movie not only portrays group stereotypes as well as individual

stereotypes, but it also creates a false image and representation of genders. Unfortunately,

because this movie has not only hit a numerous number of television sets, including live

performances as well, families from all over the place have been psychologically manipulated

into thinking these false stereotypes remain true. In this paper, I will further analyze how the two

writers of this incredibly famous musical have not only created a problematic world, but have

also created a world that completely lacks diversity.

The whole storyline of this musical, began in the hands of two individuals, Jim Jacobs

and Warren Casey. It so happens that both of these men are older white males who are also part

of a wealthy class status. Interestingly enough, before Warren Casey’s enormous success as a

writer and a composer for Grease, he lived in New York for a good majority of his life. After he

left New York and moved to Chicago, he acted as Bernie Litko in David Mamet’s Sexual

Perversity. The play examines the sex lives of two individuals, a man and a women, while using
profanity and regional jargon. The play also demonstrated the stereotypical images of women

during the 1970s in Chicago. Do to this examination, a theory can rise from this. According to

the article Toxic Decision Processes: A Study of Emotion and Organizational Decision Making

by Sally Maitlis, Hakan Ozcelik, bad choices or decisions created by people are known to trigger

negative emotions and force them to think about and create negative situations. Maitlis and

Ozcelik state, “ We show that toxic decision processes are triggered by issues that are sensitive,

ambiguous, and nonurgent and identify several mechanisms that connect actors' emotions and

actions, over time creating a toxic decision process that leads to the cumulative buildup and

diffusion of toxicity. These mechanisms include the construction of a “danger zone” around the

issue that is avoided by all parties, the spread of negative emotion through processes of

empathetic transmission and emotional contagion, and the suppression of widespread negative

emotion that leads to the development of a volatile emotional context for future decision

making” (Maitlis, Ozcelik 2004). Being exposed to stereotypes and problematic situations

growing up or as a young adult, can psychologically imbed thoughts or ideas in the mind that are

negative to society. This potential thought can be used to describe both the writers of Grease, as

Jim Jacobs spent most of his childhood growing up in the rough parts of Chicago. The

stereotypes seen in the play could have influenced many of the stereotypes seen in Grease, but of

course, in a much more subtle way.

One of the biggest stereotypes seen in Grease is the false portrayal of genders. One of the

more apparent negative character developments in the movie, is displayed by Sandy. When the

audience is first introduced to Sandy, she is portrayed as an outcast who dresses on the more

appropriate side for a high school student. Her attitude and personality also stand out from the
rest as a quiet, sweet, individual at Rydell High. As the movie evolves, so does she. By the end of

the film, her evolution becomes so apparent, that the negative portrayals are sent to the audience.

Due to the feeling of not being able to fit in with the crowd, Sandy completely reconstructs

herself to look like a greaser. Her whole outfit consists of tight leather black pants and an off the

shoulder, sexy black top; which through this, the audience is really able to see her whole figure

when she is revealing her “new self” to Danny. This gives off a false look and depiction of what

women are supposed to look like in our society. Furthermore, as the scene continues, Sandy

shows off her skinny figure, as the media has portrayed over and over again, that women are

supposed to be curvy or skinny. As the article Suburban Queer: Reading Grease states, “it

demonstrated a type of nascent feminist awareness; on the other, it reinforced some enduring

gender and sexual stereotypes. Women should never feel as if they have to change for men and

the fact that they depicted her wearing a more sexy outfit, more makeup, and holding a cigarette

is a false reality portrayal” (Borgstrom, 2011). This style of reality is known as reflectionist

criticism, according to the book, Media in Society. The idea of reflectionist criticism is an

interpretation of how our world views our media and the falseness of what the media puts out

into our society. The stereotype becomes even worse when Danny falls in love with Sandy’s new

look, propagating the false idea that women have to change in order to be with the person they

love and truly care about. Society sees this all the time with advertisements displaying women

who are photoshopped and airbrushed on magazines or billboards; with a message conveying

that purchasing a sexy top or a bunch of cosmetics will make them more appealing to a man.

In the article, Suburban Queer: Reading Grease, the author, Michael Borgstrom states,

“It demonstrated a type of nascent feminist awareness; on the other, it reinforced some enduring
gender and sexual stereotypes.” Gender stereotypes have always had a negative effect on society.

In this film, the stereotypes are explicitly clear. It has been known that people who have been

more exposed to stereotypes will tend to identify with one or more of the stereotypes despite

their personal beliefs” (Ziegler A, Stoeger H., 2008). The article, Effects of Role Models from

Films on Short-Term Ratings of Intent, Interest, and Self-Assessment of Ability by High School

Youth: A Study of Gender-Stereotyped Academic Subjects concludes that when there is a women

who is playing a smart character as opposed to one who is not smart, there is a more positive

response by the audience. The cookie-cutter stereotypes and tropes that can be found within the

movie are negative in nature, and as a result, will have a negative impact on viewers who are

primarily woman and young girls. Additionally, the musical also represents women falsely by

completely reconstructing Sandy at the end of the film. Very similarly to Sandy, Danny also

reveals some personality changes that are stereotypical towards men.

In the beginning of the movie, we see Danny at the beach with Sandy, revealing his

sweet, caring, loving side to her. When they end up reuniting at Rydell High, he is at first ecstatic

to see her. After he comes to the realization that his friends are standing behind him, his

personality completely changes; from being sweet and sensitive, to a guy whose character lacks

empathy and doesn’t care. He is shown as a stereotypical guy who thinks he needs to act badly in

front of his friends. The article, Cultivating Conceptions of Masculinity: Television and

Perceptions of Masculine Gender Role Norms reveals that there is a social norm over men and

the coverage men get is mostly false. We as a society have been psychologically conditioned into

thinking this is normal. Furthermore, one of the biggest problems seen in the movie is the

complete lack of diversity. We could genuinely analyze this as a typical problem that is seen all
the time in movies, but if we take closer look, we can really understand that the creators of the

movie, Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, had the option of creating a more diverse community.

The musical itself takes place in 1950, during the time period when schools were

segregated and when there wasn’t any diversity allowed in school settings. After the Supreme

Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education took place, the law stated that schools were

allowed to be more diverse and segregation ended during the year 1954. Curiously enough, the

musical wasn’t released until 1978, so in other words, Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs could have

created a movie that had more of a diverse and interesting cast, instead of one that primary

consists of all white males and females. Additionally, everyone in the musical is from the upper

class status. The movie should incorporate a more realistic atmosphere that incorporates certain

characters or background characters who are shown as people from either a more poor

background or a lower middle class status. This type of negative aspect depicts a false

representation of realism within our society. Although television shows and other movies have

created more diverse characters, the media still lacks raising them up as good characters who

should be shown as equals. One of the most conflicting elements that needs to be established, is

the fact that Grease is not only a movie, but it’s first and foremost a musical.

There comes a difference in psychological manipulation when a numerous amount of

people sit down and watch a movie that contains either stereotypes, inequality, violence, or the

false portrayal of sex, as opposed to observing and taking in a live performance. It becomes very

easy for parents or guardians to understand and ban their children or young teens from watching

a movie that is sensitive to the viewers eye; but unfortunately, it’s easier to say no to a musical.

Grease has been seen all over the world by millions of people. The musical first started
off on one of the biggest performance stages, such as Broadway. Broadway is the type of musical

that has always met its high expectations when it comes to the performance aspect. This is one of

the reasons why families of all ages end up purchasing tickets to this historic phenomenon. As

years went on, this musical began taking place in High Schools and Middle Schools,

broadcasting to the world the same message they target at everyone. The unfortunate truth is that,

the more these messages are being thrown at the world, the more negatively impacted we

become as a society.

Even though Grease has been one of the most popular musicals out there, we must take a

step backward and understand the reality of this all time hit. Society needs to understand how

false realizations are able to seep into our minds over time, and that the messages start become

the new normal, which is influencing us. In this paper, I demonstrated the stereotypical factors

that lie within the film, as well as the different concepts that were being taught this semester.

With all of these skills and tools, it is now easy for one to look further and understand why many

shows, movies, video games, advertisements, and actions towards other people are truly very

problematic in our world, and have been for over a decade.

 Works Cited

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article/pii/S0743016709000084.

Campbell, R., Jensen, J., Gomery, D., Fabos, B., & Frechette, J. D. (2014). Media in society.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.

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scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1045&context=communication_faculty_pubs.

Ziegler, A., & Stoeger, H. (n.d.). Effects of Role Models from Films on Short-Term Ratings of

Intent, Interest, and Self-Assessment of Ability by High School Youth: A Study of Gender-

Stereotyped Academic Subjects - Albert Ziegler, Heidrun Stoeger, 2008. Retrieved from https://

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.102.2.509-531.

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10.1080/00918369.2011.539473.