40 years later, it’s no surprise that Grease is actually problematic as hell

Grease fits very snugly into the “it was okay back then” canon of cinema, but that doesn’t mean we can overlook its problematic elements.

The summer-time, smash hit musical Grease turns 40 this year. It may seem like time has flown by since the Grease mania entered our lives, but upon closer (not even by much) inspection, Grease shows all the signs of having been born in the ’70s and not aging well. Grease is like a well-meaning parent — it’s trying to do the right thing, but ends up giving us life lessons that have us cringing and wanting to never speak to them about anything to do with relationships, sex or peer pressure ever again.

An issue of casting

Before even digging into issues within the narrative, the casting of the film is immediately concerning. Most of the actors who were playing high school students (who are supposed to be about16 and17 years old) were well into their 30s. Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 33, Michael Tucci (Sonny) was 31, and even main star Olivia Newton-John was far older than her on-screen counterpart Sandy, being 28 when Grease was shot.

Having wildly age-inappropriate actors playing teenagers (read: children) creates issues with representation and false ideas about what high school kids are supposed to look like. One of the only main cast members who was actually near the high-school age bracket was John Travolta, who played Danny when he was 23.

“Did she put up a fight?”

Possibly the most famous musical number from the film (and certainly the one played the most at weddings, school discos, and birthday parties) is “Summer Nights.” It’s been happily sung for 40 years, yet there’s a pretty disgusting line within it which sets the tone for the rest of the film.

After the girls are done singing about whether Danny saved Sandy’s life and how much money he spent on her, one the T Birds chirps in with the infamous line, “did she put up a fight?” The implication here is that Danny’s summer conquest might not have been one of consent.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the last time that sexual harassment is alluded to within Grease. At the drive-in, Danny begins to try and coerce Sandy into getting physical with him and when she doesn’t concede, he attempts to pin her down in the front seat, explaining “nobody is watching.”

After Sandy (rightly) storms off, he then sings mournfully, wondering what the kids at school will say on Monday — presumably they’ll be laughing that he didn’t get any. There’s no mention of how Danny’s actions may have affected Sandy, or how it’s fundamentally wrong to try and force someone to have any kind of sexual relationship with you against their will.

There’s even a throwaway comment about date rape. Marty (a character who gets very little in the way of narrative) tells Rizzo that Vince Fontaine (the famous radio DJ) once tried to put aspirin in her coke, just after they discuss Rizzo’s pregnancy. Again, this is just brushed away as a comedic side comment rather than a serious incident.