Grease is probably still one of the best musicals out there with millions of fans rewatching the 70s classic over and over again.
The movie centers itself around the 1950s teen romance of Sandy Olsson and Danny Zuko, played by the late Olivia Newton-John and Hollywood legend John Travolta.
They first met on a beach during their summer vacation with Sandys family eventually deciding to move to America and enroll her into the same high school Danny attends.
Their summer fling becomes complicated as they try to navigate through their social circles with Danny being part of the “tough guy” T-Bird group and Sandy becoming one of the sassy Pink Ladies.
They then both dramatically change their appearances, with Danny becoming a high school jock and Sandy dressing in a skin tight outfit to both become more appealing to one another.
The movie released some of the best selling soundtracks selling over 30 million copies worldwide, from songs such as “You’re the One That I Want”, “Hopelessly Devoted To You” and “Summer Nights”.
Despite that some viewers today have been left angered after rewatching the romance musical, labelling it as “misogynistic” and “rapey.”
One user on X commented about the lyrics in the song Summer Nights referencing to one particular part.
“Grease singing ‘did she put up a fight?’ pretty much ruins the whole movie for me now aside from all the other problematic stuff.”
Another wrote, “Ahhh man. Just watching #Grease one of my favourite films and it’s so of its time. Misogynistic, sexist and a bit rapey.”
One scene that seemed to rile up users was the drive in scene, where Danny and Sandy are sitting in Danny’s car watching a movie when Danny tries to be a little bit too forward with Sandy and he tries to discreetly grab her breast.
“I loved #Grease as a teenager, now I see it as a pile of misogynistic crap,” one commented on X.
Another user went quite far with their choice of words calling it, “misogynistic, homophobic, and just a gross culture of toxic masculinity, rape culture, and pedophilia.”
Although Olivia who played Sandy, spoke out in several interviews reminding people that it was based in the 1950s and that it was a different time back then and it was meant to be fun.
Telling the Life of Greatness podcast in 2021, “It was a stage play, it’s a musical, it’s fun.”
“It’s a fun movie musical, not to be taken so seriously.
“We need to relax a little bit and just enjoy things for what they are.”
“I didn’t see it like that at all, I think it’s a fun movie that entertains people.”
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