Most people know of the iconic 1978 film, Grease. It’s 1958 and Danny Zuko (John Travolta) is the leader of the T-Birds greaser gang at Rydell High School. When Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) transfers to Rydell High from Australia, she joins the Pink Ladies and falls for Danny. She isn’t cool enough for Danny to love her back, so she undergoes a makeover and changes her looks and her personality to impress Danny and they live happily ever after. Grease is a decent movie, but in my opinion the sequel is much better.
Grease 2 was released in 1982 and picks up at the first day of school at Rydell High in 1961. Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer) is now the leader of the Pink Ladies and she’s sick and tired of her relationship with T-Bird Johnny Nogerelli who only sees her as a trophy. Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield), Sandy’s cousin, is a British transfer student who arrives at Rydell High and is immediately attracted to Stephanie. However, Stephanie longs for a “cool rider” and Michael is too nerdy for her. So, Michael buys a motorcycle and adopts a new “bad boy” persona to impress Stephanie. Stephanie slowly falls in love with Michael as the “Cool Rider” while simultaneously getting to know the real Michael. At the end of the movie, Michael reveals that he is the “Cool Rider” and he and Stephanie live happily ever after.
First of all, Michael is a much better male protagonist than Danny. While Danny is immature and views women as objects (as we see in “Greased Lightnin’”), Michael is mature, smart, and respects Stephanie as she is even before she agrees to go on a date with him. Similarly, Stephanie is a much better female protagonist than Sandy. Sandy is a horrible role model for young girls. She tries too hard to fit in with the “popular” crowd and changes everything about herself to impress a boy. Stephanie, on the other hand, is exactly the type of female protagonist young girls should look up to. She is confident with who she is, knows her worth, and refuses to settle for anything less than what she deserves when it comes to a man. The characters in these movies set the tone and create two very different overall messages.
Grease is highly misogynistic and plays right into the patriarchal roles our society creates for young women. Not only do Danny and the T-Birds see women as nothing more than objects, but Rizzo and the Pink Ladies (who are supposed to be Sandy’s friends) sing “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” in which they imply that Sandy is uncool because she is a virgin. In this song, the implication is that women owe men sex with them. Grease 2 flips the script. Stephanie rebels against patriarchal norms, wearing pants to school when the other girls wear skirts, dumping her boyfriend because she’s “tired of being someone’s chick,” and declaring, “I ain’t no one’s trophy. I kiss who I want when I want” when her boyfriend feels entitled to kiss her. Stephanie’s song “Cool Rider” has even been described as the “anti-Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Where Sandy is determined to win Danny’s love even if it means abandoning her individuality, Stephanie is determined to wait as long as it takes to find the perfect boy who will love and respect her for her individuality.
Overall, Grease sends the message that you should change yourself to get your crush to notice you and implies that women owe something to men. Grease 2 sends an entirely different message that consent is key and it’s never a good idea to change who you are for the sake of others or settle for less than you deserve.