Grease Is Apparently Still The Word
July 7th 2010 03:48
Travolta and Newton-John - still a hard act to follow
It's hard to believe, but even after 30 years hundreds of Sandy and Danny clones still gather at conventions both here in Australia and abroad - complete with letterman sweaters, black lycra and Brylcream - in a show of undying support for the classic 70s teen flick.
A hugely popular movie when first released in 1978, a force behind the best-selling soundtrack for the 30 years since It's almost intimidating to be confronted by umpteen Rizzo's, Kennickies and Frenchies with a smattering of Vince Fontaines and and Coach Calhouns.
Age may well weary them - but the enthusiasm is there all the same as I lurched from one Pattie Simcox to another - as part of a well orchestrated 'ambush' which I earnestly believed to be merely a collectors fair of sorts.
Was I conned.
But it did revive great memories of this rarefied strand of pop culture, simultaneously primal and highly postmodern in its appeal, as artificial as the milieu it depicts.
To be honest - Grease is not much of a story at all - a couple of conflicts are not enough to propel the plot forward, and those conflicts are minor as well.
But it goes fair beyond that and was truly a movie for its time.
No, the force that drives the movie is something completely different.
Grease is a musical in a way where the songs are important but not essential. These days, no one makes movie musicals; it seems that the audience can't swallow characters suddenly bursting into song.
And this, possibly, is the best explanation of the enduring popularity of Grease: multiple levels of make-believe turning this movie into a pop-culture icon, something that is so removed from any kind of reality that it has to be analyzed solely on its own terms.
I suppose, Grease is truly a classic - a movie for those who can't stand classical music, but would gladly listen for hours to an oldies radio station, where the most important lyrics are "ramalama-dingdong" and the word "Elvis" rhymes solely with "pelvis."
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
It works on so many levels