“Grease” has been on my radar for a while now, since I began my watchlist of personally selected and culturally significant American movies in my senior year of high school. This list is one tool that aids me in my quest of defining the “All-American” ideal, which has remained elusive to me since moving from the Phillipines to America at a young age.

It was only in this last month of the spring semester that I was able to fully enrapture myself in the one hour and 50 minutes of lush 1950s fantasy that is “Grease.” The film provides nearly two hours of complete indulgence in the ’50s obsession with hot rods and teenagers making a fool of their futures in their sexual escapades throughout high school.

To be short, the film does not disappoint.

The movie itself already sits in a romanticized filter, spun by the near 30-year gap that sits between the film’s 1950s focus and its release date in 1978. It served as a debut for director Randak Kleiser, who adapted the plot from a 1971 musical of the same name.

Because of this, the ’50s themes and aesthetic of the film is re-skinned through ’70s sensibilities, and the time-warping effects of these two eras synthesized into a single movie gives “Grease” a quality of floating, picture-perfect timelessness.

The movie chops through settings and plot lines without worry or muddled details, delivering classic film punches amongst decade-defining backdrops. The titular greasers and their gals make their way through Rydell High School’s final year alongside romance and student transfers, and the seniors make their statements in milkshake diners, drive-in theaters or behind the start lines of drag races. No ’50s stereotype is left untouched.

The film’s star couple, Danny Zuko and Sandy Olson, pirouette through the movie’s abundantly cliche romance with captivating performances by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Sandy finds herself lost within throngs of teenage drama after falling for the wrong boy within the wrong crowd, and Danny struggles to find his true self to reclaim the girl of his dreams. 

Interestingly, the movie subverts the trope of the bad-boy-gone-tame, and rather than emphasizing the value that love only prevails for those couples that embrace abstinence and dignity, the crowd witnesses Sandy converting into a greaser for Danny’s sake.

The same happy ending can even be said for the film’s designated mean girl, Betty Rizzo. She is not punished for her deviant ways by the finale, and she and Sandy do not find themselves diametrically pitted against each other for the same boy. Instead, both land their own sweet endings with a loving boyfriend given to each.

Of course, the film still falls flat to today’s standards of decency. Homophobia and rape jokes run abound throughout many otherwise tame scenes, and not a single person of color can be spotted outside of the rock-and-roll band that grooves in the background of the movie’s school dance sequence. 

This does not stop “Grease” from being a cultural powerhouse with even the newest of generations in the 21st century. For example, the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from the film was sampled in a trending TikTok audio for several months.

Although Olivia Newton-John narrowly missed the 45th anniversary of “Grease” with her untimely passing last August, her film continues to be celebrated nationwide, with the University’s student musical group having recently performed the original musical this April.

2020 saw “Grease” inducted into the National Film Registry for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions to America. And although my opinion may be a single drop in the sea of endless American citizens, it certainly left an impression on what defines American culture to me, as a non-native born Filipino immigrant. 

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