‘Grease’ Attacked as “Racist, Rapey, Homophobic and Slut-Shaming.”

Randall Kleiser‘s Grease has made its mark in movie history, nobody is doubting that. The silly and ironic ’50s nostalgia, which was a thing in the mid-70s to early ’80s, made the John Travolta-Olivia Newton John musical a worldwide phenomenon. This resulted in a haul of $366 million at the box-office, a staggering amount for 1978. And yet, “Grease” is now back in the news for all the wrong reasons, as British millennial wokesters, of all people, went straight to social media, after the film had aired on the BBC, to condemn Kleiser’s film for being “racist, rapey, homophobic and slut-shaming.”

One scene that caused particular offense to these timid viewers was when Putzie, one of Danny’s friends in the T-Birds gang, positioned himself on the floor to look up the skirts of two female students at the fictional Rydell High School. Other viewers complained about the lyric ‘Did she put up a fight?’ in the hit song “Summer Nights,” when Danny describes seducing Sandy. Others were angry that the character of Rizzo (Stockard Channing) was “slut-shamed” for sleeping with various men, particularly when she had sex with T-Bird Kenickie without a condom. 

The glaring lack of LGBT awareness also angered one young Twitter user, who complained: ‘All couples must be boy/girl? Well Grease, shove your homophobia.’  Another wrote: ‘Grease peak of homophobia.’ The lack of non-white faces in the cast angered others; one went so far as to question the broadcaster’s decision to air the film and expressed surprise that it was shown without a disclaimer. 

All this to say, yes, the world has gone mad, at the very least, the privilege-filled western countries have, with professional victims actively looking to be offended, usually on someone else’s behalf. At some point, we all hope you realize that not only is Twitter not the zeitgeist, but it is in fact the least important and irrelevant way you can spend your time.

Just about every movie ever made, especially in the 20th century, is probably ripe for banning according to these wimps. We should just ban the entire movie catalog from 1919 to 1999. Eighty years’ worth of films with non-progressive attitudes. Ban it all. Purify the cinematic cannon.