| |
Movie Review:
Grease
Review by Katharine
E. Monahan Huntley
Grease
is the word that has maintained its 50's presence in pop culture vocabulary
for the last 20 years. With its current re-release, the film and its
soundtrack are certain to bebop right into the year 2000. One reason
for the story's sustained popularity is determined in its structure--although
uneven at times, Grease contains all four perspectives necessary to
make a grand argument.
The main character
is Sandy, played by Olivia Newton John. Some may think John Travolta,
as Danny Zuko, owns this throughline. He has the star power and
acts as the story's protagonist, however, the white keds we skip in
belong to Sandy. She's "no stranger to heartbreak" and neither
are we. Sandy is concerned with the progress she is making
in a "fish out of water" situation--a virginal Aussie
transplanted to raunchy Rydell in her senior year of high school. As
her obstacle character, Danny maintains a fixed attitude--he
has a black leather jacket with the collar up image to uphold and must
keep his tender impulses in check.
The subjective
story throughline is explored in the physics domain as Sandy
and Danny engage in (doing) typical high school sweetheart rituals--dating,
quarreling, making up, making out. Their relationship mirrors what transpires
in the objective story--the difficulties teens encounter manipulating
the twists and turns of high school angst. Though this set of seniors
"rule the school," it's not academics that are of any concern
(goal)--it's to be cool.
Important to the
storytelling, as with many musicals, are the songs. In Grease, they
indicate a plot point, for example, the effort to make Kenickie's hot
rod cherry in "Greased Lightnin." Lyrics also give voice to
internal thoughts; "Alone at a Drive-in Movie" reveals Danny's
shaken confidence (thematic issue) and Sandy's growth
of start is illustrated in "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee
(Reprise)" as she resolves to change.
Sewn up in black spandex,
Sandy feels good (story judgment) and she, Danny, and the
gang shooby doo-wop doo-wop through the last day of school. It's a success
(outcome) story that ". . . offers a responsible moral: act
like a tart and you'll get your guy; but, hey, it's all in fun anyway"
(Videohound, 1998, p. 360).
[See
Grease Storyform for the Dramatica story engine settings.]
|
