Social Issues in the Film “Grease”

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Teenage Sexuality
Peer Group Influence
Teenage Pregnancy
Gang Violence
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

People always need to know what goes on in various sectors of the society. The reason for that is that socialization is a continuous process that takes place throughout one’s life. Consequently, issues that affect the society need to be focused at repeatedly. There are several ways through which people can address various issues that affect the society. Art is one of such modes that has gained popularity in the recent years. To many people, film has been a source of entertainment for both young people and the elder ones. Maximizing on popularity that films have among people of all ages, directors of various movies have for years tackled various social issues in their work. Bad behaviors are discouraged while good ones are encouraged. For the film Grease, the director has touched on various social issues that actually affect the community.

Teenage Sexuality

This is probably the first issue that is introduced in the film. A young girl and a young boy meet and they immediately fall in love with one another. The two teenagers spend the better part of their holidays romancing and telling each other how deep their love is. When they go back to school and coincidentally meet, we are also given a view of how the teens operate (Grease). They walk in groups and their talk revolves around sex. This is confirmed by the fact that both Danny and Sandy are proud to tell their friends about their love affair. On the same note, Danny’s friends as well as the group of girls that Sandy joins are usually chasing after members of the opposite sex. It is also depicted that boys and girls have different interests in a relationship. While Sandy is more concerned with the romantic part of her relationship, Danny is more exhilarated with the sexual part (Grease). Teenagers are becoming freer to have sexual relationships than it used to be in times of our parents.

The topic shows a transitional period in which many youths started exploring sexuality much earlier than their parents did. Before 1950s, teenage sexuality was a subject less explored because cultural morals succeeded in ensuring that teenagers did not engage in sex. Teenagers were reserved and they did not engage in sex until they were adults. However, the wave of sexual freedom was catching most of teenagers in the 1950s and they became sexually active early in life (Avila 12). This is depicted by the willingness of both boys and girls to lose their virginity. It is important to note that this continued until today. In the current American society, teenagers start engaging in sex at a very young age (Nagle 26). On the same note, sexuality is not a taboo to be discussed as it was before 1950s.

Peer Group Influence

The movie also brings to the fore the idea of the power that a group has on its members. Peer pressure is manifested when members of the two groups which Danny and Sandy joins strive to conform to what the group expects them to do (Grease). In the first instance, when Danny and Sandy meet for the first time in the school, Danny is compelled to play the bad boy character the group is identified with. His peers could not let him be himself and behave like a gentleman. And Sandy knows that. The teenagers in school are influenced to engage in some behaviors, which they were not used to from their homes.

For example, Sandy falls sick before going to a Pajama party organized by members of her group after trying smoking and drinking (Grease). It is clear here that Sandy does not get used to drinking and that is why she falls sick. This is a behavior she wants to pick up so that she can be like other ladies in her group. Moreover, most of the things that the teenagers do revolve around what their peers want. Their peers plan the car races that they engage in. The parties they attend as well as their behavior during the parties are dependent on impressing their peers.

This is a reality of our society. People always try as much as possible to emulate what their peers expect them to do. In schools, teenagers change their behavior to conform to what their peers do; it does not matter whether the behaviors are right or wrong. Consequently, it is not given that the behavior you teach your child is the one he or she will be having after school (Clydesdale 69). Moreover, we have seen most young people taking up criminal activities yet they come from very respectable families. All this is because of the group of people they walk with, either in the neighborhood or in school, is composed of criminals (Avila 19). In this regard, juvenile delinquency rate especially in crowded areas is very high.

Teenage Pregnancy

When the youth engage in sex at a very young age, protection does not make any sense to them. In the movie grease, this is depicted when Rizzo suspects that Sandy is pregnant after missing her periods. She, however, does not want the man who is responsible to be told for fear of being rejected (Grease). As it can be seen from the movie, T-birds members as well as the Pink ladies do not plan in advance when to have sex. Actually, in certain instances members secretly organize meetings, in which sex just comes up when the couples meet. As a result, sex to them is an emergency and is treated in this way. The outcome is unwanted pregnancies. As it is not clear from the movie, one is left to wonder what Rizzo would have done if it turned out that she was actually pregnant (Grease).

Apparently, that is the state of affairs in life of today’s teenagers. Unplanned abortions are rampant due to the fact that most teenagers engage in unprotected sex. Teenagers engage in sex as an emergency when they get time and that can sometimes not allow them to use protection (Clydesdale 191). Statistics shows that emergency pills are sold more than contraceptives among the youth. This is an indicator that unprotected sex is on the increase. Unfortunately, most men do not usually want to be associated with the pregnancies. Teenage boys always deny responsibility whenever they are informed about the situation. On the other hand, ladies are the ones left to deal with the problem. In many instances, women choose not to tell their boyfriends about their condition for the sake of their friendship. That is exactly what Rizzo does.

Gang Violence

Teenagers belonging to a certain gang will always want to command their members to follow what they want. In this regard, violence is always manifested among its members. The way the teenagers handle each other in the movie depicts some degree of roughness. Members of different groups are also hostile to one another whenever they meet. This is depicted when a member from the scorpion group roughly intrudes into a romantic meeting between Rizzo and Kenickie (Grease). From the film, it can also be seen that the two rival groups are not on good terms. In every event, the two groups are always competing. Similarly, the T-Birds are always rough which is depicted when they are about to crash into the party organized by the girls.

Teenage gangs throughout America are characterized by the same behaviors as those in the movie. Gang violence especially against members of the opposite gang is the order of the day (Nagle 40). Even members of the same group are always met with violence from their comrades especially when they do not do what is expected from them. There have been cases where teenagers have even murdered one another due to gang conflict.

Conclusion

Some social aspects regarding teenage life have changed compared to yester years. However, most of the things have remained more or less the same over the years. The way teenagers conduct their life is similar to the way it was in the 1950s albeit with few changes. Consequently, it is upon the members of the society to address these issues. In the film Grease, the social issues tackled are the same ones affecting our society nowadays. By tackling various social issues, film helps in checking the society.

Works Cited

Avila, Salvador. Serving Latino Teens. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print.

Clydesdale, Tim. The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens after High School. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print.

Grease. Dir. Randal Kleiser. Perf. John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway. RSO Records, 1978. DVD.

Nagle, Jeanne. GLBT Teens and Society. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2010. Print.

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