Coming of Age Films—Grease

Last week we looked at the classic American Graffiti [1973], a film that explored a pivotal night in the life of high school grads before they head off to college. Grease [1978], by Bronté Woodard and Allan Carr, was, of course, based on the Broadway musical of the same name. The film takes a look at high school—and, in particular, that last year of high school. The focus is definitely on the relationships between the teens.

Some stage musicals that are made into films don’t quite work—they often seem very “stagey” and don’t adapt well to the film format. But Grease is definitely the exception.

It’s also interesting to note that both the stage version and the film had a huge following and developed a kind of cult status that still persists today.

But imagine—if you can—that we removed all the music from the film and just had the story of the high-schoolers. I think it would still work. But why is that? Why could you take such an important part of this story [the music] out and still feel it would work? Because of the characters.

The characters in this film are SO strong. They could have been just stereotypes—and to some extent they are—the wide-eyed innocent girl, the worldly girl, the ditzy girl, the cool guy, the tough guy, the dorky guy. They’re all there, aren’t they. But that’s just on the surface.

The wide-eyed innocent girl, Sandy, is capable of adapting, of becoming what she needs to be to get what she wants. She’s NOT just a naïve twit. But she IS emotional, good-hearted and forgiving as well. And the cool guy, Danny, is also quite emotional—something that we see more than once as he attempts to woo Sandy but stay the “cool I’m above being tied to a chick” kind of guy. So he’s walking a tightrope, wanting Sandy to like him but wanting the gang of guys who hang around him to not know that he’s got this soft, gushy side. Take a look at the trailer for the film when it was released in the 70s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKo8DNpwOw

The overriding thing you notice with the trailer is that it’s ALL about selling the film to audiences because of the music. After all, it had been a huge hit on Broadway, and John Travolta, who plays Danny, had been a huge hit in Saturday Night Fever—another film with lots of dancing. So the studio was going for what they thought the public wanted—music and big stars.

But when Paramount released the film in a big 40^th anniversary edition in 2013, they DIDN’T focus on the music and the stars. Take a look at the 40^th anniversary trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8uovaoxrfY

Yep—they focused on the characters. It was the characters who led off their trailer because it’s the characters that people remembered 40 years later. It was the characters who made the film as iconic as it’s become.

So think about that as you write your own coming of age film—ask yourself how you can create characters who will live for decades.

Next week, it’s on to the 80s with a dreamy, often much-mocked film, The Blue Lagoon.

Copyright © Diane Lake

06Jun21

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com