GREASE is a matter of diplomatic diplomacy in my household. My wife was a cheerleader when we met in high school. So as a point of reference, that would be the tail end of the last century for all you kids out there. Our first date was the ice-skating rink. Our second was Disneyland. Early on, I distinctly recall that she laid down two very simple ground rules. Jewelry and Grease. Jewelry, she insisted, made for terrible gifts. I took a mental note of that. She also happened to have a seething distaste for the movie. Huh? To this very day, she has offered no explanation as to why.
Sarah and I have been married for nearly twenty-five years as of this writing, giving ample opportunity to lay the Grease soundtrack onto the turntable. Sometimes the deed is done while she is washing the dishes and I should probably be in there helping her. Turning up the speakers for Summer Nights or You’re the One That I Want, I have even been known to shout into the kitchen, “Hey babe! They’re playing our song!” To which her groans can often be heard. Jokes are only supposed to be funny if they’re true, even Dad jokes, and as it turns out, this one is far funnier than I ever could have dreamed or imagined.
Grease is an esoteric tale involving preexistence, soul flames, mistaken identity, rediscovery, and transformation. Remember when Danny shows off for Sandy by swinging the hammer upon a a High Striker? The bell is going ring-a-ding-ding-ding-ding on this one. It is so esoteric that it demands an Esoteric Analysis, and I aim to give one.
So you may be happy to know that Sarah bore the burden of being my research partner during a recent viewing, so long as I agreed to keep my arm around her during all the triggering musical numbers. But then about five minutes into it my wife realized something. She’d never seen this movie before. Wait, what? So the movie which she has reserved a decades-long disdain for has been miscategorized and is once again brought under investigation. In a stunning turn of events, Grease was a patsy. She had simply assumed those songs were from the movie that she remembered. Adding to the list of mystical places of Arthurian lore like Lyonesse or the Castle of the Fisher King, identifying the true culprit would unfortunately require the miraculous reappearance of Blockbuster Video on a foggy night, being the likely scene of the crime, a dowsing rod and a VCR. Perhaps some mysteries are best left buried in the past.
The World According to Grease is an Esoteric Analysis unlike any you’ve ever read before. Grease is first and foremost a musical but don’t let appearances fool you. It is also an existential crisis movie involving the subconscious and the feminine divine. Given that it doesn’t even try to hide from the princess architype, you can be certain that Carl Jung will play a heavy hand in it. At 55-pages, The World According to Grease is a scene-for-scene analysis which aims to completely reshape the way you’ve viewed this movie.