Yahoo News Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies changes Grease for the better
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies episode one and two mild spoilers below
Picture it. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies opens with a skirt-grazing, passionate make-out session between Brainy Jane (Marisa Davila) and jock Buddy (Jason Schmidt). It's a lip-locking embrace that could rival any one of Rizzo (Stockard Channing) and Kenickie's hook-ups.
As the camera boldly pans along Jane's lifted leg and she moans deeply, Rise of the Pink Ladies is talking directly to the audience. It's starring us dead in the eye as it makes its point: we are bold, we are brash and we will push the boundaries.
However, that's not wholly unexpected. The trailer all but screamed this message, underscoring it with its diverse cast and feminist themes.
Still, it isn't until you sit down and experience (not watch, but experience) episode one that you are able to see that the creators have been earnest in their attempts to be more representative. This is not to be undermined.
It's no easy feat to take a revered franchise and shake things up to give a truer reflection of different areas of diverse experiences whilst still preserving what is special about the world that fans love.
The fear was that we'd get a tokenistic offering that's both jarring to the pre-existing universe and patronising to those it tries to show up for.
However, despite its tonal shift, Rise of the Pink Ladies takes the forward-thinking kernels that already exist within the Grease franchise and evolves them.
Yes, hard as it is to believe, Grease and Grease 2 struck a few feminist chords but for their time (late '70s and early '80s). They did so most notably through key characters like Rizzo, Stephanie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Frenchy (Didi Conn).
Jane's experience is not dissimilar from those mentioned above, the Pink Ladies she will eventually pave the way for. The ambitious Frenchy who wants to carve out a successful future for herself in the midst of a sexist era; Stephanie, who refuses to be defined by a man, (she definitely 'ain't no one's trophy'); and the outspoken Rizzo, who was slut-shamed after her pregnancy scare went public.
These are extremely important, thought-provoking topics that were touched upon but not deeply explored.
Rise of the Pink Ladies takes that onion and begins peeling away right to the core, where it stings.
This they do particularly with regards to women's experience with sex.
When it comes to raging hormones and sexual desires, Rise of the Pink Ladies filters the stories through a much more authentic, feminine lens.
Grease 2's 'Reproduction' is an earworm of a tune but the prequel means to go beyond the problematic way in which young women are treated for being 'promiscuous' (or not).
It pushes past the prudish-branding and the slut-shaming by really sitting with the female experience and the repercussions of this misogynistic treatment..
Yet the show never forgets that it is supposed to be fun. With its musical numbers and female camaraderie, it finds a way to keep things light and upbeat while still pushing its agenda.
Sure, it could stand to feel a little more 50s in its lingo and its songs like it does with its elaborate costumes and hairstyles but as a whole it works.
One of the other absolute joys of the show has been its ability to embrace the stories of a more racially diverse cast.
The Pink Ladies and T-Birds are a mix of Italian, Mexican, Jewish and Asian heritage – characters whose ethnicity has made them natural outsiders during this time.
Rise of the Pink Ladies succeeds not only in leaving room to tell their stories against the backdrop of 1950s America but in also imbedding them in the over arching narrative.
It's because of this outsider status that they find solidarity with each other and are unabashed in their attempts to be accepted.
As Jane said when throwing her hat in the ring for school presidency: "We have to think big, really change things," and that is what this prequel does.
Grease and Grease 2 send that problematic message that to be cool and get the person of your dreams you must change who you are. That will award you the most converted prize of fitting in.
Sandy (Olivia Newton John) suffered, as did Grease 2's Michael (Maxwell Caulfield), but Grease: Rise of The Pink Ladies means to stamp out that notion.
Instead of breaking limbs in order to reshape oneself into someone else's ideal version of what's 'in', the show leans into owning your individuality, into bending and shaping people's understanding of what cool looks like.
Themes of what racial prejudice and discrimination look and feel like for ethnicities including Black people grow as the series develops and we look forward to how they are handled right to the show's finale.
One other character who makes their mark is Rise of the Pink Ladies' gender non-conforming character Cynthia (Ari Notartomaso).
Cynthia is a huge step up from Grease 2's tomboy Dolores Rebchuck (Pamela Adlon).
While Dolores hankered for a spot in the Pink Lady gang, Cynthia ends up Pink by default after being snubbed by the T-Birds for being a girl.
The natural progression from T-Bird wannabe to Pink Lady makes total sense when seeing her journey.
She's not been tokenistically tossed into the mix just to round out the diverse Pink Lady casting, she's an outsider looking for a way to authentically live and she's doing it. She finds a way to own it.
This more compassionate reflection of the 1950's Grease world will likely ruffle feathers before anyone has even made it past the first song, a rendition of 'Grease Is the Word' - and by the way it's fantastic.
However those who are tempted to shy away from this "WOKE" (*gasp*) addition to the franchise would be missing out. It's still Grease, only a sharper, more focused Grease rooted in truth and because of that the world becomes more alive.
In a franchise that has always been about championing the underdog, we implore you not to sniff your nose at the prequel in the same way that some have mistakenly done so with Grease 2.
Lean into the change, you might find yourself hopelessly devoted.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is available to stream now on Paramount+
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