Greasy

Okay, so my daughter watched High School Musical and loved it. Before anyone judges, I don't think there is one single kiss in that entire movie; mostly it is just corny singing and dancing numbers (and corny actors, no offense to them). The kid loves to sing and dance, what can I say? Anyway, so I thought "Hey, I should rent Grease because she would love all the singing and dancing!" Plus, I am convinced there are all the same story, which are all a direct copy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette. No, seriously they both even have balcony songs. I mean, I guess it's the classic love story - opposites attract - rich/poor, cool/nerdy, famous/wall flower, etc.

So we rented Grease (by the way this movie was made in 1978, so keep that in mond) and besides the fact that the movie made me feel old since what used to seem exciting and like the best movie ever, really paled in comparison to some of today's musicals, such as Hairspray, Chicago, and Mama Mia - oh, and dare I say High School Musical? I also noticed how dorky the once "cool" characters seem now, especially Danny. Man, I used to think he was so cute when I was like eight, but now I think he just looks greasy. Don't get me wrong, I still love John Travolta! Mostly though I realized exactly how raunchy that movie is when I watched it with a prekindergarten kid! Who knew?? I mean yes, Rizzo gets prego, but my gosh there were a lot of references that I didn't feel like explaining in that movie. So anyway, I am not a bad parent for showing that to my kid; I swear, I just forgot, or never noticed, or maybe...is it possible? Did society actually get more prudish since that movie was made? I have such a hard time believing that with some of the things we see on TV, but I know I watched that stuff when I was a kid.

After driving through the college town I live in today and seeing the majority of girls wearing shorts that looked like underwear, I doubt we are actually taking a step forward in prudish behavior. I am mostly going with the theory that my parents didn't know what they were doing letting me watch that. ;) That's actually not a bad theory when you think about how they let us roam free in the woods by our house and let us sit in the back of the station wagon so we could look out the back window without seat belts. We also used to own a business when we were kids where we would have to go into complete stranger's houses and my parents never thought twice about letting us do this. So, I think one exposure to an old 50's style musical isn't so bad for my daughter. Right?

On the upside, I rented three other movies for my last weekend of freedom before I start back to grad school. Fool's Gold was okay, probably not for kids once again. Failure to Launch was great! Then, my daughter and I rented Ella Enchanted, which is such an excellent movie and she loved it as well. I have seen it a million times before, but it is still good! Despite how it seems, I don't normally watch movies at all, so this many in one weekend is a lot for me! I guess I have been a little down about going back to school and feeling a little overwhelmed, so when I am depressed I don't want to do anything. That is a total change from my normal go, go, go behavior. I am sure my husband and daughter relished in the lack of motivation on my part. ;) It won't last long, so they shouldn't get used to it.