Grease And Footloe Comparison

What makes Grease and Footloose an all-time classic musical film to watch is the way they easily appeal to teenagers then to teenagers now. The catchy tunes, stunning john Travolta in grease, same relatable plots in footloose, along with the wild dance moves in both movies is what makes these two films ironically very similar. Both of the main protagonists in this movie move to new areas, where new influences effect not only their teen romance, yet as well as affect their ability to avoid unwanted people and the sense of being and outsider. However, grease and footloose are taken place in a high school setting where the relationships of each individual is changed due to the social influences brought by their peers. The relatable struggle of peer pressure in today’s society is exactly the same struggles portrayed in the past and in which is shown vividly in these to movies. Peer pressure was inevitable to all the characters; grease showed how the negativity of peer pressure effected Danny and Sandy while Ren and Ariel in footloose showed how peer pressure can have a positive influences throughout their relationship.

Danny and sandy fall in love one summer, but when they return back to Rydell high school they encountered an issue in which social negatively influenced each person’s personality. Struggling to keep their relationship going was ironically solved by peer pressure. Due to the differences between sandy and Danny’s gang, it seemed that one had to change in order to be accepted by society to be a couple so that’s exactly what happened.
Sandy, a goody – good girl’s characteristics and a greaser’s characteristics are clearly far apart, however she wants to still keep Danny in her life, so she decides to go “cool “.Sandy’s personality increasingly declines when she attends her first slumber party with the pink ladies. The way Sandy held a high standards of morality and showed her true upright standards showed she was a good girl. Wearing a long white night gown that hit the floor unlike the other pink ladies, who were dressed in a rather revealing and skanky way, was the turning point for Sandy because this is where she started to crumble under peer pressure and do things she wasn’t comfortable. Agreeing to smoke, drink, and get her ears pierced, Sandy shows she’s willing to be accepted by her peers despite her unfulfilling experiences.
The effect of the negative influences on sandy by her peers continues to change her. Deciding to change her physical appearances as well, Sandy goes to her pink ladies for help. Ditching her old style she gets dressed in a black leather biker jacket, skin tight leather pants, gold hoop earrings, red nails and lipstick, curly hair, and a final touch of a rather dark coat of eye make-up. All because she wanted to feel accepted she completely changed her moral code and attire. Falling head over heels for some guy Sandy was enticed by the pink ladies to be one of them because she knew she would be looked at differently. Although she is encouraged to drink, smoke, and loose her virginity she is still the same girl. Is she looked at and viewed differently? Of course, but because she was insecure about her personality and wanted to be “cool” her wholesome individuality changed to fit the needs of others.
On the other hand, in the eyes of the T-birds it was “uncool” for a greaser to date a dork, so Danny acted out in a way he never should have by Embarrassing and making fun of Sandy to satisfy his boys and avoid the humiliation of his friends. It was something he didn’t want to do for himself, yet because his friends made fun of him he disrespected his girl to feel the satisfaction of acceptance to his peers.
However Footloose on the other hand is a classic movie in which portrays several scenarios on how peer pressure can be positively used to alter someone’s point of view. Ren McCormick, a teenager born and raised in Boston moves to Bomont to live with his uncle and aunt. He is informed from his new found friend, Willard, about the ban on dancing and music in which gives Ren the desire to take action and protest this senseless ban against the city council. Unfortunately the council votes against them, but don’t think that’s end because there is enough positive peer pressure to convince the reverend of the court to still allow them to dance at their very first prom.
With the reverends wife on Ren’s side, she convinces him one evening while sitting outside on a bench and shares her opinion on the situation.

She tells him how she disagrees with his method of parenting their daughter and handling the ban of dancing and rock and roll music. Her word hits the reverend right in the heart and makes him realize a few things about his poor decisions. Fearing the town will be corrupted by the spiritual emotions of music and dancing is what Mr. Shaw, the reverend is afraid of so his wife helps him come to the realization that it’s best for his daughter and the town that dancing under adult supervision is okay. Due to the fact that Mrs. (Find her name) is the reverends wife, helps in persuading him that dancing truly is okay and shouldn’t be banned in which loosens the reverends point of few towards the whole

situstion.
The night before the reverends ceremony Ren steps in and listens to Mr. Shaw practice. Voicing his opinion, Ren tells him how important this dance is to him and how he will respect his daughter. He informs him of his plans to have the senior year prom at the cotton gin which is just outside city limits and asks to talk his daughter. Approaching the topic in a respectful mature way, he allows him in doing so.
In the end, the reverends feelings and actions against the act of dancing and listening to music is greatly changed due to the positively effect of peer pressure from not only his wife and parents that are supportive of it, but also by the students of Bomont High school. Towards the end of the movie Mr. Shaw is caught throwing a couple moves on the dance floor and celebrates his daughter’s happiness and the happiness of the town by dancing along to the music, something the town’s people never would of expected. Peer pressure is used quit differently in this movie. Despite the negative side of peer pressure, it also has its positive influences too; here it is used to change the reverends point of view on the topic.
For all young teenagers that are in love, just as Ren, Ariel, Danny, and Sandy were, they simply must know in order to fall in love with someone else you must love yourself. You must love who you are and have confidence in who you want to be. If you are confident in yourself then you will not feel the need to give into peer pressure. Love yourself and learn to be comfortable in your own skin. If you know how you feel about yourself then you have already accomplished the first big step to overcoming peer pressure. Now, I know we all want to have fun and make memories in our teen years, but having the ability to be confident and say “No, I’m not ready to have sex” can honestly make you feel good because you have enough respect towards yourself to not give into something you are not comfortable doing. Sometimes it can be the person that you are dating that makes you feel pressured just as Sandy felt she had to do to receive the attention she was looking for. Yet for Ren, his motive of influencing the reverend was to change the town and make it alive again. Another example of this could be simply what you wear or a new style. See, Sandy changed her whole attire and created a whole new attitude by doing, so all because she felt obligated to. Being able to love yourself and know who you are helps you overcome this obstacle of wanting to fit in and not be someone you are not. The hardest thing in your first relationship is learning to not give in to peer pressure and that’s exactly what these main characters did. Teenagers, since they are new to this, do not know how to handle situations like this, for they may not truly be themselves, thus affects the relationship. Learning skills of being confident and comfortable towards who you are and having the power to not to pretend to be someone else to feel wanted is difficult for the unexperienced to deal with. However Ren and Sandy weren’t very experienced at all in which allowed them to be very vulnerable throughout various stages in these movies.
In conclusion, we see Ren and Sandy experiencing a change after their move to a new place. We see Sandy’s transformation to be with the man she loves. In contrast, we see Ren’s work in giving the town the freedom of dancing and right to listen to music again. Thus, Sandy causes Danny to be in a dilemma between his friends and her. However, what made these two musicals more like one another and flow is from the musical aspect. It told us about Sandy’s conversion and about how Ren is really feeling. These songs also allowed Sandy and Danny to express their love towards one another while also allowing Ren and the seniors to show off their dance moves at prom. The theme of both of these movies truly began when we saw the change made by Sandy to herself and the change made by Ren to the whole town of Bomont. All In which was due to the enticing desire to give into peer pressure whether it was for a positive or negative reason.