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Bringing together a group of international scholars from diverse academic backgrounds, ‘Grease Is the Word’ analyses the cultural phenomenon Grease. With essays covering everything from the film’s production history, political representations and industrial impact to its stars and reception, the book shines a spotlight on one of Broadway’s and Hollywood’s biggest commercial successes. By adopting a range of perspectives and drawing on various visual, textual and archival sources, the contributors maintain a vibrant dialogue throughout, offering a timely reappraisal of a musical that continues to resonate with fans and commentators the world over.
‘Mining significant new primary materials and offering an admirable array of scholarly approaches, this collection adds much-needed depth to our current understanding of one of the most successful and yet underexamined pieces of American popular film in the twentieth century, the “cultural phenomenon” known as Grease.’
—Barbara Jane Brickman, Assistant Professor of Media and Gender Studies, New College & Department of Gender and Race Studies, University of Alabama, USA
Oliver Gruner is a senior lecturer in visual culture at the University of Portsmouth, UK. He is the author of Screening the Sixties: Hollywood Cinema and the Politics of Memory (2016). His work has also been published or is forthcoming in journals such as the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Rethinking History and The Poster as well as in various edited collections.
Peter Krämer is a senior research fellow in cinema and TV in the Leicester Media School at De Montfort University, UK, and a senior fellow in the School of Art, Media and American Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is also a regular guest lecturer at Masaryk University, Czech Republic, and at the University of Television and Film, Munich, Germany. Krämer is the author or co-editor of nine academic books.
Introduction, Oliver Gruner and Peter Krämer; 1. From Chicago to Broadway: The Origins of ‘Grease’, Scott Warfield, University of Central Florida; 2. ‘We Were Just Trying to Entertain’: ‘Grease’ in Production, Alexander G. Ross, University of East Anglia; 3. ‘Bland? Who, Me?’: Olivia Newton-John on the Road to ‘Xanadu’, Oliver Gruner, University of Portsmouth; 4. Travolta Fever, Adrian Garvey, Queen Mary University of London; 5. A View from the Bridge: ‘Grease’’s Los Angeles, Celestino Deleyto, University of Zaragoza; 6. ‘Grease’, the Jukebox Fifties and Time’s Percolations, Christine Sprengler, University of Western Ontario; 7. ‘We Go Together’: Meta-diegesis and Internal Voices in ‘Grease’, Beth Carroll, University of Southampton; 8. ‘An Easy Winner’: The Marketing, Reception and Success of ‘Grease’, Peter Krämer, University of East Anglia; 9. Vanishing Pregnancies to Flying Cars: Examining Changing Reactions to the Carnival in ‘Grease’, Frances Smith, University of Sussex; 10. ‘Grease’, Late Teens and the Twentysomething Audience Today, Rebecca Feasey, Bath Spa University; 11. Look at Me on DVD: ‘Grease’ in the Home, Simon Hobbs, University of Portsmouth; Index.