Back in the 1970s, things were quite different than they are now. The fashion, the vocabulary…oh, and the offensive opinions, of course. This was made pretty apparent after the 1978 hit “Grease” received some backlash after it was shown on TV recently.

We see this a lot in older films, right? Many films created years back might have a lot of different plots and story lines as they do now, and Grease is no different. The movie was super iconic during the time period it was made, and even years after that—but there were several points in the film that viewers just couldn’t get passed with today’s standards.

For one thing, there’s a lot of instances of attempting to make moves on women without their consent. There are moments of disrespect, homophobia, crudeness, and a whole lot of other things that would never make it into a film in the current times. Plus, a lot of the song lyrics, are, well, pretty questionable.

Not sure what we mean? You can see a ton of examples here and here.

People who’ve seen the film recently have become newly insulted by a lot of its scenes and songs, saying that it “didn’t age well.” And sure, they may be right: But how you react to it now is what matters. And apparently, Olivia Newton-John, the actress who played the main character Sandy in the film, is actually completely fine with all of the movie’s noted issues.

In her opinion, Grease was a testament to its time (and even the time before that) and, though our values may be different today, it’s okay to look back on what used to be. When asked about the backlash when she was on A Life of Greatness podcast, the now 72-year-old actress said the movie is shouldn’t be “taken so seriously.”

“It’s kind of silly, because the movie was made in the ’70s about the ’50s,” she explained. “It was a stage play. It’s a musical. It’s fun It’s a fun movie musical and not to be taken so seriously.” “We need to relax a little bit and just enjoy things for what they are,” she continued. “I think it’s just a fun movie that entertains people. That’s all.”

You can listen to the podcast episode here.

Are you a fan of the movie “Grease”? Have you watched it recently? What are your thoughts on it now vs. when you watched it years ago? What are some notable instances that probably wouldn’t make it into a film today?