Why fly? Explaining the ending of ‘Grease’
It’s hardly a grounded and authentic drama, but at no point does Grease present itself as being a fantasy until the final scene in the movie, when John Travolta’s Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy Olsson fly off into the sunset in a 1948 Ford De Luxe convertible.
One of the most beloved musicals ever made, the timeless tale of romance at Rydell High School continues to capture the imagination of every new generation that discovers its charms, with the film’s infectious enthusiasm and iconic soundtrack having been staples of pop culture for almost 50 years.
The summertime fling between Sandy and Danny is a love story for the ages, albeit one placed under the harsh and unforgiving spotlight of high school politics. The newcomer is welcomed into the fold by the Pink Ladies, whereas Danny returns to his leather-clad greaser gang, The T-Birds, which finds them trying to navigate their respective cliques in an effort to see if true love really can conquer all in the end.
Of course, it does, otherwise it would be a serious bummer for everyone involved. However, once they’ve effectively switched personalities to become a letterman and greaser girl, respectively, they decide the best approach is to be themselves and be together, which naturally culminates in his signature vehicle taking off from terra firma and careening off into the clouds above.
The cast might be far too old for their roles to the point of hilarity, but Grease wasn’t interested in accuracy. It was there to capture a feeling, which it most certainly did, even if there are two distinctly different ways – one of them especially morbid – to interpret the movie’s final scene.
What happened to Danny and Sandy?
The one that gained plenty of traction is the theory that the entire narrative is a figment of Sandy’s imagination, because when Danny says she “nearly drowned” in ‘Summer Nights’, he was being less than accurate.
Instead, the theory posits that Sandy did in fact drown, with Grease unfolding as a delusion within her coma-induced brain, and having the central pair fly off into the sky is the last thing that goes through her mind before she presumably pops her clogs with the flying car signalling her ascent towards the pearly gates. Dark, sure, but not without merit.
The second, and infinitely more palatable, is that it’s nothing more than the manifestation of a bright future. While there have been criticisms of Sandy altering her appearance and personality to appeal to a man, her entire journey in Grease is defined by self-discovery, finding an identity, and carving out a sense of individuality. She does all that by the end, and now that she’s finally become her own person, and being freed from the shackles of peer pressure allows her to achieve lift-off in her personal life.
The teacher who helps The T-Birds fine-tune their mode of transport tells them at one stage that “if it were in any better condition it would fly,” so the car living up to that billing was even subtly signposted earlier on in the movie. It’s a cheesy way to close things out, but that’s Grease in a nutshell, and having its star-crossed lovers quite literally ride off into the sunset together as the most on-the-nose representation of a happy ending possible makes perfect sense.
