3. Grease
Arguably the most famous and iconic musical film of the 'modern' era,
Grease has spawned countless copies, parodies and continues to be a defining film of the 1970s. The story itself is a 1950s classic - having just come from a summer-long romance with Olivia Newton-John's wide-eyed ingenue Sandy, young greaser Danny returns to high school to find that Australian Sandy has become a student at the school, causing hijinks and romantic interludes galore. While
Grease itself isn't a bad film by any means, a lot of the vague controversy surrounds the ending of the film - after being pulled apart by other romances and jealousy and heartbreak, Sandy finally proves herself Danny's equal by eschewing her natural preppy dress sense in lieu of leather jackets and trousers, cigarettes and massive hair. While our concern isn't with her attire, it's with the attitudes the film is putting forward - Sandy changes herself, not just her physical clothing and appearance but seemingly a lot of her mannerisms and personality to be with Danny - if she did these of her own volition, that's fine, but it leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth to think that Sandy changed herself solely so that she could be a relationship with the hero. It's misogynistic in principle and as a film that thousands of teenage girls in the 1970s looked up to, it's frightening to think that while Sandy was indeed a bit of a badass at the film's conclusion, she only got that way by conforming to what her lover wanted her to be.