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The Twilight Saga films have made a triumphant return to streaming, which has launched it back to the forefront of pop culture conversation. The series is an adaptation of the book series by Stephenie Meyer, which follows Bella Swan as she falls in love with brooding vampire Edward Cullen and befriends werewolf Jacob Black. Interestingly, it has the same basic plot as 1978’s Grease. The musical is about good girl Sandy Olsson and a greaser named Danny Zuko, who must navigate their budding romance while travelling in different social circles. Because The Twilight Saga has supernatural elements and Grease is a musical, they may not seem that similar, but upon closer inspection, they actually have a lot in common.
New Girl in Town
Both Grease and Twilight begin with the arrival of a new girl to town, but unlike most new girls, both Sandy and Bella have actually spent time in their new home before they make the permanent move. Sandy comes from Australia for a vacation and then stays in the United States, which is how she ends up at school with her summer fling, Danny.
Bella Swan used to spend holidays with her father, Charlie, in Forks, Washington after her parents’ divorce. She then moves there on a permanent basis so her mother can travel with her step-father, who is a minor league baseball player. The new girl in town trope is not unique to either of these films, but it is interesting that both Grease and The Twilight Saga have the same twist on it.
Love Triangle
The Twilight Saga may be best known for its iconic love triangle, but it’s worth noting that Grease also had a love triangle component to its romance plot. In Twilight, Bella has to make the choice between Edward and Jacob. This dynamic is a significant aspect of the series that resulted in Bella ultimately choosing to marry Edward, though fans continue to debate Team Edward versus Team Jacob.
In Grease, Sandy ends up going on a date with Thomas “Tom” Chisum, a jock at their school, because Danny ends up breaking Sandy’s heart. Tom sort of fits the same role as Jacob since to many, he seems like the safer and more obvious choice for Sandy. However, she ends up going with Danny, who isn’t necessarily the better choice on paper, but is the one she cares about the most. Danny and Edward are the more dangerous choices, but that’s part of their appeal and why they actually do work with with Sandy and Bella respectively.
Dramatic Breakups
The love triangles in both The Twilight Saga and Grease can’t really happen without a dramatic breakup and strain to the original relationship. Sandy runs into Danny at the pep rally and realizes that he isn’t the person she thought he was, so she calls him out and storms away dramatically. Then later when they’re actually on a date, Danny gropes Sandy and makes her feel unsafe. This prompts Sandy to leave and end things with him. The relationship has to end to protect Sandy and to prevent Danny from causing her further harm.
Edward breaks up with Bella in Twilight: New Moon after she accidentally cuts herself at her birthday party and Jasper loses control at the scent of her blood. So, he decides to break up with Bella to prevent her coming to further harm and to protect her from himself. To do this, Edward takes Bella into the woods, tells her he doesn’t want her and then leaves her behind. Bella tries to follow him, but ends up getting lost. After she is eventually found by Sam Uley, a friend of Jacob’s, she slips into a depression that isolates her from her father and friends.
Both breakups result in the formation of a love triangle and heartbreak for the leading ladies. Not only that, but the breakups both serve to protect Bella and Sandy from the men they love. The breakups come from a necessity of safety and general well being, even if they don’t stick and Sandy and Bella both end up returning to the person that posed the original threat. Both Sandy and Bella are upset by the fact that their relationships end, but they ultimately find a way to make it work with the object of their affection.
Changing for Love
Both Bella and Sandy change rather dramatically in order to get their happily ever after with their romantic partner. Bella literally stops being human in order to become more like Edward. Since Edward is a vampire, their relationship seems doomed to end in tragedy – either she dies of old age while he remains immortal or he, or someone in his family, kills her in a frenzy of blood lust.
To avoid this, the solution is for Bella to become a vampire herself so that they can spend eternity together. Edward doesn’t make this change until she agrees to marry him and she has their baby. She mentions that she had never planned to get married, and she never had much of a maternal instinct, but she happily conforms to his lifestyle in order to make their relationship work. This grants her the chance to become a vampire as she changes her literal species as well as her lifestyle.
Sandy’s transformation is one of the most iconic costume moments in cinematic history and her black and leather outfit is instantly recognizable even outside of the film’s context. She goes from poodle skirts and cardigans to form fitting leather as she changes to fit Danny’s lifestyle as a T-Bird and comes to the graduation carnival to win him back.
To their credit, both Edward and Danny make an effort to change for their love interests as well. Edward plays the role of a human teenager, taking Bella to prom and spending time with her friends in order to assimilate into her life. Danny ends up lettering in track to appeal more to Sandy’s typical romantic partner – see Tom the jock. Thus, Bella, Edward, Sandy and Danny all end up changing to better appeal to and appease their desired romantic partner.
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