'Grease' and the remasculinization of America.

Assistant Professor Marcie Ray, of the Michigan State University College of Music, delivers a presentation entitled, "'Grease' and the remasculinization of America". Ray says that the film adaptation of the musical, "Grease," is a nostalgic look at 1950s rock and roll and, a particular masculine ideal. Ray also says that the movie spoke to a large segment of Americans who felt threatened by the rise of disco and it's associations with alternative masculinity and sexuality and that the film responds to what amounted to a moral panic about the death of rock music, because that death heralded the decline of white, middle-class, heterosexual dominance. MSU Music Librarian Mary Black Junttonen introduces Ray, as part of the MSU Libraries Colloquia Series, cosponsored by Music in American Life. Held in the MSU Main Library.

Recorded 2015 April 15.