“I want a whole lot more than the boy next door
I want hell on wheels”
From “Cool Rider” by Michelle Pfeiffer
Nerds and badasses.
Up until at least the early 1980’s you could witness these different humans in the anthropological petri dish known as the American high school cafeteria. Bad asses would be at one table and nerds at another – with little cross-pollination. And it felt as though people were pre-destined from birth to be either one or the other forever.
In retrospect, these seemingly polar opposite groups actually had something in common. They were both a little off center from the more traditional “normal” kids. Badasses seemed a bit dangerous like the “Greasers” from The Outsiders. They often wore leather jackets, were into cars and motorcycles, smoked, got into fights and often didn’t feel particularly compelled to play by the rules. They seemed both exciting and forbidding. On the other hand, nerds were sort of oddballs — super smart and successful at school, with interests in things like computers and Dungeons & Dragons. They were appreciated by teachers but otherwise relegated to a marginalized social status. And as a kid, you rarely crossed group lines. Bad asses were bad asses and nerds were nerds – period.
Which brings us to the movie Grease 2 (1982). For those who are unfamiliar with the film, it is the sequel to the legendary movie Grease (1978) that starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Grease 2, considered a “cult classic,” chronicles the forbidden love story between Stephanie (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and Michael (played by Maxwell Caulfield). And its continuing cultural relevance is evident most recently by its influence on the romantic musical movie Downfalls High (2021), that was written by Machine Gun Kelly and MOD SUN who cite Grease 2 as an influence on the movie. And after talking with MOD about his new album, Internet Killed The Rockstar, for The Hardcore Humanism Podcast, I am convinced that the time has come to analyze the staying power of this hidden gem.
Grease 2 was perhaps the first time on screen that we saw a teenage nerd not only become a badass, but also embrace both his nerd and badass self as able to co-exist in the same person. Michael is a nerd who is condescendingly referred to as “Shakespeare.” Like any nerd, Michael is being pushed headfirst into lockers by badasses (like the one played by Adrian Zmed) when he’s not being ignored. And yet like many nerds, he yearns to stray from his nerd biosphere, hoping to win the affection of badass Pink Lady extraordinaire, Stephanie. But he fails miserably at first because as Stephanie makes it clear, she is only interested in a fellow badass “Cool Rider.” So, he promptly teaches himself how to ride a motorcycle then goes incognito and dazzles Stephanie and the rest of Rydell High with his spectacular riding skills.
It doesn’t take long for Stephanie to falls for the mystery rider who is a cool version of Michael. But as the movie progresses, she’s also beginning to fall for nerd Michael. And when she discovers his true identity, Stephanie is thrilled that the cool rider is Michael not in spite of being a nerd, but because he is a nerd. When Michael expresses concern that Stephanie will be disappointed upon his unmasking, Stephanie declares the importance of both sides of Michael’s personality by stating: “Are you crazy? I got two for the price of one.” And we witnessed on the big screen someone fully embracing their “badass” and “nerd” duality and being loved for it.
To be sure, this wasn’t an unabashed nerd victory. I’m fairly confident that few nerd tables in American school cafeterias included someone who looked like Caulfield. This guy is so painfully good looking that 30 years later he was tapped to play the older but still obscenely handsome Professor Cooke in the TV show Modern Family – Claire Dunphy’s old flame. So it was perhaps a bit easier for us to believe that Stephanie would swoon.
And to be fair, there have been other cultural precedents for nerd/badass duality. Many of the characters in the comic book world – including Iron Man, Batman, Black Panther, Jean Grey and Cyborg — all thrive in part because of their ability to both kick ass and master science and technology. But these characters had not yet been brought to the big screen yet.
And some movies had touched upon this theme prior to Grease 2. For example, in Superman 2 (1980) Lois Lane falls for Clark Kent. But Lois had zero interest in Clark before he was Superman. And in Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981), professor Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) deftly blends his roles as both nerd and badass adventurer and seemed to be fully embraced by Marian (played by Karen Allen). But Indiana Jones was already a full-grown adult at this point. And to be frank, as a young kid growing up in the 80’s, I was less concerned that adults would embrace nerds as I was of the pain and humiliation awaiting nerds in junior high and high school.
So by my estimation, Stephanie’s embrace of Michael’s nerd and badass self when he was still a young high school guy – vulnerable and unproven in the world – was the first time such an integration had both occurred and been embraced. So why was this important? Well, unfortunately, stereotypes, even if seemingly benign ones, can actually be very damaging by placing a limit on who people feel they can be and what they can accomplish in our lives — an emotional cage from which we can never escape. And since media representation is one of the most powerful ways that we spread stereotypes, at a time when many shows and movies represented people in a narrower and uni-dimensional way, a movie in which it is possible to be both nerd and badass went a long way to help people break out of their stereotypical roles and become the person they long to be.
And whether it was because of Grease 2, or the movie was simply an indicator of an emerging zeitgeist, we soon saw two societal trends emerge. The first was that “nerd ascension” stories began to emerge. Suddenly, movies such as Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Weird Science (1985) portrayed nerds as fighting back, becoming a bit more badass, and asserting themselves as deserving of respect. And eventually, we start seeing movies such as 21 Jump Street (2012) in which the nerds could be such badasses that they actually bully the badass cop played by Channing Tatum. Even in Spiderman: Homecoming (2017), the badass bully Flash is now a nerd – a true recognition of nerd power.
The other trend was seeing more storylines in which people grappled with, embraced, and were loved for both their nerdy and badass side. Breakfast Club (1985) embraced the concept of multiple identities by declaring that we all have a little nerd (Anthony Michael Hall) and badass (Judd Nelson) in us. And movies like Gotcha! (1985) portrayed a nerdy Anthony Edwards turn into a badass, with Linda Fiorentino loving all sides of his personality. Patrick Swayze’s Dalton was a bouncer with a philosophy degree in Road House (1989), earning the amorous affection of Kelly Lynch.
Soon, whereas nerds and badasses were portrayed as somewhat distinct from “normal” people, it actually became normative to see nerd/badass synergy in characters in movies and on television shows. Dana Scully was both a doctor and badass investigator on X-Files. We come to know goth badass and full-fledged nerd Abby Sciuto on NCIS as being the key to solving all of the crimes in the world. And of course many of the comic book characters that had pioneered nerd/badass duality have been brought to the big screen. For crying out loud, in Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle (2017) badass Martha actually says she prefers nerdy Spencer over his badass avatar played by Dwayne Johnson. She actually says no to Spencer as an avatar of The Rock (with all of his smoldering intensity) and says to him “That is not my type. I’m into nerds.”
There are now too many examples of nerd-badass cross-pollination to mention. I mean, at this point can you even be a nerd without being a bit of a badass, or a badass without being a little nerdy? Who knows? The point is that since Grease 2, there are a lot more people out there who can be who they want to be without being forced into a rigid and limiting stereotype. And that’s a good thing.
So nerds and badasses rejoice! Whether your nickname is “Shakespeare” or “Cool Rider,” we all go together.
Photo credit: Michael Dobrinski on Unsplash
