#starlightexpressldn

I just wanted to share my thoughts, my concerns about changing gender for Greaseball. Now we don't know the extent to which they're rewriting the show, and these concerns may well be addressed, we'll have to wait and see... but follow along with me here...

First off, to tell a story, you need conflict and resolution. You got to show the bad things, to then overcome the bad things. Greaseball is an antagonist in the show - he does bad things, we, the audience, don't support his decisions. Sure he's a lovable character but he's flawed.

Greaseball is the "Reigning Champion", he represents the present world (Electra represents the undefinable weirdness and possibilities of the future, Poppa is the cozy nostalgic past.) He's representing some of the bad things we want to learn to do better from through the course of the story.

"UNCOUPLED" is sung by Dinah at her lowest point. She's just been dumped and from what she tells us in that song, it suggests her partner has been borderline gaslighting her and emotionally abusive - she's blaming herself for her partner's choices. Her partner that she's singing about has been really shitty to her.

Now, with a masculine Greaseball, we all immediately recognise the Misogyny there, all familiar tropes of "he's left me for someone younger, prettier, thinner, less outspoken" fuelled by the toxic masculinity, objectifying women. This is showing the bad stuff that the characters overcome - this is the story arc. Masculine Greaseball is a recognisable trope, he's "Alpha Male" - all the privilege has led him to being able to take whatever he wants. But Feminine Greaseball, a queer woman as antagonist who's been abusing sweet Dinah, what trope does she fall into? Evil Lesbian.

This is a sung-through roller-skating musical about toy trains, there isn't room to tell complex character development for the average audience member - these characters rely on archetypes to be easily recognisable. There's so much room for the performers to add subtlety, context, subtext, sure, but the main picture is painted in broad strokes. And I'm not sure that replacing "Toxic Alpha Male" as a villain, with "Evil Lesbian", is actually progressive.