Supposedly, of course, because the cast were, at least partly, closer to middle age than their school days. Starting out as a stage play with a far raunchier spirit than the eventual adaptation, Randal Kleiser's 1950s set high-school musical was a mostly grounded navigation through the struggles of supposedly typical teenage years.
And while the theory has its detractors, it remains incredibly popular, because it is tied to the film's strangest mystery: what its end really means. Arguably one of the most famous movie theories of all time, it offers a completely different perspective on the movie's otherwise mostly upbeat tone, adding darkness where otherwise the musical is filled with light.
The most notorious Grease fan theory suggests that Olivia Newton-John's Sandy is in fact dying throughout the movie and the infamous teenage love story is no more than a fantasy.
