In this segment of Rockabeau, we’re going to the
public eye! Since Greasers are a dying breed, I was curious to see if anyone
else, outside of my peer group, can recognize a greaser. I went around my
University campus to chat up random strangers. I asked my fellow students,
staff, and patrons these three questions below.
- How old are you, what gender and where
from?
- Can you recognize what I am, based off how
I am dressed?
- Do you know what a greaser is?
For the first question, I asked random selections for
their location to see if it held a pattern of popularity in location of
greasers. I asked for age to see if that also affected knowledge of greasers.
Lastly, I asked for gender to see if that affected more masculine people, since
Greasers as typically masculine.
With the second question, I asked my random selects if
they could identify if I was a Greaser based off what I was wearing. I dressed
as a stereotypical greaser, with a leather jacket, white t shirt, blue jeans,
and boots with my hair slicked up.
While I don’t want to base my research off looks, greasers
are typically known for the way that they dress.
Lastly, I asked my selects if they knew what a greaser
is, to get to the point of this assignment. Below is a graph of my information
Random Select
|
Age
|
Gender
|
Location
|
Aware of what a Greaser is by historical
knowledge or media
|
A description of who I am
based on how I am dressed
|
1
|
18
|
Male
|
Indonesia
|
No/Neither
|
Casual
|
2
|
44
|
Female
|
Erie, PA
|
Both
|
Young college student
|
3
|
49
|
Male
|
Erie, PA
|
Historical knowledge
|
Typical college student
|
4
|
18
|
Male
|
Bronx, NY
|
Media
|
Normal person
|
5
|
19
|
Female
|
Erie, PA
|
Media
|
Normal person, skater?
|
6
|
21
|
Female
|
Rochester, NY
|
Media
|
Cool dude
|
7
|
62
|
Male
|
Erie, PA
|
Familial Relationship
|
Normal
|
8
|
55
|
Female
|
Erie, PA
|
Historical Knowledge
|
Student
|
9
|
21
|
Female
|
Cleveland, PA
|
Media
|
Normal
|
10
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Historical Knowledge
|
Normal*
|
I was very surprised by the
responses I got. Most of the people above who knew greasers from Media, could
recognize greasers from the movie Grease.
The young gentleman form the Bronx recognized greasers from The Outsiders.
The 62-year-old man had
the most interesting recollection of greasers, because his brother was one. “You
know the guys with the white t-shirts with the carton of cigarettes rolled up
the sleeves”. He also gave me his card in case I could find a replica of my
jacket. I would like to say, you have good taste, brother.
I was flattered by select
#6 calling me a “cool dude”. Select #10 said that my style wasn’t too
different. “American culture is so relaxed, today”, she said. Along with all
the “normal” responses, it got me thinking. Either greaser style has had a
positive effect on our culture for being blended in, or maybe our style just
isn’t too different from others nowadays.
To my fellow greasers, do
you think the public in your area could recognize a greaser? If so, tell ‘em
Rockabeau sent ya.
And
away we go, Rockabeau ;)