High School Musical Reflective Post

I am extremely obsessed with High School Musical. Objectively, it is not a great movie. The antics of the antagonist are ridiculous, the chance meeting of Troy and Gabriella and then that they go to school together is so unlikely, the stereotypes are regressive.  Just the chance that the star basketball player on a championship winning team would also have time to star in a pretty impressive high school production is near impossible. That being said, I could watch High School Musical everyday and still love it. I get mildly fed up every time I watch it for the reasons above as well as so many more, but it is such an enjoyable movie.

(https://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/confessions-from-obsessed-high-school-musical-fans?utm_term=.ueZpz9y8J2#.rtJn8z2gpO)

Maybe part of my love for it is from the memories with it. Traditionally, my closest camp friends and I watch it together whenever we meet up, which does not get to be that often, so those moments are cherished. This summer, one of the last times I got to spend with all of my close-knit friend group, we watched High School Musical, singing and dancing along, mocking it the whole way through. During my senior year, I danced with 19 other people to a High School Musical song in front of a lot of the school. Maybe, though, it is just the irony of loving a movie this awful.

In the initial back to school scene, no one is that popular that they get a huge crowd around them, cheering, as they get off the bus. Except maybe Troy Bolton. No one is worried about being "The School's Freaky Genius Girl." Except maybe Gabriella Montez. No teacher at a basketball school would confuse a basketball for a piece of hockey equipment. Except for maybe Ms. Darbus. But this movie is just so ridiculous that it is hysterical. It comes off almost as satire on every high school stereotype that has ever existed. Sharpay Evans is a caricature of the stuck-up, spoiled, entitled, drama queen. If a person like her actually exists, I would pay real money to meet her, but only for around 30 seconds, because she'd make me lose faith in humanity.

The musical aspect of High School Musical strengthens its satirical qualities. In the song "Get Your Head In The Game," the same characters who would mock Troy for joining the musical and singing and dancing, sing and dance on the basketball court. Most of the songs seem to accentuate an aspect of the school. And most of those aspects are themselves stereotypical, fake, or exaggerated. Additionally, the singing voices for the characters are often so different from the actor's voice that I have audibly laughed on many occasions for that sole reason. That being said, as ridiculous as the songs are, they are a huge reason of why I love the movie. Sitting in the library, watching it as I write this, I can't keep my foot from tapping or my head from bouncing. I've almost broken out into singing a few times already. Within the first 35-ish minutes, the realest part, to me, feels like when Kelsi, the composer at the piano, stands up and falls, throwing her papers everywhere. As someone who falls down all the time, that is extremely relatable.

High School Musical may even reinforce negative values. The song "Status Quo" tells people not to branch out and have diverse interests. Some characters act as though it is cool to not do homework. A lot of dialogue and scenes indicate that valuing knowledge should make you an outcast and a nerd. Social strata are reinforced throughout the whole film. (As the come together as the movie progresses, this negative aspect starts to disappear, but it is still reinforced.)

Just like Amanda Putnam discussed in "Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films," seemingly all of the protagonists are heterosexual and adhere to typical gender stereotypes - the men are masculine and the women are feminine. While the main antagonist, Sharpay, is heterosexual and feminine (is it possible Disney attempted to make her hyper-feminine (is that a thing?)?), her brother side-kick, Ryan is coded as homosexual. Between his style choices, interest in the arts, pale skin, lean figure, soft features, and higher voice, he is portrayed with extra femininity. In a movie where hyper-masculinity is desired, it is easy to label Ryan as the "other" for these traits.

(http://www.giantbomb.com/ryan-evans/3005-8587/)

Additionally, the way Troy hides his theatre career - the most feminine of his activities - has been paralleled to someone "in the closet" waiting to come out.

The social phenomenon that is High School Musical is astounding. How a Disney Channel Original Movie rose to such popularity amazes me. This objectively, extremely mediocre movie hold such a special place in the hearts of so many people. The film is strangely popular among people around ages 15-20. I suppose it is the nostalgia and irony of it all.  But what an amazing film.

(https://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/confessions-from-obsessed-high-school-musical-fans?utm_term=.ueZpz9y8J2#.rtJn8z2gpO)