High school Musical, was kind of a shot-in-the-dark success for Disney Channel. No one could predict that a made for tv movie could almost single handedly make musicals popular again. I think people assume that the target audience is the tween set and younger, but when they do those surveys, no one counts the over 16 kid who watches them "because of their younger brother or sister." I guess I can see why it would be embarassing to admit that you counted down the days until High School Musical 2, or that you own the soundtrack, and listen to it in your Ipod while you go to sleep at night. ha ha.
But I really feel like for the older fans, the appeal is a lot different than it is for the younger crowd. So it really shouldn't be that embarassing to be a fan. The cast is all over 18, so it's not the same as being a Hannah Montana super-fan. Kids my age can look up to the cast of High school Musical.
For the younger kids, I think the movie is fun, it's colorful, they have cool songs, and Zac Efron's character, Troy, is the ultimate singin basketball player role model a kid could ask for.
For me, the franchise brought my favorite things all in one movie; singing, dancing, and well I was gonna say acting, but i'm not an actress...but I like movies so i guess the third thing would just be that.
Yes, I know they are EXTREMELY corny...but isn't that the point? No one ever said,
"Hey, please take this movie very seriously, we are trying to convey the deep, emotional, angsty issues of High School."
It's fluff, and it's supposed to be fluff--candy for the brain. It's like the high school experience we all wish we could have had.
Sometimes you need an escape like HSM so you can fantasize about how much easier high school would be if our only issue was whether or not to sing in the winter musical. High schoolers get enough of real life high school on a daily basis, so why is it such a foreign concept to want to live in a dream world for an hour and a half.
In my opinion, the third one is the best one, by a long shot. So Disney, don't make a fourth one without the original cast, just leave it the way it is--leave on a good note, don't wait until HSM 6 to realize that no one cares anymore. They graduated, it's over, put it in the vault. Let HSM be a giant happy mark in Disney history, instead of a stretched out, milkin it for what it's worth franchise.
I really don't think that HSM would have been so popular if it wasn't for that cast. If it were anyone else, I have a hard time believing that it would be what it is today.
The fact that they were all relatively unknown before HSM, and viewers got to watch them catupult into fame helped fans feel like they took the journey with them. Off-screen the fact that they are so normal, level headed and best friends, makes viewers want to know more about them not just the movie, which only boosts the movie's popularity.
I know a lot of the appeal for me, had a little to do with jealousy. Everytime I would watch some behind-the-scenes footage I would wish that I could have been apart of that, even if I was just a back-up dancer. They made it look like so much fun, it made their chemistry on-screen so much more real.
I don't like telling people I like HSM only because people think I need to grow up. They assume that I'm naive. Even my dad thinks it's weird that I like HSM so much, he thinks I'm immature.
But what is the definition of maturity? Ruining your life by getting pregnant, or blacking out from a night of heavy drinking and partying? I'd rather live in HSM land. In the real world, I stand alone most of the time, because I don't want to drink and do drugs, and have sex before I'm married. I'd probably fit in better at East High.
The real kids of HSM are probably a lot less perfect and a lot more "real" than their characters, but they still stand above their peers in Hollywood. I don't know where they stand on the issues that I feel strong about, but I do know that there aren't pictures of them in the tabloids falling out of a club in the middle of the night.
And the whole Vanessa Hudgens naked pictures thing, I look up to her so much more now because of how she handled it. I've heard people criticize her for apologizing, suggesting that she shouldn't be apologetic and cater to her fans, but I think that was her smartest move. She isn't Gabriella Montez, she's made mistakes, but who hasn't. In God's eyes, sin is sin, so I can't label her as less of a role model because she made a mistake.
So anyway, on a less deep note, I really wanted to try and capture what HSM means to me without sounding like a crazy obsessed 10 yr old...I hope I got my point across. ha ha
Basically, what I wanted to say is that there is really no reason for people my age, 18-19 yr olds, to be embarassed to admit that they enjoy something so wholesome. It's about time.
World Cup
8 years ago
