Spotlight on Fandom: High School Musical

Nov 03, 2008 16:16

Sorry this is a day late! My 'net's been WEEEEIRD, although that seems to have resolved itself. :D (... This is the problem with using Google Docs...)

Spotlight on Fandoms: High School Musical
"It's like Romeo and Juliet. Except in an uncreatively named high school, with singing and dancing. So not like Romeo and Juliet at all."

So what exactly is High School Musical, you ask?

High School Musical is a DCOM -- that's Disney Channel Original Movie, for those playing at home -- that premiered in January of 2006. It was this pokey little show about these kids at East High School in Albuquerque that was just intended to be fun for, y'know, a weekend, maybe develop a bit of a cult following, and otherwise be forgotten about.

... Uh. Way to go with the predicting of that future, Disney.

For reasons unfathomable to pretty much everyone over the age of twelve -- including those of us who actually enjoy HSM -- High School Musical developed a huge, gigantic, enormous following. Well, not entirely unfathomable: the cast, for all that they were young and, for the most part, relatively inexperienced, are all quite talented, and the script, though cheesetastically horrible, is nonetheless somehow actually endearing. And, most all, it's fun. The songs are catchy and singable, there's some incredible choreography (the movie was directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega, whose other Disney work includes directing and choreographing Newsies back in the early nineties), and... well, the people are pretty. Very, very pretty.

So, y'know, High School Musical promptly became the highest-rated DCOM of, like, all time, so Disney decided to cash in and make a sequel, the creatively named High School Musical 2, which (except for a sequence at the very beginning) actually had very to do with high school, focusing instead on summer vacation. And, even before filming was finished, Disney announced another sequel, to be released not as a TV movie, but instead given a much larger budget and a theatrical release; this was a bit of a gamble on Disney's part, as there was really no way of knowing how HSM2 would be received: but it paid off, as HSM2 broke not only DCOM records, but world records for cable programming -- among other records, it was at the time the most-watched program on cable ever. (It has since been beaten by a sports broadcast.) So, y'know, the theatrical movie seems like a wise choice after all.

Said theatrical movie -- High School Musical 3: Senior Year (which is, in the opinion of this writer, a much, MUCH wiser choice than the Haunted High School Musical that had been originally considered, omg that would have been horrible) is surprisingly cheese-free. Well, as much as anything DIsney ever is. It is, in fact, something I actually consider a good movie, even if there are some plot holes, errors in logic large enough to drive a truck through, and ridiculously annoying new characters (that are so, SO being set up for a sequel of their own). Amazing what you can do when you have a budget, these days.

Let's Put On a Show!

High School Musical is the story of Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), star basketball player of the East High Wildcats at East High School, in Albuequerque, New Mexico. (I have to admit, I was all, "... Way to be inventive, Disney," about the name, but it's filmed at an actual East High School in Utah, so it's not exactly Disney's fault. ^^;; ) Troy meets Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) when they're both pulled up on stage to sing karaoke at a New Year's party at the ski resort they're both visiting for the holiday. Afterwards, they go, "OH HAI WE HAS CHEMISTRY" and exchange phone numbers, promising to call each other the next day. Of course, they don't.

Next we see, school has started up again after the break... and who should walk into Troy's homeroom but new transfer student Gabriella Montez? Of course, Troy decides that now is the best time to call her, prompting their homeroom teacher -- drama department head Ms. Darbus -- to end up giving a slew of detentions to all six of the primary actors. Which is actually kinda funny.

Darbus announces the audition for the East High Winter Musi-CAL, as she calls it, the student-written 'Twinkle Towne'. Sharpay Evans, twin sister of, and co-president of the drama club with, Ryan Evans (Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel) spies Troy and Gabriella by the sign-ups for the auditions, even though they both insist that they have no interest. Troy, of course, is focused on basketball, and Gabriella claims that she wants to get settled into the school before she joins any activities. Of course, when it's time for the auditions (which are HILARIOUS), both Troy and Gabriella find themselves in the auditorium, although they're hiding in the back, watching what's happening instead of signing up. After the solo auditions, there's only one pairs audition (which makes no sense, wtf Disney, have you never auditioned for leads before?) -- Sharpay and Ryan. They railroad all over the awesome song written by one of my two favorite characters, Kelsi Nielsen (Olesya Rulin), and then Sharpay proceeds to insult her into meekdom. Afterwards, Darbus calls for any last auditions. No one answers, so she closes the auditions -- at which point Gabriella runs forward. Darbus shoots her down; the solo auditions, after all, are long over, so Troy comes forward. "I'll sing with her."

Of course, Darbus says, "I called for the auditions and you didn't answer." Better luck next time.

Thanks to the fact that Sharpay TERRORISED THE FUCK OUT OF HER, Kelsi trips and drops all of her papers and sheet music on the stage. Troy and Gabriella come forward to help her, and she offers to show them how the duet is supposed to sound. They sing it -- because, apparently, these kids with no musical training can sight read PERFECTLY -- and Darbus overhears it; she tells them they have a callback.

No one in the school is happy with the fact that, apparently, Troy Bolton, Star Basketball Player, is now singing in a musical. The basketball team schemes with the scholastic decathlon team -- who have been hoping to recruit Gabriella -- to break up Troy and Gabriella, stopping them from auditioning; meanwhile, Sharpay and Ryan are convinced that the entire thing is a plot BY the brainiacs and the jocks to take over the whole school, so THEY start scheming, convincing Darbus to reschedule the callbacks for the same day as the Scholastic Decathlon AND the biggest basketball game of the season. In the end, the brainiacs and the jocks come to their senses and decide to work together, managing to get both Gabriella and Troy to the audition in time, essentialyl breaking down all barriers in the school and allowing anyone to do any activities they please.

AWWW. HOW SWEET.

The second movie... sucks. A lot. For the most part, the quality of the songs is lower, the plot is, if anything, even weaker. The only really awesome bits are the fact that Ryan grew both brains and balls, and the song of Complete and Utter Unmitigated Gay, which will be linked at the end of this write-up. It can basically be summed up as: "Sharpay is a bitch, Troy is easily led astray, and Ryan and Chad are REALLY REALLY GAY with each other."

The third movie, which is currently in theatres, is actually, surprisingly, quite good. As mentioned, there are some severe flaws -- Disney shows an alarming lack of knowledge about how scholarships work, much like their problems with auditions in the first movie. However, while the first two are CHEESETASTICALLY HORRIBLE the entire way through, HSM3: Senior Year is actually... surprisingly cheese free. There are moments of cheese, of course -- what musical doesn't have those? -- but on the whole it's quite well done. It's fairly weak on plot, as well, and what there is centers, again, around the Troy and Gabriella show. Still, there are some incredibly awesome moments that I won't spoil, in case anyone still wants to go see it.

"What team?" "WILDCATS!"

Troy Bolton: The 'Basketball Guy'. Captain of the basketball team at East High School. Discovers a secret talent for singing when he meets Gabriella. Ends up becoming something of a star performer on both the court and the stage.

Gabriella Montez: The 'Einsteinette'. Transfer student to East High in her junior year. Joins the 'brainiacs' when she comes to the school, but is also the catalyst for the breaking down of the group barriers that comes about when she and Troy audition for the musical.

Chad Danforth: Troy's best friend since pre-school. Wearer of awesometastic slogan shirts. One of the few in the movies who seems to have only the one interest (that being sports). Token black dude.

Taylor McKessie: Head of the Scholastic Decathlon team at East High. Becomes Gabriella's best friend. By the time the third movie comes around, proves herself NOT to be mono-focused on science when she becomes student body president AND co-editor of the yearbook. (Overachiever, thy name is Taylor.) Token black girl. Who ends up dating the token black dude. Sigh, Disney. Just... Sigh.

Sharpay Evans: Co-president of the drama society, Rich Bitch, and Scheming Wench. The primary antagonist of all three movies. Also easily, EASILY the best female vocalist out of all three movies.

Ryan Evans: Co-president of the drama society, Sharpay's twin (thank you, Disney, for finally confirming that), and OMG HOW CAN YOU PEOPLE POSSIBLY THINK HE'S STRAIGHT? ... Sorry about that. Anyway, he has the BEST wardrobe in the movies, often wearing things in combinations that no human should be able to pull off, and is always, always wearing fantastic hats. A secondary antagonist in the first movie, he grows balls -- and brains -- in the second movie and helps the Wildcats scheme against his sister. Also, he's an amazing baseball player.

The Wildcats: Originally applied just to the sports teams, this became a collective term for the entire group, including Taylor and Gabriella's friends from the brainiac side of things, and everyone else who got welcomed into the larger circle of friends. Important ones include Kelsi Nielsen, from the drama club, who is a pianist and a composer; Martha Cox, the stereotypical brainiac who comes into her own when she reveals her love of hip-hop dancing; Zeke Baylor, the basketball player with a yen for baking and a need to make the perfect creme brulee; and Jason Cross, also a basketball player, whose primary defining characteristic is that he's dumber than a box of rocks that's been hit with a dumb-ifying ray.

Where can I find them?

The first two movies are available pretty much EVERYWHERE you could possibly buy DVDs; each has had both a one-disc and a two-disc release; the two-disc releases include the disc from the first release with a second disc of additional features. As I said, the third movie is currently in theatres, and so is probably in one near you.

From Amazon:
High School Musical: Remix Edition: This is the two-disc edition for the first movie, and the one I have. I, personally, like some of the additional features, but they're really more for the hardcore fans, I would say. There are instructions for two of the dance sequences, which is kind of fun.

High School Musical 2: Deluxe Dance Edition: The two-disc edition for the second movie, and the one I wish I had. Deleted scenes, dance instructions, 19 music videos, featurettes...

And what spotlight would be complete without clips?

Stick to the Status Quo, probably the best number from HSM.
I Don't Dance, AKA the Song of Complete and Utter Unmitigated Gay. From HSM2 ... After this scene, the next time we see Ryan and Chad they've switched shirts. AND hats.
Bet On It, which SUCKS, but I include because you need the context for this video, which is made of complete and utter win.
And a couple of clips from HSM3: A Night to Remember, one of the better large production numbers (this is cut down from the full number; it's probably three times that length in the movie), and Can I Have This Dance, which I kinda love far more than I actually should (again, also cut down).

So, yes, that's my tl;dr rantings about High School Musical. If you like cheesetastically horrible movies with decent songs, great singing, and fantastic (for the most part) choreography, you'll probably like these. If not, you might want to give them a miss.

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