Sam Pickett ‘21
News Editor
High School Musical 3 > OG High School Musical
Lena and I are both huge fans of the High School Musical Trilogy. Beginning in 2006, High School Musical, High School Musical 2, and High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the trilogy follows the journey of two teens, Troy Bolton and Gabriela Montez, from very different worlds as they work to discover who they are and what they believe in.
We both agree that HSM2 is the best movie. The plot? Engaging and aspirational. Who hasn’t wanted to spend the summer working at a swanky summer resort with your friends? The music? Unmatched in any of the other films. “Fabulous” showed us the value of knowing what you want out of life; “Work This Out” taught us that anything can be a musical instrument; “I Don’t Dance” proved that baseball and dancing are the same game; “Gotta Go My Own Way” tore our hearts out and gave me my go-to karaoke song for the rest of my life; “Bet On It” graciously gave us the iconic image of Troy Bolton dancing passionately on a golf course and hitting his own reflection; and “Everyday” put the pieces of our hearts back together. This was also the first movie where we saw Troy and Gabriella kiss, so there isn’t really much argument.
So where do I diverge from Lena? I believe HSM3 is better than HSM1, and to be honest, if you disagree with me it’s because you’re being nostalgic. HSM1 is an excellent movie, but it is also the one where the characters are the least developed, the plot is the simplest, and the music is undeniably the worst.[1]
First, the characters in HSM1 are still at that stage in the trilogy where they embrace their typical high school stereotypes. Chad is still a basketball jock who lacks any big-picture view of life; Ryan and Sharpay are still the snooty theater kids; and Taylor is still the annoying science geek who hates all of the popular people. While the whole point of the first movie is how these characters break out of their shells, I would prefer for there to be no shell at all. The second and third movies are so good, in fact, because the characters are all friends and they have each others’ backs no matter what. The friends are so supportive that in the third movie Chad is even okay with his best friend Troy violating their childhood pact to play at the University of Albuquerque so that he can attend Berkeley to be closer to Gabriela. Watching these characters become more mature is one of the great joys in the HSM universe, and HSM3 is the best example of it.
Secondly, the plot of HSM1 is basic. A boy and a girl discover that they want to break out of the “status quo” society has set for them, but their friends don’t want them to. After some shenanigans, they all learn the value in being who they want to be, and they come together to accomplish all of their goals and everyone is friends. That’s it. It was perfect for 2006, but 2008 (When HSM3 was released) demanded more. In HSM3, the characters juggle the following conflicts: Troy and Gabriela must decide what will happen to their relationship when she goes off to Stanford; they must all organize and plan a musical about their high school careers; Sharpay must fight to maintain her role in the musical after her assistant almost takes over; Troy has to pick a college; and everyone must deal with the impending separation that college will bring. It is riveting. Also, Troy and the East High Wildcats won a championship at the beginning of the movie. How can a movie starting with “Rocketman” hitting a game winner NOT BE AMAZING?
Finally, there’s the music. Oh sweet lawd, the music. It starts with Troy leading a comeback in the state championship game with “Now or Never,” a song so inspirational that I feel ready to write the rest of this article after listening to it just once. It also features a touching moment between Gabriella and Troy, where she gives him the strength to win the game. All very intense. Then there is the classic “Can I Have This Dance?” where Troy and Gabriella dance BEAUTIFULLY and ROMANTICALLY on the roof of the school after TROY has just bought GABRIELLA tickets to the prom. Go watch the video of it and tell me you are not inspired. If Maria[2] saw that and wanted to leave me for someone who could dance like Troy, I would honestly help her because I also aspire to leave myself for someone who could dance like Troy.
I could keep going on about the songs, but I would also like to emphasize how intricate the choreography is for the film. “The Boys are Back,” filmed in a junkyard, features the boys doing sick acrobatic moves with the junk. “Scream” features Troy passionately singing and dancing in the school hallways WHICH START TO MOVE. AND TROY JUST GOES WITH IT. Then there is “Night to Remember,” which I watched the night of my senior year prom to get me hyped up for the main event. I could go on about every song, but I think my point is proven.
This is in grave contrast to HSM1, which features some classics in its own right, like “Start of Something New,” “Get’cha Head in the Game,” “Bop to the Top,” and, of course, “Breaking Free.” But those songs aren’t the ones you want to listen to over and over again. You hear them once, you acknowledge that they’re great, but then you move on. “Bop to the Top” does Bop, but it is also just a bit annoying after a while. Not true with HSM3.
Anyway, in conclusion HSM3 is the second best HSM, and anyone who denies it should re-watch the first and see how much of a difference two years can make in how EXCELLENT a movie can be.
Lena Welch ‘20
New Media Editor
What Team? OG HSM
Please email editor@lawweekly.org if you would like to see two dummies fulfill their upper-level writing requirements by dissecting the High School Musical franchise. I was supposed to cut down my original 1,129-word draft, but I ended up writing more…
I’m quite impressed by Sam’s argument, given how little merit it possesses. High School Musical, which Sam calls “HSM1” even though it is simply HSM, is the best in the HSM trilogy. It not only inspired generations of fans, but it helped to establish the DCOM musical era, a gift that kept giving.[1]
Before I demonstrate the superiority of HSM over HSM3, I want to note a few things about the best HSM film: HSM2. I don’t think I’ll ever be in love with someone as much as I was in love with Zac Efron in 2007. High School Musical 2 and Hairspray? An incredible combo. His darker, Link Larkin hair really made his eyes pop. Songs, summer, Sharpay. To borrow from the Hannah Montana movie, “What’s not to like?” My family had just gotten Verizon FiOS, and new customers were able to access HSM2 a week early. I watched it eleven times in that week (my friends who remember me talking about To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before during 2L fall won’t be surprised by this[2]), memorizing the dances to “What Time Is It?” “All for One,” and “Work This Out.”
I actually watched the premiere of High School Musical at the home of UVA Law alumna Laura Cooley ’18 (L.C.). I can’t describe everything that went down that night, but everyone in attendance knew that our lives had changed with the introduction of Troy.
Whereas Sam feels the characters and plot were nothing special in HSM, I have to respectfully disagree. These characters are complicated with motivations that change as they learn and grow, but they share a very important characteristic: ambition. This movie explains to its viewers that ambition, dreams, confidence, and drive are not things to hide, but things to cultivate and work to achieve. This is a particularly important message because it accompanies Troy and Gabriella’s discovery about themselves. The “shell” is necessary to illustrate that the boxes other people put us in—or that we put ourselves in—do not contain us if we are brave enough to try something new. You mean like going left?
I also want to stan for Sharpay for a moment. Back then, she was my idol. Her fashion was iconic. She was an independent woman who didn’t need no man. She just had to include Ryan (and let me be clear, I adore Ryan) because East High was too afraid to do a humble one-woman show. Now, she is my avatar for my Disney+ account. Mah!
I don’t have space to get into all of the songs, but I want to address something highly important. Some of y’all may know that Drew Seeley provided much of the singing voice for Troy in HSM. Maybe I’m just a Drew Seeley believer,[3] but I’m not sure Zac Efron could hit the right nOoOoOote in 2006, so it’s a good thing they brought in a ringer. Nevertheless, Drew Seeley could never do what Zac Efron did in his acting performance. You can’t fake his chemistry with Vanessa *Anne* Hudgens.
To try to touch on every song here are some stream-of-consciousness notes I wrote during Nonprofit Organizations because contrary to Sam’s argument above, these songs are exceptional:
The “Start of Something New” it was. Having just attended a karaoke night on iTrek, I feel prepared to say that this karaoke night was special. I actually stood on a coffee table to sing along when I watched on December 31, 2019. There’s no better song to ring in a new year.
“Getcha Head in the Game.” Again, shouts to Drew Seeley. The dancing is amazing, with some of the best prop work of all time.
“What I’ve been Looking For.” When my sister and I acted out this song, we would trade off between Ryan and Sharpay. Sharpay gets a time step, but Ryan gets jazz squares and a one-handed cartwheel. But, y’all, this is why we gather in this hallowed hall.
Reprise. On re-watches, it maintains the emotional power from the first time you saw Troy step forward. “I’ll sing with her.”
~*~CALLBACKS~*~
“Stick to the Status Quo.” I celebrated Thanksgiving with one of my childhood best friends. I can’t remember why, but at some point she and I burst out in a near-complete rendition of “Stick to the Status Quo.” Plus, this song features two of the loves of my life: baking and homework. Just kidding. But baking. Crème brûlée, baby.
“When There Was Me and You.”[4] The weak point of the movie, but it leads to the “But I”/“Me Neither” lines. Two of the most devastating lines of all time.
Pause for Troy singing on Gabriella’s balcony. It’s a pairs audition, baby.
“Bop to the Top.” Honestly, justice for “Bop to the Top.” Sharpay and Ryan are performers. They are here to entertain. And they would be happy to do it again for their fellow students, an audience they deserve.
My biggest issue with “Bop to the Top” is that there’s no way in this fictional world where Kelsey Nielsen wrote the winter musical that “Bop to the Top” exists in the same musical as “What I was Looking For (Reprise)” (because “if you do that part with that particular song I imagined it much slower,” “If…”) and “Breaking Free.”
“Breaking Free.” Look at me, right at me. And I have every day since Troy said that. This song made a couple of stars. There’s no denying it. And it could have made a couple more.[5]
“We’re All in this Together.” There’s no separating this song from High School Musical. The dance was so iconic that L.C. and I pitched some of the moves for our eighth-grade tap recital. I don’t think I could forget the moves if I tired. The song also features the characters in their most quintessential states (looking at you, Ryan, hip thrusting before your solo and jumping into everyone’s arms).
When we get to High School Musical 3, things had changed. I went to the movie opening night[6] with my friend Courtney, and I dressed up as Troy in the “The Boys are Back” scene. Don’t get me wrong, I was enthralled. If HSM2 is the Zac Efron abs movie (which don’t hold up on re-watches because we all know the heights he will reach in Baywatch), HSM3 is the Zac Efron’s outstretched arms movie. And the HSM line I quote most often is from the third movie: “Yo, yo, yo. It’s lunch time.” But the large scale diminished some of the things I loved about High School Musical, such as the CG fireworks over a grassy hill at what should be a snowy ski resort or dances that I can pick up in just a few viewings. How am I supposed to learn the dances in HSM3 without a partner? Because no one wants to the learn these dances with me. HSM3 also does my girl Sharpay dirty. She learned so much in the first two movies, and then they cast her as the villain once again. We all know who the real villain is: the costume designer who always gave Troy a shirt.
___
shp8dz@virginia.edu
lw8vd@virginia.edu
[1] Where would we be without Camp Rock? And I’m dead serious. I’ve seen the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato upwards of ten times in concert.
[2] Email editor@lawweekly.org if you want me to review the sequel, P.S. I Still Love You.
[3] Seriously, scope out Another Cinderella Story, to get some more D.S. in your life. I’ve seen that movie at least five times, mainly to try to figure out if Selena Gomez is doing *any* of the dancing.
[4] If you’ve never liked When There was Me and You, I recommend watching High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a Disney+ show that features a decent rendition in the sixth episode.
[5] Before law school, I worked at Johns Hopkins University, and I had to accompany the baseball team to Florida for their spring break games. During this time, the upperclassmen like to initiate the new kids by making them sing. And often they make the staff do this as well. I am a terrible singer, but I’m not quite as bad as my favorite student-athlete of all time, a kid I call Long Island. So, Long Island and I decided we would sing Breaking Free. Fortunately, the upperclassmen called on Long Island when I wasn’t there. He sang Sweet Caroline, and when they asked me to sing on the bus ride back to campus, I said no. And that was that. A star was not born.
[6] October 24. Which is now my best friend’s birthday, but I will always remember it because it was the night HSM3 came out.