The Stentor

Issue date: 10/30/08 Section: Arts and Leisure

The cast of 'High School Musical' in the 2006 movie that started the phenomenon. [Click to enlarge]

Disney's "High School Musical" (HSM) franchise holds more significance for society than just another way for Disney CEO Michael Eisner to pad his elephant-size bank account. Millions of children in every corner of the world mold their expectations, hopes, and dreams for their immediate futures based on the archetypal patterns of the American heroes of HSM. These archetypes take the form of a core group of characters who's junior and senior years as Wildcats from East High in Albuquerque, N.M. are chronicled sonically.

In the first High School Musical, studly basketball savant Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) meets brainiac Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) while their respective families vacation at the same resort. The two are forced into a karaoke duet where sparks fly. Upon their return to the world of East High, a mediocre Romeo and Juliet plot tugs the intellectuals and jocks into clique warfare. East High's resident diva Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) provides comic relief as the head of the East High drama club where Troy's inner battle of basketball versus theatre plays out. Troy, and his cool-kid posse, eventually realize that they can have both as Troy and Gabriella redefine the popular clique as the school's newest "it" couple.

The second HSM film chronicles the summer between junior and senior year. Sharpay makes a strong play for Troy's affections and fails, basically nothing else of significance occurs. The third, and likely final, installment follows the Wildcats' senior year at East High. The group must deal with Gabriella's impending departure for Stanford while Troy and basketball buddy Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu) head for the University of Albuquerque. Gabriella convinces the classmates to enroll in the spring musical together (the only literal high school musical of the series) as one last triumphant performance. Troy suddenly becomes a finalist for a scholarship to Julliard and is once again faced with the same decisions the first entry threw at him.

The HSM series follows a distinct pattern that defines it as the archetypal modern Disney film through the relatively simple stories, two-dimensional personalities, and lots and lots of bold colors.

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