Tag Archives: High School Musical

On the end of Glee

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My Life Would Suck Without You

Being with you is so dysfunctional

I really shouldn’t miss you

But I can’t let you go

The series finale of Glee airs tonight, and it has me thinking about my experiences with the show and what its legacy might be.  In many ways, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, the lines above from one of the many songs performed onGlee over six seasons could sum up my feelings on the show.  It’s certainly been a roller coaster ride for the fans who have stuck with it, with some of the highest highs I’ve ever experienced from television, as well as some of the lowest lows.  And here at the end I find myself with two equally strong opinions that are battling for supremacy in my mind: I’m glad that the show is finally ending, and I’m going to miss it when it’s gone.

From the very beginning my relationship with Glee was unlike any show I’d ever experienced.  Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Favorite Moment – High School Musical

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

High School Musical is the sort of film that feels like it was made just for me.  I’m sure everyone has a couple of those, that feel like the opening credits should contain the words “This one’s for you!”  When I first saw it I was living alone in California, and at the time I watched a lot of the Disney Channel.  I would always catch pieces of it, previews for it, or song clips from it, but it was almost a year after it premiered before I finally caught it in its entirety, and I was immediately sucked in.  (I went out the next day, bought the DVD, and watched it two more times that night.)

It was the opening song that caught my attention, but what cemented the movie in my brain was the character of Kelsi. Continue reading →

High School Musical

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Well, it finally happened, I got bitten by the High School Musical bug.  Those who know me well probably aren’t surprised.  I saw it all the way through for the first time tonight, and after the first song I was hooked.

I know there are many who have scoffed at it for its sugary-sweetness, but that is one of its most endearing qualities.  Most people these days can’t stand a bit of sweetness, which is why the more successful films have anywhere from a hint of darkness to nothing but.  I won’t quote The Matrix again, but things just seem more real when there’s some darkness or bitterness or anger or tragedy.  Anything without that is just cheesy.  Well you all know that I like cheesiness (you should see me cry my eyes out in Hook if you don’t believe me).  High School Musical is one of the cheesiest things I’ve ever seen, and in a good way.

I’ve often heard variations on the expression “so sweet I could puke”.  This movie is one step short of that.  The best comparison I can come up with is Halloween night.  Everyone knows the feeling of eating so much candy you make yourself sick with all the sugar.  This is like stopping one piece of candy before that point.  It’s that feeling of being so completely full of sugary goodness that you practically glow, being completely content and happy, knowing that if there were any more you’d just burst.  And it is a wonderful feeling.

Having said that, HSM is one of the most unrealistic movie I’ve ever seen.  For me, high school was the worst time of my life, full of mean, hateful, spiteful, evil people.  And while a bit of that is touched on, especially with the wonderful song, “Stick to the Status Quo”, it’s still from a school where no one drinks, does drugs, or even kisses (not even the romantic leads), and in the end everyone ends up friends and is that much the better.  Now I know part of this is the oblivious point of view of the adults producing and directing this film, and part of it is just classic Disneyfication.  However, is it too much to hope that high school, kids, and people and general could really be like this?  That we could actually learn to Love Everybody?

Yeah, I’m an idealist, but I’m proud of it, more so than anything else about myself.

It’s interesting that I also saw Children of Men today, a movie about a world with no children.  And while I feel bad calling the kids in HSM children, being only 5 or 6 years removed from them, it’s easy to see how a world could loose hope without the sound of their voices.  HSM can show us what we all have the potential to be; good, pure, loving, honest, sweet… and happy.

Children of Men * A *
High School Musical * A *

I was also going to write a tirade on how ridiculously stupid high school athletics is, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort, and I might just be rather biased about it anyways.
I also want to add that the character I like and identify with the most is the composer of the musical Kelsi.  She has the best moments in the entire movie (check out her enthusiasm for rehearsing with Troy and Gabriella when they get the callback, or the moment when she kicks the piano bench during “Breaking Free”).