It's GossipGirl with a Conscience

....and a Karaoke Machine.

So, I just watched (and rocked out to) High School Musical 2 this morning. And it was awesome. (reminder: I am 16 at heart).

Who could not love the campy, clean fun that is the most watched, non sports related cable television event to date? I got so into the shiny colorful setting of the cheesy New Mexico suburban country club, I was actually sitting up in bed, and swaying to the beat in this montage of broadway choreography, and early 'NSYNC channeling production numbers.

I may have enjoyed the first High School Musical. Not enough to watch this one on the day it was released, but enough to put it on my netflix list. However, the deuce was so much more everything for me. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting much. Maybe it was that I already knew the characters. Maybe it is just because it was quite possibly the cheesiest movie I have ever seen that did nothing to hide its own ridiculousness. In fact it celebrated it....with boas and basketballs.

Guess what.......I feel a list coming on.

Here goes. The things I just have to say about my recent viewing of HSM 2. (Sounds like a cruise ship!)

1. It is just so damn blatant about its political correctness.

So much so, that it almost makes the movie politically incorrect, due to all the stereotypes. Disney made sure that almost every person in this country between the ages of 11-17 could relate to someone in this movie. We have the cute, white, popular basketball star, who is not as confident and self assured as he seems on the outside. We have the quite, meditative Hispanic girl with the heart of gold. We have the young blond fashionista, who starts out selfish, bossy, and overbearing, but alas, comes around at the end. We have the bespectacled fine arts focused, and peudohippy dressing piano geek. We have a few black basketball players, one of which had a huge afro-like do because, "hey, its O.K. to want to keep it real". Throw them all in with the gratuitous Asian girl in the background; the chubby girl; the athlete who loves to cook, the black girl who's all up in everyone's business , but makes it seem like she's just self assured and full of advice, and you've got yourself a 'Tween Disney family hit.

I was actually waiting for the Muslim guy and the Indian girl (dots..not feathers) to come strutting into a scene followed by a kid doing dance circles in a wheelchair, but I guess they didn't want to overdo.

I have to mention my favorite character though: The totally fashion forward, overly feminine brother character who choreographs for the group, and only wears pastels. Disney may not have come right out and said he was gay, but come on. Considering the lack of a love interest storyline for him, and the scene where he throws a fit upon learning that he cannot wear the sequins "tikki warrior costume", I get it. I especially enjoyed the entire musical number dedicated to the fact that everyone is super surprised that he plays a sport. And I must say, while dressed completely in white (including white sweater vest) for the baseball game extravaganza, he heats it up with the best post modern "Micheal Jackson meets George Micheal" heart attack of a dance riff I have ever seen. Well, have ever seen in a guilty pleasure teen movie that is.

2. This movie made me feel young and old at the same time.

The "young" part is obvious. I want to feel like I am still in high school again. Let me clarify, I don't want to actually "be" in high school again, I just want to feel like it. I gotta tell you, I would be scared to death if I were back in high school.

(Warning: Random social rant coming on for the next paragraph.)

Its a whole different world. As much as I condemn a lot of the choices that I see highschoolers making these days, (I am not belittling the fact that although I do think teens today are a lot more unfocused; disrespectful; and think they can go through life with less accountability than we did) but I do recognize how much more difficult both emotionally and socially, high school must be now than it was 15 years ago. It's harder to get into and pay for college than ever. In this world of Youtube; Facebook; and camera phones, these kids live under a microscope. Its hard to live your life and make the mistakes that young people are bound to make, when a lot of times, every misstep has a chance of being public knowledge.

Back to the point.

I think we covered the "feeling young" part. Now the feeling old......I so did not enjoy that the actor who plays Troy's (the main guy) father was born in 1970. Seriously. He's 38!!!! That would be less than 5 years older than me.
Sidenote: I IMDBed him today because I thought he looked like this character that used to be on Queer as Folk (he wasn't the guy) but that's where I noticed his birthdate.

Of course that makes him 21 or 22 when he would have hypothetically had Troy, but come on. I still curse the day when, for the first time, actors and actresses (and sports stars for that matter) were younger than me. It was an all of the sudden weird moment around my 30th birthday. I was flipping through US Weekly, and it occurred to me...not everyone, but a lot of peeps, starring in the current movies were in their mid to late twenties...and I was no longer!

I don't think I am ready for the actors that play the parents of the main characters to be my age yet. But I guess it's next..........especially if I continue to watch a lot of teen movies.

Scary piece of trivia: Did you know that when Anne Bancroft starred in "The Graduate" she was only 36? I know she was playing a much older character, but wow. Mrs. Robinson was 3 years older than I am right now.

3. I bought into this movie because I love love.

(Shoutout to Ramsey's Friend Jamie for introducing me to that phrase. )

It's true.....I really love love. I get totally excited when people find eachother. (Well, when I like both the people...but that's another blog) Be it in real life, or on the big screen. Despite my sometimes seemingly cynical and occasional judgemental tendencies, I am a hopeless romantic at heart. Flowers; fireworks; grand gestures....bring it on.

Another sidestory: I am laughing at myself today because I may or may not have been slightly overserved this weekend, and I was hanging out with an old family friend of mine. Well, he introduced me to his new girlfriend, and the chick was pretty flippin' cool. In my state, if you will, I felt the need to tell her that they seems perfect for eachother, repeatedly saying (and I quote) that I "Loved love". Yeah. I also fell asleep on the chaise lounge outside on my porch waiting for the dog to do his business. I really hope neither of my neighbors saw.

Back to the latest point...High School Musical 2 is all about love: sweet, predictable, and simplistic. It's the singing and dancing side of love. What we all think 17 year old summer romances should be. Cosy picnics and innocent night swims. There was no sex, no drinking, and no screaming fights. There is a nemesis for a little drama, but she sees the light just in time to join the big show. It's corny, but I ate it up. Maybe because (to quote a cheesy romantic comedy from a couple years ago) "I'm looking for corny in my life."


I think I'll go to Target today to buy the HSM 2 soundtrack. These are just the type of songs that its fun to blast when driving around with the convertible top down.

High School Musical 3 comes out in October to the big screen. See you there.