high school miracle 2

I just made the creepiest discovery.
So. I am not sure I should come out this way, but... I am a fan of High School Musical. The first one, that is.

I just saw the second movie. I am shocked by how bad it is. Besides a couple of good ideas and scenes (but, really, two: the baseball one and the development of Ryan's character), it is so much worse than the original. Everyone and everything is a bare shadow of the already stereotyped originals. But stereotypes can be, even in a Disney musical, archetypes. Especially if you have a smart screenplay, good music, and fresh actors, as in the first movie. The sequel is instead frankly embarassing.

But the really disquieting scene is the final one. Shen-yi illuminated me: it's subliminal right-wing Christian propaganda! It's a hymn to keeping the faith, holding hands, celebrating every day! This interpretative key in turn explains why in a modern high school there are basically no Asian students, meaning no East-Asians nor South-Asians nor any Middle-Easterns. And of course there is no hint of Muslim or Jewish people. Blacks play only support roles (and the romance between Taylor and Chad is just alluded to) and the only real concession to the melting pot is, of course, Gabriella. Being latina, we can reasonably suppose she's a fervent Christian. Well, a Catholic, but that's acceptable, I guess. We have to be ecumenic in this contemporary world. Notice anyway that Gabriella, far from being the smartest kid of school she was in the first movie, plays during the whole movie the role of an aspiring Pamela Anderson, without basically doing anything but being inanely puzzled by Troy's (transparent) behavior, and waiting to magically reappear to sing the final sappy song with him (I have to admit that when she runs away from Troy, among her tears there are a few sensible words about the fact she has to care for herself. But that's about the only point for women's cause: the only feminine character is the obnoxious, and flatter than originally, Sharpay).

This interpretation also casts a light on the hilarious Übermensch-like scene in which Troy decides to stop being an ass, and ask us to "bet" on him. I thought it was just a way of selling yet another video of yet another male cute singer, but aren't we watching... "How To Become a Prophet Yourself"??

But there is still hope in this world: check out the parody...