Thoughts on High School Musical 2 (2007)
Troy, The Whole Troy and Nothing But The Troy
Kenny Ortega's High School Musical 2 (2007) is the tightrope walker of the DCOM circus; the film is a vibrant exhibition of skill, balance, and spectacle of epic proportions. Ortega's choreography and direction always takes The Road Most Fun in crafting his impressionist painting of the summer vacation before senior year. And yet somehow this is without doubt, one of the only films about teenage pressures and anxieties that does not feel remotely perfunctory. I think I could write an entire dissertation on this film but I will just give you a small snapshot of my feelings about HSM2.
Golf-course-stomping-CGI-reflection-water-splashing-comeback-anthem 'Bet On It' builds on Troy's deeply profound predicament from the first film: is a person of many conflicting fragments destined to be shattered? In High School Musical (2006), Troy's uplifting refusal to pick either basketball or theatre provides a satisfying conclusion to our hero's journey, but in High School Musical 2, he is faced with the a new challenge: his desire to choose everything, loses him the right to chose anything at all. In building the foundations of his future, he loses touch with the present, and vice versa. Troy has to lose it all to win it all back. But I would argue that the sense of ending does not come from the unanticipated return of his Wildcat friends to Lava Springs. For this the first time we see Troy in circumstances wildly out his control, and that (after a sing song and some aggro golf club swinging) he seems okay with it, learning to 'count on myself instead'. Our hero is shown to be accepting his reality and persevering regardless of his losses.
"You're not just a guy, Troy"- throughout each stage in the HSM trilogy, our protagonist is entirely consumed by these commodified versions of himself; he is not only fragmented, but these fragments are exactly what makes Troy... Troy. The leader, the fixer, a guy's guy, The Man. Everyone is there for him because he is there for everyone. He is not a particularly bad boyfriend, bad friend, bad staff member, bad golfer, bad teammate or captain, but Troy's inability to commit to any of these roles fully makes him consider if the 'Real Troy' even exists. I am sure we all thought the same during the peculiar CGI shot of his reflection in the lake... I am not being ironic when I say this film unpicks society's relationship with personhood under late stage capitalism and our consideration of what fundamentally makes us who we are. The versions of Troy read like a Twitter bio: "Mother, Accountant, Millennial, Bookworm, Fence Sitter". Just like Troy, I am certain we are all susceptible to performing the versions of ourselves, rather than simply being our whole selves.
During the penultimate musical sequence 'Everyday', Troy is singing alone on stage. A painted backdrop of clouds, his white suit and crystal blue eyes, a solid spray tan, and the slow piano of the ballad begins and we see Troy shed his Mr Perfect routine. Troy without the Wildcats, without Gabriella, no friends, no father. Troy finally without a role to play. I feel as though we have our ending in this moment.
Yes, no man is an island, but a man is more than the summary of his parts to play in other people's lives. Troy is growing up, and for the first time in the series, he is not trying to commodify the fragments of himself for his friends, his father, even Gabriella. If the allegory of HSM is that 'you can have it all!', the message that strikes me in HSM2 is that you could have nothing, and still choose to keep going.
Oh yeah and then the Miley Cyrus cameo in 'All For One' is sick!