Was Sharpay Evans The Villain Or The Victim In High School Musical?

oh we can all hold hands around the campfire some other time right now we've gotta show [Music] so recently I decided to re-watch the entire High School Musical Trilogy I was really fascinated by a recent recontextualization of one character in particular from the franchise and that is Sharpay Evans she's the antagonist of all three movies at least that's the way she was depicted although recently there has been more for reframing around her character a lot more people now feel that Sharpie was actually the unsung hero of the High School Musical franchise and that she wasn't really the antagonist just the victim of circumstance so now looking back more people have begun to feel that Gabriella and Troy were the true villains of the series and that they actually denied Sharpay a character whose whole passion is the Performing Arts and opportunity to shine and you know me if there's one thing I'm gonna do is dissect and analyze a character from a Children's Program from over a decade ago because it's fun so my initial Instinct was actually to push back against this idea I think a lot of people obviously aren't spending most of their time re-watching movies from when they were kids so I think it's easier when we grow up to have a different understanding and interpretation of things we watched when you were younger but that also makes it a lot easier to misrepresent depictions that we've seen also people love a good mean girl so much so that they'll justify her actions no matter how terrible they are so that might also be what's at play here we love Sharpay so we don't want her to be the bad guy but I'm nothing if not fair so I actually want to revisit the High School Musical Trilogy to see if this new representation of Sharpay's character is actually valid did we just blindly think Sharpie was a bad guy because the movie said so and our tiny brain just followed along or is this new Recon textualization of her character just adults now misrepresenting a character just because they like her brief history so the idea of High School Musical actually came out of some experiments Disney Channel was having with some of their shows they produced an entire musical episode of Even Stevens a show I never watched and That's So Raven and those episodes and the music from those episodes performed well this gave Disney the idea and the confidence to produce an entire musical set in high school and thus High School Musical was born the franchise was really popular especially the music the first movie even won two Emmys and one for choreography which honestly super well deserved like the choreography for the first two movies are my favorite the franchise fully entered the Zeitgeist and became a cultural staple so in revisiting these movies I wanted to pay extra close attention to sharpie's character see how she's portrayed and finally definitively answer the question was she a villain or a victim so for these longer analysis videos I like to divide the chapters and give them an appropriate name based on what we're talking about but I couldn't for the life of me think of anything good for this one so I'm just gonna name each chapter after the movies great good High School Musical so we started the first movie with a faded meeting between Troy and Gabriella the movie weighs absolutely no time letting us know what kind of character Architects these two are Gabriella is at a party reading a book okay and Troy is spending his time practicing basketball with his dad so very early on we get the jock and Bookworm narrative shoved in Gabriella and Troy are pushed into performing a karaoke song together and this guide us some impressive foreshadowing someday you guys might thank me for this or not they sing start of something new and I gotta tell you it's my first time hearing these songs in a long while they're actually really good like this bridge on this song goes crazy for absolutely no reason so anyways after killing their performance together they exchange numbers with the hopes of meeting up soon and then Gabriella performs a magic trick where do you live why did she disappear she could have at least said bye anyways so now we're back at East High where we see just how popular Troy Bolton is he's a big man on campus and everybody just absolutely loves him and we see Sharpay for the first time and her brief introduction we can already tell she's a little full of herself and Chad makes this one-off joke like what's that supposed to be an insult she likes looking at herself okay we then see that Gabriela is also attending East High she's transferring schools and is having anxiety about being the weird genius girl at a new school during homeroom we first hear mentions of the spring music cow check this out of cheats in the law before new activities Mr Bolton especially our winter Musical and the audition sheets would be option for people to sign up I also just love that the theater teacher's whole character is theater like she eats sleeps and breathes theater this is a place of learning not a hockey arena is that a basketball I wouldn't know because I only do theater boy they're really playing up the archetypes and you know what I actually like it I think it's funny so Gabriella enters her new homeroom and Troy seems to recognize her but isn't sure if it's actually her so he calls her phone and I'm like what are you doing you could just wait until after class to see if it's her then everyone gets in showed because everyone checks to see if it's their phone and they all get detention anyways trying Gabriella reunite and show is very embarrassed about the fact that he can sing so he doesn't want anyone to know about the karaoke but he does ask Gabriella if she's going to sign up for the musical Gabriela says she's not really interested because she wants to get to know the school before doing any extracurriculars but Sharpay is definitely signing up we can see more that Sharpay is not only very active accident theater but she also started off the plays alongside her brother so theater and Performing are her thing to the point where she expects to always be the lead so at that point Troy and Gabriella say they aren't interested so it's fine we also see that Sharpay kind of has a little crush on Troy but it's very one-sided afterwards Troy can fight in Chad his best friend that he's contemplating during the school musical though he passes it off as it just being good for extra credit chat shuts down that idea immediately saying that he doesn't think he would be a good idea for Troy to run around and sing and dance to show tunes to which the entire team immediately starts singing and dancing to a show tune wait a minute whose voice is that so I know is that Zac Efron isn't doing his own singing apparently the role of Trey was written with a tenor in mind and Zac Efron is the baritone so he couldn't do most of the songs so they had Drew Seeley who also auditioned for the role sing all of the songs Zach did some parts like the beginning and ending of some songs but for the most part we're hearing Drew Seeley I just think it's funny that they wouldn't hire him to play the role but still use his voice anyways the whole song is about Troy being torn between wanting to perceive the musical and playing basketball which like I guess if you say so I don't know I'm having trouble buying Detroit is that interested in the musical but whatever anyways Sharpie starts to size up Gabriella to find out more about what the deal is with her and Troy and we get more proof of just how brainy and smart Gabriella is to know the second equation reads 16 over Pi that's quite impossible why was the teacher being so snobby about this you probably just wrote it down wrong calm down Dragon hovers around the sign up list still contemplating whether or not he should join the Musical Sharpay decides to do some research on her potential competition because she wants to make sure that she gets the lead as always so Sharpay finds out that Gabriella is a super smart genius and decides to submit her in an extracurricular that would prevent her from participating in the School Musical and I'm not sure why at that point Gabriella already says she's not interested and that she wasn't going to do any extracurricular so she could get a better feel of the school first so I don't get why Sharpies even threatened at that point but I guess it could be a preemptive strike just to ensure that she absolutely gets to leave so I guess that was sharpie's first real overstep you know not really Insidious very calculated and conniving but I wouldn't say straight up villain you know she just overstepped her boundaries and it worked Gabriella got roped in to join the math club decathlon I don't know one of the Smarties Troy's dad and Coach notices Troy and Chad missed their training and he's really really upset about it what the heck those two doing in a tree so he takes it to the principal and advocates for them to not miss training for detention because they have a really huge game coming up I just love the juxtaposition between Mrs Darvis and Coach Bolton because their whole personality revolves around their prospective interests like Mrs Darby's whole character revolves around theater so much so that she has no idea what sports are and how they work and Coach Bolton's whole identity also solely revolves around basketball I love it the principle is definitely a little bit more biased towards the coach and sports though and honestly this was definitely how it worked at my school Gabriella is still deciding on whether or not to join the decathlon because she still really committed to not doing any extracurricular until she figures out the school her new be a fifth tailor though or really thinks she's a good fit and thinks Sports and Troy Bolton are beneath her unless you better set the cheerleaders and discuss important mailbox they're really not like other girls guys Troy tries to confide in his dad about his growing interest in pursuing theater I'm sorry I still don't get why he's so torn up about it I really don't get why Troy's that interested to do theater because liking singing doesn't necessarily mean that you like doing musicals like I can understand him being interested in singing but what exactly is it about musical theater that he's so interested in especially because he's not just interested because of Gabriella because she already said she's not gonna do it so why does he care so much I don't get it and neither does his dad you should think about trying something new but we're afraid of what your friends might think you're like what left God I just love that they're fully these archetypes and seemingly have no interest in absolutely nothing else like these aren't nuanced characters they are fully and completely what they do and Coach Bolton is completely basketball the day of auditions roll around and Troy is still deciding on whether or not to audition so he sneaks out from Chad to go to the audition he even was able to evade his dad they this kid is Loki a magician because what the hell also I've been trying to figure out what class this is is it engineering it looks like they're working on cars or does this school just also have a mechanical shop this was actually so well financed also look at this theater look at those lights like these are professional lighting equipment I know Mrs darbus says that the school pays more attention to sports but it really doesn't seem like the theater department is starved for money that this is actually an insane test for a high school theater they could actually host professional stage shows in this theater or the theaters in your guys's High School this great because I don't know why Mrs Doris would really be mad seems like the school gives every Department a good amount of investment so anyways the audition started and they show us a bunch of terrible auditions to further show how amazing Our Stars auditions would be which is honestly pretty cliche but for good reason it works except for this guy who for some reason did a ballet audition when they were supposed to be auditioning with a song honestly this was my favorite bad audition I just know they were high as hell Gabriela turns up for the audition and she's considering auditioning too but before they do Sharpay and Ryan do their audition and they did a more of the tempo version of the song and honestly it was really really good I'm sorry they absolutely killed it but I also recognize that I'm a person who loves Dramatics and theatrics so this was right up my alley they had choreo flips Jazz squares and their own mics and instrumentation and this is what every audition should be I can see where they normally get the lead roles in every show Sharpie gave a really nasty talking to Kelsey though after she suggested they do a more stripped down version of the song honestly yeah she's really mean here for no reason she really snapped at Kelsey and it shows just how egotistical sharp it can be also I never realized this growing up but Kelsey wrote the whole musical she wrote and composed all of these songs that's crazy she's easily the most sensitive person at this school this girl wrote a whole musical at age what 15 was that just a thing kids didn't high school because at my school we just did already popular musicals we never had a student write one themselves and have the suit produce it that's crazy anyways Gabriella decides to audition but Mrs darbus is a stickler for time so they missed their chance so she doesn't allow them to audition but trying Gabriella sing the song the way it was supposed to be sang with Kelsey and honestly this version isn't bad at all I still think I prefer sharpie's version there are certain songs that work better Up Tempo and I think this is one of them Sharpay made the right choice making changes to it still I did think during Gabriella's version were actually pretty good anyways Mrs Darvis heard them singing and agrees to allowed them to audition at a callback and for my non-theater viewers a callback is essentially a second round of auditions so Gabriella and Troy now have to audition against Sharpay and Ryan for the lead roles in the musical and let me tell you the announcement of these callbacks brings the whole school to a complete style Sharpie is obviously not happy about this for the first time ever she actually has some real competition against getting the lead role in the musical don't dare she sign up I've heard picked out the colors for my dressing room wait they get their own dressing rooms how big is this school okay this has to be like an elite private institution because there's just no way choice friends are also not happy to hear about this and the whole school goes through a whole uproar and because Troy wins against the status quo and has encouraged other people to go against it too but it at least got us this moment [Music] telling the black kid to stick to basketball it's too funny but then also this moment hip-hop is my passion I love to pop and lock and jam and break is that even legal this school is racist as hell is that legal why are they so anti-black also this was the best part of the song to me this guy was really killing it with the vocals dude there's no explanation for this awesome sensation but I'm ready to let it lie anyways Sharpie gets dumped on by Gabriella which was an accident but that only further wraps her up against them and everyone trying to be in the musical she tells Mrs narvis that Troy's involvement the musical is some master plan to undermine the Performing Arts so Mrs darbus decides to investigate this herself she can French coach Bolton who at that point had no idea that Troy auditioned to be in the school play Gabriella is still on the fence about the musical and Taylor wants her to be careful because Sharpie has always gotten the lead and would undoubtedly do anything to make sure she gets it again if that girl could figure out a way to play both Romeo and Juliet her own brother would be a Savage wait what okay we're just gonna skip past the ancestral Troy leaves Gabriella a note to meet him so they could talk he confronts in her about the overwhelming expectation he gets from his parents and his friends he wants to be more than just the basketball guy and Gabriella wants to be more than just the brainy genius girl she says that singing with him makes her feel like when they were kids and so they decide to take the audition seriously and begin rehearsing Sharpay and Ryan spy on them which I don't know why because they already know they're up for it so I don't know also is Sharpie just blind how did she miss that anyways Troy putting more time and effort into the musical takes away from his commitment to basketball and the team which is really problematic for the team and his dad his dad wants him to forget the singing and focus on basketball and then we get this really great moment not a singer do you ever think maybe I could be both which is just just perfect Chad hatches a scheme to keep Troy from participating in the musical he also gets Taylor's help and I don't know I was a kid in the early 2000s so maybe things were just really different back then but when I was in high school if the star athlete was also a good singer that would just cement their place as the coolest person in the school like in 2016 a kid that's good at sports and singing and dancing would just be that much more well liked but you know this was a different time so I guess there was a lot more at stake for Troy so Chad's plan which is just a really terrible plan like he took three minutes to come up with this he gets troyed in the locker room to talk about how much more he cares about basketball than the musical and he doesn't really care about singing or Gabriella meanwhile they are live streaming this whole conversation to a laptop that Taylor set up and shows Gabriella I'm sorry this man sucks also why wouldn't Gabrielle just immediately question how they were able to even get this footage like setting up a camera in the boy's locker room is kind of creepy also I don't get why Taylor even helped them like how does Gabrielle participating in the School Musical or Fitness and what they have going on in any way we at least see that choice interest in the musical hurts his performance and his attention in basketball so I get why the team doesn't want him to do it but why do these people care let Gabriela have her fun also this was just so mean like you brought your best friends to tears all because of what why is this such a big deal we talk a lot about Sharpay and how mean and evil she was but these guys were kind of the villains of this movie I don't know Sharpay didn't even have anything to do with this planet whatsoever but you know what if it all had to happen for us to get this absolute Banger of a song and so be it I think a lot of people actually don't like this song but I'm sorry I like it it's just so good and melodramatic and for whatever reason I remember her going down this staircase and wearing that ridiculous build also what was the school's yearly budget this is actually getting ridiculous yeah brother blows off Troy and this really affects him and he loses his game and he can't focus anymore and get Gabriella also gets really sad about the whole situation and the dynamic viewer realizes they made a mistake I honestly don't know how they expected this to go any other way they both come clean to train Gabriella about how they sabotage their relationship so Troy decides to shove together's house to talk to her actually he kind of breaks into her home it's so funny how things we thought were romantic as kids in Rich's pick are just kind of creepy like he just fully enters her home without her permission he tries to convince her to do the call back with him in the best way he knows house [Music] start of something new and it was a little pitchy so they make up and both decide to do their auditions as well as the big basketball game and the decathlon so now that both are determined to do the callbacks Sharpay again feels threatened and devises a plan to have all the events happen at the same time she convinces Mrs darbus to move the car backs the same day as the big basketball game and the decathlon and one I can't understand Sharpie not wanting anyone else to be the lead in the show but if she genuinely believes she's that great two amateurs are auditioning shouldn't make her sweat this much like if you think you're that good of a performer you shouldn't care who auditions also Mrs darbus agreeing to change the date of the callbacks is crazy why would she agreed to do that especially as someone who is such a sticker for time and punctuality to change the date of the event last minute without any concessions to the performers are auditioning it's crazy this plan was so stupid that I'm surprised it worked because she shouldn't have agreed to do that like that's ridiculous so anyways with everything happening on the same day the Wildcats devised the plans to get both Troy and Gabriel let's make their performance in the meantime sharping and ran performed first and they do Bop to the Top which I forgot how much of a banger this was you know they've been getting really good songs in this movie so while Sharpie and Ryan are performing and the basketball game is going on Harrison's a code that messes up the scoreboard but the scoreboard messed up they paused the game giving Troy and Gabriella enough time to meet the callbacks trying Gabriella just barely make it in time and performs Breaking Free and I gotta say I think they did a better job than Sharpay and Ryan like Bob to the top was really good and I can definitely see why they'd be that Sharpay here it was honestly just a better performance anyways after their performance Troy and the team win their basketball game and Gabriella wins her decathlon and they're both gonna be the leads in the School Musical and that's it Troy and Gabriella get a happy ending and they wrap it up with a performance of We're All in This Together and bro the choreography for this number is insane this joint right here hold on let me play that back like are you kidding me I absolutely deserve that Emmy for choreography and that's it that's the first movie and honestly I definitely thought Sharpay did a lot worse she did overstep a lot and she was very clearly insecure about not being the School Musical lead so she signed Gabriella up for the decathlon team without her permission and she had the date of the club exchange so that Troy and Gabriella wouldn't be able to audition that's basically it which yeah those aren't great but I still think that it was pretty tame like I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable calling her a villain she was definitely the antagonist of this movie but not necessarily a bad guy you know especially because at the end she seemed fine with the fact that she didn't get the lead like she accepted it for what it was yeah she's a little mean in this one not necessarily the nicest warmest person and that I think is her biggest offense in this movie just the way she treats everyone even her brother but overall I'd say she's not only had lists to doing this movie than I initially thought she did but the things she did whilst selfish never truly felt overly malicious I gotta be honest Chad and Taylor's plan felt more nefarious than sharpays because not only were they trying to prevent them from auditioning for the musical they also broke them up as a couple and really hurt them so to me their plan was so much more egregious than Sharpay asking Mrs zarus to change the date of the Callback and it's still so crazy to me that she agreed to that like that was insane so at this point I think sharpie's definitely the antagonist but I'm not comfortable calling her a villain or a victim just yet so right now she's in the middle but let's look at the other movies and see where she falls I haven't watched High School Musical suit in a very long time so I was very excited to revisit it for this video because it was definitely my favorite in the trilogy we started the movie with our group in the homeroom counting down the seconds to their summer vacation this was such an iconic moment I remember after this movie dropped our whole class would do this it would count down and be like summer summer summer on the last day of school this led us into the open a number what time is it you know what High School Musical 2 to me feels like they looked at the first movie and said how can we make this better in every conceivable way because this is actually insane this opening is so amazing I remember why this was my favorite one in the trilogy because it just goes so much harder than the opening for the first one down to the choreography of them replicating ticking clocks are you kidding me this is just objectively a really good song and opener I will never not be impressed by choreography implementing basketballs because how do you think of this so anyways the East High group are very excited for summer to say the least and they're all looking for summer job opportunities Troy gives Gabriella a gift to symbolize their everlasting love for each other or maybe it's just a necklace with the initials of his name I also find it hilarious how every time trying Gabriela share romantic moments the rest of the entire cast are just standing off awkwardly watching them as if they're watching a movie like can you guys disperse this isn't a show anyways Troy through some fortuitous luck gets a job opportunity to work at an exclusive club and gets jobs for everyone in the class we learned shortly however that this was a plot by Sharpay to get closer to Troy by having him work at the country club she stays out every summer and it's like toward end it's definitely weird that she's still trying to pursue Troy romantically considering he's now dating Gabriella but whatever I guess we then get the absolute hit that is fabulous and one thing that we know this immediately the sharpest characterization has definitely changed since the first movie She's definitely a lot more campy more in your face over the top egotistical very Paris Hilton even down to her driving a pink car The Fabulous sequence definitely highlights this as Sharpie sings about how she wants everything and everything She Wants needs to be fabulous [Music] anyways Troy and the whole crew pulls up to start working to which Sharpay is not happy about apparently sharpie's mother approved the rest of the class working there even though Sharpay's plan was only to have Troy be there so they could possibly start a romantic relationship she instructs Mr Fulton to make the rest of the East High students time they are so miserable that they would want to quit suddenly the class aren't so enthused to be working there anymore but after another Banger Troy was able to get them all on the same page and motivated to start working there I just want to point out that so far we are three for three all these songs are so good the first movie is definitely extending this one's Shadow because these songs and choreography go so hard so Troy takes Gabriella on a picnic date and they discuss their future and Troy is worried about getting a scholarship to get into college and I'm sorry I'm having a hard time believing Troy's parents would struggle to pay his college tuition look at this guy's house anyways Sharpay is now fully spying on them she's completely gone off the deep end she makes the staff turn on the sprinklers on them which I don't get why she thought that would mess up their date if anything it made it more atmospheric and romantic and I mean we did get this line that had to have been intentional there's just no way anyways they get in trouble with Mr Fulton for being on the golf course well Gabriella gets in trouble because Troy is basically Untouchable meanwhile Kelsey starts writing songs in preparation for the talent show that the staff can participate in and choice immediately like no he says the School Musical was a one-time thing and see this is why I say I just don't buy that choice that passionate about musical theater or performing it just seems like a thing he's casually interested in anyway Kelsey shows them her song You Are The Music In Me and they sing the song and boy we are four for four in this movie [Music] people the song is so good again the other members of the cast does this weird thing where they see Gabriel and Troy sharing a moment and just awkwardly watch and sneak in anyways it's a really good song and Kelsey convinces all of the others to participate in the talent show Ryan reports back to Sharpay about the wildcat's intention to participate in talent show and she hatches a plan to steal Troy away for herself Troy and Chad work as cat is for Sharpay and her family and during the course of the golf course Troy Empress is sharp is that so much so that he ignites him out to have dinner with them that night sharpie's dad is on the board of the University of Albuquerque a school choice interested in so they tell him that they can offer him some opportunities at a scholarship it also comes out that Troy's a really good singer so Sharpay makes him promise her that he would perform with her in the talent show in front of everybody including her parents so of course Troy says yes while all of this is happening Troy is really really late for his date with Gabriella but he stalled again when sharper steals him away to show him her performance for the talent show and wow we've officially gotten our first Miss Ed I have no collection of this song or this sequence whatsoever and that's when I realized I was watching the extended version of this movie with additional scenes sprinkled in and this was one of them so this was actually my first time watching this scene and hearing the song and you know it was played for comedy but I do not like this song cultural appropriation aside I just felt that it was really gaudy and tacky even for Sharpay like it didn't seem like the song she would sing it doesn't really fit her aesthetic anyways throughout the performance she tries to incorporate Troy although apparently those are Orion's part that she was given to Troy and he hates it I've never seen Orion so animated I love it anyways after the performance Troy advises Sharpay to make the performance a little simpler and stripped down and she agrees Trey manages to sneak away to finally make his date with Gabriella they swing the pool and share a sweet moment but again Gabriella gets in trouble for being in the pool after hours but not Troy no Troy gets promoted because of Shar-Pei and sufficiently separated from the rest of the Wildcats he gets special privileges with his promotion including his own golf cart he is not training kids to golf including Sharpay surprisingly although she clearly doesn't need it anyways sharpie's dad introduced his choice to some pro basketball players from the University of Albuquerque and he very quickly starts developing an ego treating his friends like staff and not making time for them or Gabriella Sharpay steals Gabriella and Troy's songs from Kelsey to perform in the talent show which means dumping the hula hula song and Ryan she completely Cuts Ryan off from the show so she can perform with Choi it's getting a little harder to defend Sharpay here meanwhile Trey contains the Dish's friends to hang out with the pro basketball players and now that Ryan got dumped he hangs out with the East High gang since Troy is too busy with the pro basketball players and Sharpay Gabriella thinks Ryan can help them put on a really good show but Chad isn't so easily convinced and wants Ryan to prove himself and okay recently there's been this thing where people say that Chad and Ryan had a lot of sexual tension particularly in this scene and honestly like I said I haven't watched this movie in years but re-watching it now I gotta say those people had a point like there's so much overt sexual tension in this sequence why are you looking at him like that oh my God so much to the point that I don't see how I didn't recognize any of this before it all culminated in them performing I don't dance so dance here is a metaphor for gay sex with Ryan trying to convince Chad that he'll enjoy it and Chad being like no I don't do that so they sing and dance it out with lyrics such as swing you'll never know if you'll never try taker's Best Shot just hit it I'll show you how I swing you're talking a lot show me what you got oh they were saying it wrong sorry sorry it's just I can't unsee it now wow so sexual attention aside this is also just another really great song and the choreographer for this is also really creative and impressive and this is my favorite sequence in the entire song wow this movie is just really the best in the trilogy without a doubt anyways the song seemingly ends with Chad giving in and giving it a try Little League World Series Newport Rhode Island like what also they're wearing each other's clothes bro they're each other meanwhile Troy is super busy hanging out with the pro basketballers and keeps missing dates with Gabriella then there was this moment where they were kinda implying that Ryan was some kind of threat to Troy and Gabriella's relationship I don't know Troy I don't think you have anything to worry about now Taylor she needs to keep an eye out Chad and Troy get into a heated argument that only further divides Troy from the rest of the gang and he goes after Sharpe to rehearse the new version of the song and I gotta be honest it's okay but the Slowdown version with troying Gabriella is better there are definitely songs that work better Up Tempo I think this one works better strips down so anyways after the rehearsal Troy freaks out and is having a difficult time to getting it together he sees the Wildcats rehearsing their performers and having fun and he feels left out Sharpay is also really mad that Ryan is helping them out and now tries to make it seem that they were a team all along even after she dumped him she then orders Mr Fulton to change the rules of the talent show to prevent the staff from participating Gabriela finally has enough and confront Sharpie about her middling with everything Gabriela lets her know that if Troy is the price she's trying to win that's fine but she will not be participating and some people like to make fun of Gabriella for this moment but she kinda has a point trying your brother then have a talk if she lets him know that she's done and she's going home and we get the amazing parabella that Gotta Go My Own Way bro every song in this movie is like an upgrade from the previous version because this is so much prettier than when there was me and you it's so good also this moment amazing Troy's all torn up about Gabriella leaving and doesn't know what to do he finds out that his friends can participate in talent show and will get the absolute Banger bid on it he's so much dramatic in this one and that's what makes it so amazing he really kills the performance and then he hits the snow all I gotta do is oh we've come a long way from lip syncing overdue skilly's vocals with renewed motivation he confronts Sharpay and drops out of the talent show sharp is desperate and tries to revive her Honolulu performance and get Ryan to do the performance with her although unfortunately at that point he's also over her so he drops out on her too Ryan's still sympathetic acts right to perform with his sister so she doesn't get embarrassed Troy agrees to sing with her only if she allows the Wildcats to do the show too she agrees though she admits she wish she was doing it just for her I don't know why she thinks that after everything she's done but sure Ryan sabotages it though after he said that he didn't want to see his sister Crash and Burn and makes Troy learn a new song every day cutting Sharpay completely from the performance sure performs the new song and surprise gabriela's back to perform the song with him this song is really good it's no Breaking Free though I still think that song is better but this comes very close and it's a good follow-up to that song the Wildcats joined them on stage and Troy even invites Sharpay to join in the moment and they give a killer performance and the whole gets into it at the end of it Sharpie Awards Ryan the award as a show of good faith which honestly that was pretty sweet at the end train Gabriela finally share a kiss you guys have no idea how as kids how long we waited just to see them share a case because they didn't kiss them the first one we get our final song and it's definitely no all in this together but all for one is still a jam also some of you may remember on disneychannel.com we got the chance to vote for our special star to have a cameo in the movie now I never voted I didn't even know this was a thing honestly until afterwards but you guys voted for the Miley Cyrus and we got like a two second clip of her in the movie which okay I guess I definitely feel like it should have been more maybe even like a speaking role but yeah that's the movie That's How It Ends I can see why this was my favorite for so long also just the decision to have a sequel take place during the summer vacation was a stroke of Genius whoever idea that was deserves a raise so many times with sequels we see it just being the first movie but with different Stakes they could have so easily just made their be another big Musical that Troy and Gabriel are competing against Sharpay for but taking them out of the school and having it be during summer was a good choice anyway Sharpie was definitely on 11 for this one I actually feel way more comfortable calling her a villain in this one because she went out of her way not only to get Troy there but also to meet the rest of the Wildcats time there as miserable as possible sister really sketch it to me for her to want to break up trying Gabriella so she can be with him and it wasn't even coming from a sincere place like Sharpay doesn't actually care about Troy I see so many people defend her actions saying she got so many great opportunities for Troy to get him into college and Advance his career and Gabriella did nothing but Sharpay didn't do any of that of the goodness of her heart or from sincerely wanting to see Troy excellent grow she did all of that just to further manipulate him into doing what she wanted which was to perform in the talent show and then maybe even down the line be with her it's not like Sharpie cares about Troy's basketball career her whole interest in Troy really stems on the fact that Troy is the most popular boy in school and she thinks she's the the most popular girl in school so it would make sense that they would be together sure she probably thinks it's cute but Sharpay doesn't actually like Troy she doesn't care about his interests or his wants she only wants him because it only further helps Buster her own image so she went full villain in her efforts to steal Troy from Gabriella spying on them sabotaging them getting Gabriella in trouble and Gabriella only confronted her about it after she prevented the Wildcats from also performing in the talent show after they were already rehearsing and practicing for the show actually felt like Gabriella was extremely patient with both Sharpie and Troy because honestly I would have snapped away earlier so yeah Sharpay was unequivocally the villain in this one and I understand her being insecure and not wanting to try and get Brothers to perform in her talent show because it would steal Spotlight from her and you know the talent show and Performing is her thing so I can see how it would feel unfair the thing you worked so hard at getting co-opted by people who don't really have a great appreciation for it in the first place but the links that Sharpay went three just to keep her Spotlight even throwing Ryan her loyal servant under the bus doesn't justify the ends all of that just to sing with Troy of all people no so for this one she's getting a naughty star now let's look at the final movie High School Musical 3 High School Musical 3 senior Year So High School Musical 2 was a massive hit like it destroyed every record it premiered to 17.2 million viewers making it at the time the most watched basic cable telecast the previous record holder was an ESPN basketball game broadcast that's how big this movie was it beat Out Sports the soundtrack debuted on the Billboard Hot 200 with over 600 000 copies sold it also won an AMA and was even the best-selling album of 2007. like for the entire year like across all genres that's insane especially for a Disney Channel property so with a massive success of High School Musical 2 Disney decided to up the budget and do a full theatrical release of the third movie High School Musical 3 ran in theaters instead of premiering on the Disney Channel like its predecessors because you know any way they make more money I remember being so mad that the movie wasn't gonna air on the network that I actually never even saw it in theaters I only watched it years later that's how mad I was it ended up earning 252 million dollars across its theatrical run against a budget of 11 million dollars so safe to say was pretty successful I guess they didn't need my money to return a profit this installment is the one I remembered the least of all though I only think I watched it once and like I said I didn't even watch it for the first time until years after it had come out so I don't remember a lot of plot details or songs I do remember not liking it as much as the other ones but I do remember I want it all because that was my favorite song but overall this is really just like watching it for the first time for me so I'm curious to see how I came out of it so the movie starts smack in the middle of a heated basketball game it's the last game of the season and the team is losing bad and I'm already bored this was such an interesting opener for the movie in my opinion it does underpin that this is the end you know it's the last English season it's almost over this is the last movie but also the song being played throughout the game doesn't really lend itself to the kind of graviton that we got in the second movies opener but it did give us this moment [Applause] right now so we do have to be grateful for that still definitely not as good as what time is it so the team wins miraculously and they're a huge party at Troy's house to celebrate try and Gabriella share a moment in his childhood Treehouse and we find out that Gabriella got into Stanford University Which is far away from Albuquerque and we get another song right here right now and I do not remember this song at all it's sweet it's okay but I don't know they've definitely had more charismatic Duets it's also kind of short anyways Troy's mom kicked them out of the tree house and I keep forgetting that Troy has a mom for some reason I think it's because we hardly see her and also I think I hate Canon that Gabriella's mom and Troy's dad liked each other I have no idea why I don't think we ever even see them speak with each other but for some reason I thought that was a thing anyways we're back at the East High and Sharpie makes her grand entrance I love how our locker just gets more and more ridiculous as the movies goes on a new British exchange student stands up to be sharpie's assistant for the rest of the semester and she's fully familiar with their schedule in a not so creepy way whatsoever in the homeroom Taylor announces the prom theme is The Last Waltz and Sharpay as the head of the drama club announces potential performances for the semester including her doing a one-woman show so Kelsey signs up the whole Wildcats team to make sure that it doesn't happen initially everyone is hesitant and doesn't want to do it because they're busy but Gabriela and Troy confuses them to do it the musical is called senior year and will be about all the students in their final year at High School Mrs darbus announces that Juilliard at prestigious performing arts university is concerning four scholarships for East High students Sharpay Ryan Kelsey and Troy Troy didn't apply but somebody submitted an application with his name he's never even heard of Juilliard Mrs darbus advises them to think about their future Troy is unsure about his future but Sharpay is very sure of her future we get the best song of the movie possibly of the entire franchise I Want It All Sharpie and RAM perform a show-stopping performance the theatrics the set pieces the choreography this this is where all their budget went the climax is my favorite part of this entire song [Music] foreign decides that she has to get the best song for the musical if they want a good chance of getting into Juilliard knowing that Kelsey would write the best song for troying Gabriella she convinces Ryan to seduce Kelsey to get the song for them so they can perform it meanwhile Gabriella is waiting on an early acceptance program from Stanford meaning she would leave for college early and would miss the rest of the school year she meets up with Troy and he asked her out to prom and then they sing Can I Have This Dance which I actually remembered and I really like it it's so much better than the first song they did try and chat pranks the new guys on the team and gets them into trouble so now they have to help with the stage Musical and that'll be important later I promise so Troy is still torn up about what to do about his future Juilliard or basketball at the University of Albuquerque and I still don't get why we are three movies in and I still don't get why Troy is so torn up about this I'm sorry I just don't buy that musical theater is that important to him like there's a difference between having a hobby and liking singing and seriously wanting to be a theater perform former and there just not have been enough evidence over these three movies to support the idea that Troy's passionate about theater whatever so Chad after many field attempts asked out Taylor and then we get the song Night to Remember I remember this song going viral and Tick Tock a couple months back tonight I really like this song especially the juxtaposition between the girls being really excited about the prom and the guys dreading it also they're really trying to get us to bed the Ryan and Kelsey ruins but we won't forget also I love that this song within the context of the movie is a performance for the musical they're doing like it's a musical within a musical so Gabriella is accepted into the early entrance program at Stanford and Sharpies goons overhears this and lets her know if Gabriel attends the orientation that would mean that she misses the show giving Sharpay an opportunity to take her part charme brings out the info and if there's one thing sharp is gonna do it's print out a document and expose himself Ryan acts out Kelsey to the prom I don't know why and they rehearse the song they have for Gabriella and Troy I just want to be with you which honestly it's a good song I like it then we get a pretty weird sequence with Troy and Chad they sing a song The Boys Are Back which doesn't really move the plot forward it's just a song we have about how they're best friends and will always be best friends there was definitely cool moments throughout the song like when they were younger versions of themselves but I feel like this whole sequence could have been cut it doesn't push narrative forward but it's cool I guess I don't know so far the music isn't as great as the previous ones especially from High School Musical 2. so Gabriella is contemplating not going to stand for it at all so she can stay in Albuquerque with Troy which is just so crazy to me like get your life together meanwhile Troy is still struggling over his choice of what to do with his future sure Sharpay lets sure I know that Gabriela got early acceptance into Stanford which means she's leaving sooner than he thought which like yeah that was definitely not her place but she didn't put Gabriel in Stanford I think Sharpie has grown since the last movie because this isn't even like a plan she just passed on Public Information to everyone else anyways Troy talks to Gabriella and convinces her to go off to Stanford and then we get walk away and yeah this is no gotta go your own way they're definitely trying to replicate the songs from the other movies but they're just not as great anyways Gabriella goes off to Stanford and with that sharper he's officially taking her place in the Musical Troy lets his dad know that he's con simply think going to Juilliard and his dad does not understand why and you know what coach Bolton I don't get it either the fact that this is the central theme of choice Arc in this movie is crazy because he doesn't even seem to care that much about the musical that they're doing right now so I don't buy that this guy really wants to be in theater but whatever we get another melodramatic Troy Bolton lemons this time with Scream and you know what I actually like this one the choreography was kind of reminiscent of Janet Jackson and we did get some cool visual shots I think I feel like this is a good place to Scream Wait so did she see him dancing like that wasn't all just in his head he was actually singing dancing I don't know why but I found that hilarious which is why I submitted an application in your name to Juilliard it was you anyways with gabrielagon the whole team are struggling to go on with the performance for some reason I don't get why Gabriel was such an integral part of the show I get that they're sad about her not being there but come on anyways Gabrielle let's try know that she's not coming back for prom graduation or the musical because it's too hard to say goodbye to everyone over and over again so Troy makes the smart decision to drive all the way over to her to Stanford just to see her and he's just hanging out in a tree for some reason he wanted to spend prom with her so he did the extra problem to dance with her in the park and honestly it is really sweet I am kind of rooting for them with Troy gone it means that they have to put on his understudy in his place for the performance and the Julia representatives are there so we got our built-in conflict so anyways the show starts and why are these nests trying to push this on me I'm not buying it and we get to what was supposed to be Gabriela and choice part but his understudy is having a little trouble and then this happens trying Gabriella arrives just in time to save the day yay then Sharpay finds out that Tiara her understood was just using her to leverage her way into the drama department and run the school so Troy and Gabriela do their performance we get this insane here for the moment and everyone is completely blown away the jewelry rips are super impressed they get on their feet and the whole Wildcat to joined the performance and give a show-stopping performance but at the last minute Sharpay is determined to get her Spotlight back I also just love how this actress sings Let's Dance anyways Sharpie barges in on the performance it's kind of chaotic and she doesn't really get her moment to shine and then the music lens so that's it we find out that Kelsey won the Juilliard scholarship for writing the musical and they were so impressed that they're also awarding another scholarship to Ryan for choreography Sharpay got accepted to the University of Albuquerque in performing arts and she's returned to Eastside to help with the drama department for some reason anyways and now for the Moment of Truth what this whole trilogy has been leading up to what will Troy do so he decides to do both basketball and theater and the whole crowd is touched his mom even starts crying and I'm like okay sure so he decides to go to Berkeley in California to be closer to Gabriella and apparently Gabriella is pre-law which is kind of crazy because I always thought she was a science math genius never thought she would actually be doing a lot but okay sure so at graduation should I gives a speech which I don't know why I thought only valedictorians and salutatorians give speeches but we got Troy giving us a speech about how we'll be friends forever and we're all in this together and we get our final number and I gotta say this moment right here it was pretty cool I gotta give them that I actually really like this closing number I think it did a really good job of closing off everything I actually got a little emotional at the end like wow it's really over [Music] now let's get to the bad stuff this movie really pissed me off so bad first off Sharpay was surprisingly hardly in this one like she had less screen time than in the last one and she didn't really do anything like she didn't do anything at all she 100 overstepped her place by telling Troy about Gabriella that wasn't her place but Gabriella already got in like Sharpay had nothing to do with that sure was going to find out anyways so I don't really think she did anything bad in this one she wasn't even that mean she definitely dialed it down since the last one but after this movie ended I kind of felt sorry for her I think this was the best example of why people would think Sharpie was a victim and I understand why it's so complicated for people to put her in a box and why there are so many conflicting ideas about whether or not she's the villain or the victim because I would go as fast as she wasn't even the antagonist in this movie out of all of the other Wildcats she was the only one that really cared about the final musical the others didn't even sign up Kelsey had to force them to do it so it does leave a sour feeling that the only person who really really really really really wanted to do the musical wasn't even able to get her moment in the show it was completely usurped by the Troy and Gabriella show she got completely shut out and again yes she wanted to be the star but it's not her fault Gabriella got in she just had the opportunity and she wanted to do it also her going to the University of Albuquerque really I do really like that Kelsey and Ryan got the scholarship like I said I think Kelsey is the most talented person in the school for being able to write these musicals but they couldn't send Sharpay to another prestigious performing University I'm fine that she didn't get into Juilliard but she could still go to NYU or UCLA or something there's just something about the decision to keep Sharpay in Albuquerque that really rubs me the wrong way it's almost like the writers are punishing her but she didn't do anything wrong this time also her going back to East hightail Mrs darbus with the drama club why it's as if every other character gets to move on and do something great and pursue their dreams but Sharpay is stuck where she's always been helping out out with her High School drama club I think I especially hate it just because out of everyone in the cast she was the most passionate about performing a lot of it did come from an egotistical place of one to be the center of attention and a star but her Talent is undeniable she deserves a chance to go for her dreams also I'm not trying to bash the University of Albuquerque if the school shut down in the 80s anyways so them even going there was just made up for the movie The Sharpies deserves better I don't care I know she's done terrible things and the second movie she was a straight-up villain but I gotta say I do agree with the critique that it feels partisan to have two people who have a nominal interest in the theater at best constantly taking Shannon opportunities from someone who dedicates their life to theater Sharpay wasn't struggling with her choice she knew exactly who she was and what she wanted to do I'm just so glad that they didn't give Troy the Juilliard scholarship I would have fully lost my mind so you know what I'm putting her as a victim for this one also I can't reiterate enough how much it bothers me that they try to make Choy choosing between theater later and basketball a thing when it was so obvious he didn't care that much about theater I don't even buy that he cares that much about basketball really the only thing we ever see Troy be super passionate about is Gabriella so the whole plot of him being so torn up about having to make this impossible choice between two worlds that he loved so much never made any sense to me so now that we're at the end what is the definitive answer is Sharpay a villain or a victim and it's complicated so there's definitely a lot of nuance here Sharpie has acted selfishly and a lot of her actions are driven behind one to be the star she doesn't want anyone else in the spotlight but her and if anyone tries to take that away from her she'll go to some pretty extreme lengths to stop them even her brother but in the first movie while she wasn't being selfish and mean I still think her plan was more of a matter of inconvenience like it was still up to not allow Troy and Gabriella to do the callbacks but Taylor and Chad's plan was downright evil like they weren't only trying to stop the auditions but also to break them up I actually felt that their plan was a lot worse than champagne's plan in terms of impact so I wasn't fully comfortable calling her a villain but she definitely wasn't a victim either and the second movie she was a straight up villain no pretense whatsoever she's conniving brutal harsh even to her brother like she was putting out all the stops to not get outstaged even then I kind of felt sorry for her at the end it's kind of like Ryan said she was definitely way out of line but I don't take great pleasure in watching Sharpay Crash and Burn and I think that has a lot to do with her characterization Sharpie is very egotistical but she's also self-assured driven and singularly motivated that you can't help but feel drawn to her she actually has a lot of Charisma and there are moments of softness that shines through when she lets her guard down so as bad as she is you still kind of want to see her win in the third movie though she was done so dirty I feel like Sharpie almost learned her lesson at the end of High School Musical 2 after they took Penny on her and included her she still has that self-centered Persona and still wants to be the soul star but she's not going out of her way to sabotage anyone anymore so it's frustrating to see her still get dumped on when she's in the wrong she gets dumped on and when she's not she still gets dumb time like why won't they just let her win out of all of the characters her ending was the most unsatisfying to me because it felt like the movie was determined to keep her in the same spot never allowing her to win and move on and grow even at the end now there was a spin-off sequel Sharpies Fabulous Adventure I'm not going to include that here because this video is just about her portrayal in the High School Musical trilogy but they did try to course correct and give her a happy ending in this one she moves to New York City and eventually gets to start on Broadway so sharply got her a happy ending I just wish she got it in the original trilogy so is sharper the villain the victim she's kind of both at the same time at some point she's clearly the villain and at other points I'd say she's the victim there's no concrete answer that I can come up with because it's just more nuanced than that she has moments where she's definitely the aggressor and other moments where she kind of deserved better so honestly if you think she's the villain fine if you think she's the victim okay I think she's both she definitely has evolved a lot over the course of the trilogy so however you feel about sharp pain you know what you might be valid you might have a point so there you have it Sharpay Evans The elusive complicated chartreuse let me know what your thoughts are do you think Sharpay was the villain victim or a little bit of both be sure to like comment and subscribe and I'll see you guys in the next one

Channel: Tronn

Views: 165,755

Keywords: high school musical, sharpay evans

Id: u45BwixIUck

Length: 53min 26sec (3206 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2023