High School Musical’s legacy is more complicated than you might think🎵
https://www.patreon.com/dreamsounds
After High School Musical 2 came out, the franchise went through a lot of changes, including scandals, international spin-offs, and a 3rd movie that would take HSM to new heights. However, it also brought with it the death of the franchise – let’s talk about the death of High School Musical and what came after it!
My first video about High School Musical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGmnusuldto
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00:00 The Death of High School Musical
04:07 Being a Disney Channel Star
05:38 HSM Controversies
12:29 The International Spin-Offs
13:14 The HSM Book Series
29:15 The Spin-Off Influence
34:04 The Cold War
37:22 Growing Up in Germany With HSM
39:42 High School Musical 3
41:11 Dark Times
42:12 The Future of High School Musical
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MUSIC USED:
“Symphony No. 5, III” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (performed by the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra) (Licensed via Creative Commons)
“things to do” by Marlene Bellissimo
“Cologne, 4AM” by William Claeson
“Every Day and Night” by Brookii
“Empty Briefcase” by Victor Lundberg
“Once” by Hara Noda
“Rootin’ Tootin'” by Martin Landstrom
“Querida” by Cornelio
“Lazy Bug” by Bladverk Band
“Summer Flirt” by Autohacker
“Winter Hibernation” by Magnus Ludvigsson
“Believe Me When I Say It” by Matt Large
“Green T” by Vendla
“Five Leaves” by Hara Noda
“Fresh Perspective” by Megan Wofford
source
What's your favorite High School Musical song?🏀🎵
It’s finally here!!! 😃
Yayy a video on one of my favorite childhood Disney channel movies 😀 about to listen to this while studying for an exam tomorrow
Even as a young kid following the controversy over the Hudgens nudes was bonkers. Like they were private photos stolen and she had to apologize for them. It was quite ridiculous. I know this video has been a somewhat albatross for you and I'm glad it's come to fruition. Best wishes to you in every single way possible.
Funny how this drops the same day that I'm going to binge the series with some friends
ITS HEEEREEEE
Finally one big video before your send off.
I actually learned English by watching HSM and the Mexico was the biggest thing I saw on TV. It was crazy! It was nice to unlock that memory lol
Dairy fresh 🤣
From a Brazilian perspective- 1- O Desafio- it was more for the hype, and it models itself on a very popular teen soap opera called Malhação(that ran from 1995 to 2020 by the way), including the way they act in Desafio, it's very “Brazilian” but with a touch of the USA, like-they barely use any slang teens would use at the time or even wear clothes teens would wear at the time (Side note here about the costuming- I find incredibly funny that High School musical teens dress so clean it hurts, we don't even have a EMO kid, and it's so funny because EMOs and SCENE kids were at all-time high back in the mid 2000s all around the world).
They actually dressed the teens more like North American teens than Brazilian teens.
Other thing-their High School is very isolated from the rest of the world, at times I have no idea where the story is taking place, I do think they made it this way so a kid in São Paulo or a kid in Bahia could have the same experience, regardless most of the actors are from São Paulo or Rio, and not many show up these days.
Another interesting thing, O desafio also exists because we have a quota law that asks cable channels to have at least 30% of its programs made it here in Brazil, and they had just passed this law when Disney decided to make it, so it came in handy to have a show/movie made here.
This law was created to have more productions made it here, and they still do, now they expanded it to streaming as well.
2- The dub changes something's and adds some jokes, it does localize things, and it was very MEME like at times.(this goes for all 3 movies and Sharpey's movie as well), it's rather rare Brazilian dubs be only translations, they do localize it, and I believe it what made it so popular with teens.
3- High School Musical is very USA, including the way things are told, it's not bad, the movie is allowed to express how things are in its origin country, but you can see many of the staples of USA culture in all 3 movies-sports teams, the couple you should be rutting for, the fish out of water and of course it being a Musical.
Well, High School Musical was something that could only exist in the mid 2000s, I don't see it working the way it were now, to be completely honest, and it goes to all the versions.
It's an extremely mid-2000s story and tropes.
wonderfully charming vid Marlene! now I gtg relisten to the soundtrack of HSM3 😅
BABE WAKE UP NEW DREAMSOUNDS JUST DROPPED
I grew up with the mexican version of High School Musical: El Desafío, and the whole thing does feel like a wide-release Mexican movie of the time, but that meant it was a very upper class, white, and shallow story, basically very whitexican. Sadly that seems to be the standard for most of the Mexican releases that get national distribution while a lot of great Mexican movies just get shown in art cinemas. So yeah it did what was the popular standard for Mexican movies pretty well, but that standard was still a very white, American one.
This video is incredible!
I remember that Venessa Hudgens "scandal" so VIVIDLY – the entertainment news industry in the 2000s was so fucking horrible to women. It still isn't great now, but yeesh, I look back and it's always more awful then I remember.
Regarding the nostalgia of HSM, I have very mixed views of it. I went to an American High School, but it was very underfunded, and generally not great. Seeing the idealized version of an American High School was always so frustrating to me, because it's what I wanted my life to be like. At the same time, it made such an impact on me! I never got SUPER into HSM, (mostly because of the way my siblings made fun of it, and I did NOT want them to know I liked the series), but when I got older and looked back on it? It really was Incredible how much it meant to me, even through the repression.
Thanks for an incredible video, Marlene. I look forward to the next one!
Wow…If you allow me to be honest for a second, the main core memory I have of this franchise is how HATED it. Like not just old school Disney fans but by people in general. To the point in which South Park parodied and satirized the phenomenon, and called it in their own way "the fall of human society". I then saw the first two movies and even though I was WAY out of the age range, I was like "I see why people like it and why to an extend some hate it but it was just bubbly TV for me".
But this essay does show how even that can be seen as being enpty entertainment through cynical eyes can mean something deeper to someone or represent a major period in their life. It was a cultural reset for a generation and even if it wasn't my thing, I still respect it for what it did right. The third movie in particular FLOORED me with how well produced it was and to this day it's somewhat of a guilty pleasure viewing with songs that to me surpass some of the original songs. Like yeah…I wasn't the demographic for it but it still has value and a part of Disney history that shouldn't be overlooked just because it's not an animated classic, made by Walt, Pixar or something more "prestigious".
I’m sorry but listening to a grown man say “trim the ol’ Vanessa Hedges” about a literal minor’s nudes released against her will by a stranger makes me want to vomit. I hate it here
Crying. All my love 🏳️🌈
I like the effort you put into this. A true HSM fan.
A new Dreamsounds video? Yes please! Thank you 🙂 Now I have no good reason to avoid my chores, because I'll be entertained and educated while I do them
I remember growing up as a boy in the US, i loved the first two films! I loved musical theater, even if i was too embarrassed to participate in my own high school's musicals. By the time the third movie came out, I was in my "I'm too old for kids stuff" phase, so i skipped out on watching it in theaters. I did, however, rent it from Blockbuster later on (i think it was one of the last things i rented).
These days, I'm a trans woman and I do look back fondly on these movies. There's a lot of nostalgia there. I wish i had given HSM3 a fair chance, cause the music is amazing and so is the choreography! Even before I was in high school though, I knew these were not an accurate representation of high school life. they were just fun movies to watch
I'm just going to say this and get it over with, America as a whole was f*cked up for slut shaming Vanessa for being the victim of some pervert stalkers' fantasies. I hope she gets therapy, and I hope whoever did that to her gets what is coming to them.
i’m so obsessed with the book section. they dont know about the poems 😐
Your HSM deep dives and retrospectives are incredible. I appreciate how you tied in the death of the American dream, US history, and your own personal history. I vibe with your view at the end where you appreciate HSM and your nostalgia, but you know you don't want anymore and that's okay. Like you're okay with saying goodbye to it and thanking for the joy it has brought you.
I used to hate on it as a teen (but that's more on me and be the "not like other girls" kind of person, plus I wanted my friends to like me and they hated Disney Channel). But I still liked watching Disney Channel and the songs from HSM2 were such bangers and earworms I loved listening to it (even though I wouldn't admit it at the time). Like "What Time Is It" and "I don't dance" were my favorites and bring sweet nostalgia to me.
I'm also glad now we're finally in a time where we can say what Disney and the news did to Vanessa Hudgens during her scandal is atrocious. The more I look back when I grew up, it seems like the general US culture was just hating on teen girls and girly things in the 2000's. And the public opinion at that time wasn't good either. And now knowing that the first scandal she was underage, that had to be counted as the guy who leaked it distributing child pr0n, right? And yet he never got in trouble for it.
I didn't know Zac Efron went through rehab and Alyson Stoner couldn't have a childhood when they were Disney Channel stars. It makes me sad cause I really liked them. I'm glad they're able to talk about it and how stressful it is being a child star.
I was an elementary school girl in Germany when the HSM movies came out and I was the biggest fan. Visiting a local screening of HSM3 was my actual birthday party in 2008! I had (have!) the biggest crush on Corbin and used my pocket money to buy his CDs and DVDs (Jump In was such a fave of mine haha)
That said, it actually took me YEARS to understand that these characters I loved so much actually were in… a school. Pupils like me. Like, I knew US American schools with their lockers and sports teams etc. from other kids shows, but HSM was very far removed from reality for me even as a child. I realise now it sounds weird, but… After watching HSM3, a friend told me she was disappointed that there was all that talk about the ball and then we never got to see the ACTUAL ball, just in musical numbers. And at that time, I didn't understand her point at all. It's about the spectacle, not the relatability! There is no "ball" in real life! No one works at holiday jobs like in HSM2!!! That whole spa resort place was so unreal it took me years to understand what the Wildcats were actually doing there 😭As I child I just accepted that this second movie was set in a different environment than the other two, but they never read to me as "school" or "work". In my mind, those were fantasy places. But that's also why I loved the movies so much. I specifically remember wanting to carry my books the way Gabriella did, pressed to my chest, shy and dreamy. But I couldn't do that because it's a shit way to carry a bunch of heavy books lol, but I still wanted to put on that "act" of the "American school girl" – which, and I cannot stress this enough, had nothing to do with my own reality.
I never actually made the connection to the "fakeness" of the American Dream, but it's so clear to me after watching your video. Great job!
Those clips of adult men mocking and disparging Vanessa Hudgens for her nude photos truly exemplify the toxic environment of child stardom and society's propensity for victim-blaming. Yikes.
Anyways, I really enjoyed this duology about High School Musical, especially the connections you traced with your personal story and your view of the American dream. Plus, I liked learning more about the HSM extended universe (it's nice to know that the brand of dramatic disappointment Gabriella always feels towards Troy in the middle of each HSM movie translates well to poetry, lol).
For my part, I'll always have good memories of the franchise. In a sense you could say that it was one of the many pieces of media that inspired my love for musicals! Besides my affection for it, though, I have to say that they still hold up very well today.
You exude so much joy in this video! I smiled along with you 🙂 Thanks for sharing. I was never a Disney kid, but this channel is so fascinating and endearing.
Her having the apologize for taking those photos are awful, Disney should have been prioritizing finding the creep that posted those photos and arresting them. That is just awful…
I had seen the Argentinean movie as a child and god, I did not remember the school being High School Argentina at all, that's hilarious
Last Saturday, I was talking to some other girls, who are about 30 (as I am) and I was really surprised by how much they don't like HSM3, which I think is by far the best one. The songs are amazing, the cinematography is sure prettier, and I really think the script is nice.
We also have to give the HSM franchise for releasing some really amazing talents, like Zac and Vanessa. Oh, and we must never forget Corbin. He's such a great artist!
I think your content would be great as podcasts! 100% would listen
Re the skateboard's name, maybe Ariel = aerial, as in tricks in the air?
The Mexican version was missing the musical theater charm and campiness that I loved from the OGs. Our theater culture is still very offensive comedy or high brow literature, so they went for pop sounds that were popular in Latin America at the time and not much staging. Funny thing is, it actually features at least ONE now openly queer cast member: Joy Huerta, happily married sapphic woman, from successful Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy, who guest star as the battle of the band's judges ❤
I remember being told I'm "too young" to understand the vanessa hudgens nude scandal because I didn't understand why she's the one who apologized when she's the one who's been violated.
"Girl you got to keep your clothes on" how about you keep your eyes off her when you see a leaked photo?
I was a 10 year old who only watched kids channels like Disney when High School Musical 3 came out, so the various scandals were barely in my purview (not even sure if I knew about the Vanessa Hudgens nude photos until a few years later). I was just a preteen all caught up in the HSM hype, and for me HSM3 was an EPIC theatrical event; I'm not sure if it's the "best" of the three, but it's certainly my favorite, sporting the best soundtrack and tapping into some (relatively) deeper emotions. The audience at my theater was fantastic, it was filled with hyped-up teenage girls who cheered at Zac Efron's opening shot and went "oooOOOoo" and shouted "turn around!" at his shirtless scene. 😆