Innocence is the New Black
If you heard a high-pitched shrieking sound last weekend, it was not Halloween starting early or 
someone finally snapping over the election. What you heard was fans, often tween girls, who are overcome with excitement at the latest installment of Disney’s High School Musical franchise. High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which opened October 24th, moves the wildly successful TV movies to the big screen. And not a moment too soon. Frenzied devotees sold out movie theaters before it even opened.
For the uninitiated, HSM hearkens back to the musical galas of stars like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers. Driven more by emotion than plot, the characters sing about their dreams while dancing in elaborately choreographed and staged numbers. It’s atypically innocent. Sweethearts Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) and Troy (Zac Efron) sing to each other and waltz through a flower-filled rooftop garden, but nothing more. They share their first on-screen kiss in three years toward the end of the movie. It’s all done without a hint of irony or cynicism. At a recent advance screening, one could hear occasional snickers from jaded adults, but they were drowned out by the sound of their daughters swooning.
“Kids have to grow up so fast,” said HSM screenwriter Peter Barsocchini, “In school, in 2nd grade, I sat in my daughter’s class the day they gave the lecture about drugs. Who in the schoolyard to look at, if you see x you got drugs, STDs, all these issues, you know.….There’s a huge desire to not have to absorb all that and to be forced into being cool. The dirty little secret of contemporary entertainment is that a lot of that is being foisted on kids. They feel pressure when they see other things where kids are being pushed ahead of where they are. [HSM] is anti-pressure.”
Producer Barry Rosenbush agreed, “I think that’s why the movie has had success. They vote with their feet. We didn’t make them come to the movie. They came because they watched it and it connected to them in a very interesting kind of way.”
Fans do indeed vote with their feet, and their remotes. The CW’s edgy teen dramas 90210 and Gossip Girl languish in the ratings, drawing in fewer than 4 million viewers an episode. This is despite buzz from the tabloids, and story lines driven by sex, drugs, and alcohol. Gossip Girl even resorted to a controversial ad campaign to draw eyeballs: a risqué picture with the caption “OMFG.” (Texting-speak for “Oh my [expletive] God.”) In contrast, Disney’s Camp Rock special, featuring outspoken Christian abstinence advocates, the Jonas Brothers, brought in 8.9 million viewers in June of this year, and High School Musical 2 still holds the record for the highest watched cable program of all time, with 17.2 million viewers in August of 2007. These ratings are even more astronomical when you consider that cable has a much smaller pool of viewers to draw from than broadcast channels like the CW.
The trend continues to movies. Beverly Hills Chihuahua, so squeaky clean it avoided so much as a dog-pee joke, topped the box office for weeks and has made over $70 million world wide. The Hannah Montana 3D movie last summer has also made $70 million; a handy profit considering it cost just $7 million to make. High School Musical 3 is projected to dominate the box office. High School Musical 3 grossed 42 million domestically last weekend and is still going strong.There is a basic profit booster built in to kids flicks: The theater sells tickets to all those chaperones as well as their children. Yet, that alone can’t account for the numbers. It’s driven by the youngsters. Despite what cynical critics and jaded producers might want from Hollywood, the kids want fun, inspirational, and unsullied.
The cast of HSM couldn’t be happier with that. “We’re grateful that the project we’re recognized for is one that is so wholesome and positive and awesome and inspirational,” said Monica Coleman, who plays brainiac Taylor, at the press roundtable for the movie.
“Anyone from two years old to 70 can watch this movie and feel good about it,” agreed Vanessa Hudgens, whose chaste image was tested by an offscreen scandal involving illegally obtained nude pictures a year ago, “It’s just a get away in a sense, because there’s none of those bad things and it’s a musical. You watch it and you’re taken to this world where it’s happy and you have fun and you don’t need anything bad.”
“If you set out to make something sweet and innocent, it’s a fool’s errand,” warned Barsocchini, “If you start reading the tea leaves and think we know why High School Musical worked, you’re a dead man, creatively.”
There’s much more to it than just removing drugs, sex, and STDs, argued Rosenbush. “We always looked at it as a movie about aspirations. And I think we’ve always fulfilled that obligation.” He pointed out that while the students sing about prom and their romances, they’re also working hard on the basketball court, the school stage, and in the classroom. All of the senior characters are headed for college and have goals beyond making through the year. “I’m getting email. People calling. Parents contacting me from various sources,” said Barsocchini, “Saying they’re so happy about HSM 3 because all the characters go to college. It isn’t a discussion in high school, about ‘Uh, where am I gonna get my [drugs].’ It’s about ‘What college are you going to go to?’”
“I think that’s a very sincere way of making people feel they can do it,” said Rosenbush, “They can sing about their dreams in a way that’s kind of sweet and innocent.”
Photo: Disney Enterprises, Inc/Fred Hayes