Can We Talk about The Trailer for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

I present to you, without context, my reaction to the trailer for the Disney+ series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.  

Now,  I could just leave it there as those gifs sum it up but ugh, this trailer irked me to no degree.   Let's start with the obvious issue here.  That title is atrocious, it's just such a dumb a title.  Oh, I'm sorry, you need to watch the trailer to understand my other frustrations. 





This trailer is just mean-spirited and nasty.  It's trying to be hip, edgy and "mature" but that's not what HSM ever was.  HSM was cheesy silly fluff that had heart.  Sure, a lot of people thought they were dorky and dumb but those movies meant a lot to me growing up.  They were my gateway into loving musicals and to see a trailer for a series that is using the name of the series be this way is just heartbreaking.  I have discussed at length, how fans shouldn't attack creators or those involved with projects attached to a franchise they love.   And I'm not trying to be a bad fan here but this broke my heart.  It's using the High School Musical label while mocking High School Musical.   That leads me to ask, who is this for?


It's years too late to convert people that don't like the movies and this trailer could turn off people like me that loved the movies. They take a dig at the sequels in this trailer. 

I've seen the movie thirty-seven times, and the first fifteen minutes of both sequels

HSM fans that like the first movie also like the sequels.  This feels like all those caustic critics that were dumping on HSM when that was popular but now, it's an official Disney show doing that and it feels like Disney is telling HSM fans, they're wrong for liking the sequels.   Look,  I know how dumb it is but all three HSM movies are my favorite Disney Channel movies and to see this trailer take a dig at someone that likes the sequels comes across as some HSM elitist going...

Oh, you like those movies? Really, the first one is the only one that matters

Yes, I do and I think they're better than the original movie.  You don't need to crap on the sequels to show that you love the original movie.  It's just...

That! Because as a fan, it comes across as telling me that my feelings are wrong for liking something this trailer feels the need to make fun of.  Yes, I know I'm being overdramatic but do you know how often I've heard these movies be put down and now to see something that is using the franchise's name do that, is well, I won't say a stab in the heart as that's a bit much but I was hoping for better than that.   So, what's the premise of this show. I could use the Wiki description, which isn't that bad.

The series follows "a group of students at East High who stage a performance of High School Musical for their winter theater production, only to realize that there is as much drama that happens offstage as there is onstage

Sounds cute but let's use the line that opens the trailer.

When I heard the high school where High School Musical was shot had never staged a production of High School Musical: The Musical, I was shocked, inspired and triggered as a Millenial  

Ha Ha,  a joke about Millenials being triggered by the littlest thing.  Look, I'm not one to say that people can't make trigger jokes but that joke is just so cliched and personally, I'm not a fan of triggered jokes.  Because those can be serious things.

A trauma trigger is a psychological stimulus that prompts recall of a previous traumatic experience. The stimulus itself need not be frightening or traumatic and may be only indirectly or superficially reminiscent of an earlier traumatic incident, such as a scent or a piece of clothing.

The website HealthyPlace has a blog from last year that goes into more detail about why trigger jokes can upset people. 

When it comes to mental health issues, triggers can manifest in various ways for various illnesses. The long and the short of it is that mental health triggers are cues or things that set off certain reactions, typically negative, for people with mental illnesses

Now obviously,  I am not one-hundred percent the same as what this quote is referring to.  However, I know what it feels to like to deal with these things.  I get overstimulated and sometimes loud noises and large groups of people can yes, trigger me and cause me to shut down internally.  So again...

This trailer isn't just undermining fans of the movies but also people that have to live with these things every single day.  Maybe, I'm proving the point of those that believe my generation to be too soft right but I care and have always cared.  That joke makes it seem like I'm wrong for caring.


I haven't even touched on the fact that this doesn't involve any of the characters from the movies I loved, which is annoying but is honestly the least of my problems with bigger things like that line.  Yeah, maybe I'm an SJW snowflake but that is just so disappointing.

We get other examples of how "mature", this show thinks it is. 

Drama teacher: Ryan right? (looking at student)

Other student: I think he'd rather Sharpay

Drama teacher: That is so fresh

Yeah..., if this show is going where I think it's going.

I don't trust Disney to tackle this subject with the tact and respect it deserves but instead turn it into the outdated man in a dress joke that society is trying to move past.  This video from Matt Baume about the time, when RuPaul guest-starred on a sitcom starring LL Cool J goes into more detail about this dangerous mindset.

In the early 90s, drag had a problem -- namely, that a lot of people had no idea what drag was, thanks to decades of misrepresentation on TV and movies.  In decades past, if you did see a man wearing a dress, it was likely (meant) to (be) played as a punch line. -- for example, in Some Like it Hot, or Tootsie. The joke, such as it was, was that it was humiliating for a man to stoop so low as to dress as a woman -- which isn’t so much a joke as just misogyny.  And on the rare occasions when you did see actual drag, it was often bizarrely misrepresented.

Look, I know some people may think those older movies meant no harm and that may have been the case at the time they were released but there is a reason that Matt Baume and many other outspoken members of the LGTBQ+ community are highlighting the problematic issues.  They aren't saying that you can't enjoy those movies but asking that you acknowledge how they could make these people feel as though they don't matter and that they are less for how they choose to live their lives.


I know for some, the gut reaction might be to say that they're wrong and the movies didn't mean that.  Here's the thing, I believe that but the feelings of the people that feel this way matter a deal more to me because for some in this community, they are still fighting to be noticed.


Bringing this back to this trailer and that line, I can see what they're going for but that scene felt as though, it was framed as a joke. Not like the examples of decades past that Matt Baume listed but still in a way, that is framed as a joke.  And that is disconcerting as people that partake in this lifestyle shouldn't be treated as a joke.  We're all human and the least we can do is show people that are different from the quote-unquote norm, a little human decency.  Or to put it another way.






It's just so frustrating to see a franchise that I love and meant a lot to me being used in this way.  Look, I know it wasn't exactly popular back in the day to say that you liked these movies but I never hid my shame in enjoying these movies.  As they knew what they were, they were cute little fluffy movies that yes, were cliche but had heart and oozed genuineness.  Because they weren't ashamed of being those cute little fluffy movies.  Sure, by the time of the third movie, the stakes got higher but the films never forgot what they were. From everything I can see from this trailer,  it wants to cash in on the nostalgia fans have for HSM, while also mocking HSM.  Which, why?  Again, I know it's really silly to get upset about a trailer and for most people, they don't even care about this show but I wanted to talk about my issues with this trailer because as a fan, this doesn't feel like the Wildcat spirit and as a human being, I was left with a nasty taste in my mouth after watching the trailer.  As though, someone took this franchise I love and doused with the nastiest things they could find.   It's Sharpay all grown up if she hadn't learned her lesson by the end of the last movie.  And no-one wants that.

I know not everyone is going to have the same reaction and I know some think I'm blowing this out of the water but this trailer left me with such a visceral reaction that I haven't felt in some time. I was at one time looking forward to this project as it seemed intriguing but now, I wish Disney had let the HSM franchise remain dormant.  Peace!