"High School Musical 3: Senior Year" comes out this Friday and I gotta admit, I'm dying to see it. No, I'm not a pubescent girl with a crush on the non-threatening Zac Efron. Let me just put it this way: The first "High School Musical" (2006) was absurd beyond imagination, a caricature of whatever teeny boppers gobble up. It was filled with awkward innuendo (I couldn't figure out if it was unintentional or the sick joke of the writers who knew that pre-teens would miss it) and generally was the closest thing to having a lobotomy while still keeping your brain intact. As for the second one (2007), it topped its predecessor. By the end, Troy gave the viewers the best anti-moral of all time: something along the lines of "For too long I've been thinking about my future, instead of what really matters: what my friends think of me."
But as I planned my upcoming weekend and thought about going to the movies, squealing (albeit ironically) at Troy and Gabriella's relationship overcoming yet another non-hurdle and having the songs stuck in my head for the next week to the annoyance of my housemates, I began to wonder: How different am I really from a teenage girl who sincerely likes the movie? Aren't I doing the exact same things, except trying to hide behind the all-powerful, English-major veil of irony? Where does one draw the line between ironically liking something and genuinely liking it?
On the base level, they are pretty much the same, especially to Disney. Whether I go to see it to ridicule or to adore it as the greatest piece of cinema since the "Hannah Montana" movie (2008), it does not matter to them. If I fill their coffers, they'll be happy. All they care about is that I don't sneak in and I pay cash to see the film (which I will be doing, so Disney 1, Devin 0).
Also, I, like many people seeing the film, would still be upset if Disney changed the formula. Were the film to use different stars (which may happen in the next "HSM," unless it becomes "College Musical") or cut out the music entirely, I would, like many of the fans, be horribly disappointed. Why? Because "HSM" would become almost an unworthy target as just another dumb Disney movie.
When does one stop mocking something and just admit they like it whether it's good or not? I think "HSM" is still in the former category, but I recently realized that one of my guilty pleasures (which I will not disclose) is in fact that -- a guilty pleasure -- and not something I watch with ironic detachment. While it's not something I'm proud of, I've come to accept it. And now I wonder whether it was always a guilty pleasure and I just did not want to face facts.
Perhaps this is all part of the problem with being an elitist. We elitists deny ourselves dumb, stupid fun, except under the pretext of irony. But is that pretext just a pretext so we can have our stupid fun, or even worse, is stupid writing so powerful that it can pierce the irony until we are corrupted and reduced to liking it?
I guess what I'm saying is, elitism (which I admit I love) is a precarious outlook. I find myself constantly going to horrible movies to laugh at them and prove my elitism, but always at the risk of falling into the trap of genuinely enjoying them. But I must continue doing so. So yes, you will find me cheering on the Wildcats (even if there's a bit of an all-knowing smirk on my face) this weekend.
