History YMMV / HighSchoolMusical

* EstrogenBrigade: Zac Efron, Lucas Grabeel and Corbin Bleu carried teen heartthrob status among many a tween and teenage girl at the time. Not to mention the protagonists being on a basketball team allows them to wear less clothing in a few scenes.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: As hard as it is to believe today, ''High School Musical'' was very popular and praised by critics when the first film debuted in 2006. It was seen as an impressive step-up from a production, writing and acting standpoint from the previous Disney Channel Original Movies of the era in most every way, and it getting two sequels ([[DevelopmentHell with another in development]]), a spin-off, foreign remakes in Latin America and China, a concert tour, stage adaptations for the first two films, and [[CashCowFranchise tons of merchandise]] was unheard of for their previous movies. With most of the [=DCOMs=] after this one being {{Spiritual Successor}}s to ''High School Musical'', such as ''Film/CampRock'', ''Film/TeenBeachMovie'', ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Zombies2018}} Z-O-M-B-I-E-S]]'', the format of promoting a teen star being streamlined by both this film and ''Series/HannahMontana'', and even other studios deciding to take advantage of its popularity, most noticeably ''Series/{{Glee}}''[[note]]Creator/RyanMurphy adamantly denied that he had heard of ''High School Musical'' when people pointed this out, but if Murphy does have some {{plausible deniability}}, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that Creator/{{FOX}} jumped on his idea because of FollowTheLeader.[[/note]], it's hard to remember that the original film was seen as inventive and fresh compared to a lot of children's programming at the time. Its success even brought the musical genre back to the mainstream after ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' was seen as the final nail in its coffin for a while, something completely lost to new viewers today who see it as another run-of-the-mill musical.

** Quite a few fans assume that Gabriella has trust and CommitmentIssues about getting close to people. Despite the fact she and Troy adore each other, she's repeatedly thinks he's going to hurt or leave her, and pushes him away in every film because of it.[[note]]In #1 he does genuinely betray her so fair enough, but in #2 she leaves over something that was mostly Sharpay's fault and #3 Troy doesn't do anything at all.[[/note]] Then add in that she has a DisappearedDad, was [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation ostracized at her previous schools]] and apparently never had a permanent home (living somewhere longer than a year) and she borders on BrokenBird.

* CaptainObviousAesop: "Be yourself and don't bully others."

* RootingForTheEmpire: A lot of people seem to prefer Sharpay and Ryan to the heroes due to their charisma and the fact that they just wanted to have the coveted play roles.

* CaptainObviousAesop: "Be yourself and don't bully others." Quite a [[SarcasmMode revolutionary concept]], wouldn't you agree?

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: As hard as it is to believe today, ''High School Musical'' was very popular and praised by critics when the first film debuted in 2006. It was seen as an impressive step-up from a production, writing and acting standpoint from the previous Disney Channel Original Movies of the era in most every way, and it getting two sequels ([[DevelopmentHell with another in development]]), a spin-off, foreign remakes in Latin America and China, a concert tour, stage adaptations for the first two films, and [[CashCowFranchise tons of merchandise]] was unheard of for their previous movies. With most of the [=DCOMs=] after this one being {{Spiritual Successor}}s to ''High School Musical'', such as ''Film/CampRock'', ''Film/TeenBeachMovie'', ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Zombies2018}} Z-O-M-B-I-E-S]]'', the format of promoting a teen star being streamlined by both this film and ''Series/HannahMontana'', and even other studios deciding to take advantage of its popularity, most noticeably ''Series/{{Glee}}''[[note]]Creator/RyanMurphy adamantly denied that he had heard of ''High School Musical'' when people pointed this out, but if Murphy does have some {{plausible deniability}}, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that Creator/{{FOX}} jumped on his idea because of FollowTheLeader.[[/note]], it's hard to remember that the original film was seen as inventive and fresh compared to a lot of children's programming at the time. Its success even brought the musical genre back to the mainstream after ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' was seen as the final nail in its coffin for a while, something completely lost to new viewers today who see it as another run-of-the-mill musical.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The romance arc between Troy and Gabriella is often criticized for being the forefront of the films, mainly for the amount of {{wangst}} between the two, and taking away screentime from more likable characters (eg: Sharpay and Ryan). It didn't help that the second film was somewhat influenced by [[Literature/{{Twilight}} another romance series popular with the target audience]].

%%** "Breaking Free".
%%** "We're All In This Together".

* OlderThanTheDemographic: Despite being themed around high school, the franchise was not intended to be aimed at teens. Most of its fans were girls aged 15–19, though.

* HarsherInHindsight: Dutch Elijah Whitlock, the skater boy who secretly played the cello in "Stick to the Status Quo", was arrested in Salt Lake City for trying to rob a pizza place. He supposedly did it in 2008, according to Buzzfeed--two years after his appearance--but it was discovered by someone in 2015, leading to the meme "[[DeadpanSnarker You should've stuck to playing the cello.]]"
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Gabriella would later meet [[Series/{{Community}} Abed]] in ''Series/{{Powerless}}'', a character who happens to also know somebody called Troy, who started as a jock.
** When ''Series/{{Glee}}'' premiered in 2009, it was accused of trying to cash in on ''HSM''[='=]s success, but Creator/RyanMurphy adamantly denied it (see FandomRivalry and SeinfeldIsUnfunny for more info). ''Glee'' was produced by [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox Television]], and guess who bought it and the rest of 20th in 2019?
** There's a years-long joke within the viewership that "real" fans prefer the second film out of the entire trilogy. Then the mockumentary series came out, which has [[FanBoy Carlos]] who declares himself as a "superfan" because he [[SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes watched the first movie 37 times]] ... and barely touched the others.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Dutch Elijah Whitlock, the skater boy who secretly played the cello in "Stick to the Status Quo", was arrested in Salt Lake City for trying to rob a pizza place. He supposedly did it in 2008, according to Buzzfeed--two years after his appearance--but it was discovered by someone in 2015, leading to the meme "[[DeadpanSnarker You should've stuck to playing the cello.]]"
** The finale song from the first film "We're All in This Together". During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the phrase was used a lot to describe how the whole world was essentially in quarantine ''together'', even though no one could be physically together.

* FandomRivalry: Averted. Although there is no rivalry (per se) with ''Series/{{Glee}}'', it's usually assumed that if you despise one, you love the other. Ironically, many dismissed ''Glee'' as simply HSM on antidepressants, while the [[Series/HighSchoolMusicalTheMusicalTheSeries Disney+ mockumentary show of the series]] has often been nicknamed "the poor man's ''Glee''"

** "Get'cha Head in the Game".

** "Breaking Free".
** "We're All In This Together".
** The exclusive to soundtrack song "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" is worth remembering too.

--->'''[[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Wendy]]''': TV lied, man.

* VindicatedByHistory: Although it was a success, it was despised outside its tween demographic and mocked on the internet for being such a blatantly idealistic story in the "oh so cynical" late 2000s. Not to mention movie musicals were still far from mainstream (it was common for trailers to hide singing to disguise that the film was a musical even as far as the early 2010s). Years later, it's remembered far more fondly by the now grown-up children and teens who loved it in their youth. The popularity of musicals and appreciation of the messages about toxic masculinity have only helped the film age very well.

* OlderThanTheDemographic: Despite being themed around high school, the series was not intended to be aimed at teens. Most of its fans were girls aged 15–19, though.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: As hard as it is to believe today, ''High School Musical'' was very popular and praised by critics when the first film debuted in 2006. It was seen as an impressive step-up from a production, writing and acting standpoint from the previous Disney Channel Original Movies of the era in most every way, and it getting two sequels ([[DevelopmentHell with another in development]]), a spin-off, foreign remakes in Latin America and China, a concert tour, stage adaptations for the first two films, and tons of merchandise was unheard of for their previous movies. With most of the [=DCOMs=] after this one being {{Spiritual Successor}}s to ''High School Musical'', such as ''Film/CampRock'', ''Film/TeenBeachMovie'', ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Zombies2018}} Z-O-M-B-I-E-S]]'', the format of promoting a teen star being streamlined by both this film and ''Series/HannahMontana'', and even other studios deciding to take advantage of its popularity, most noticeably ''Series/{{Glee}}''[[note]]Creator/RyanMurphy adamantly denied that he had heard of ''High School Musical'' when people pointed this out, but if Murphy does have some {{plausible deniability}}, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that Creator/{{FOX}} jumped on his idea because of FollowTheLeader.[[/note]], it is hard to remember that the original film was seen as inventive and fresh compared to a lot of children's programming at the time. Its success even brought the musical genre back to the mainstream after ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' was seen as the final nail in its coffin for a while, something completely lost to new viewers today who see it as another run-of-the-mill musical.

* VindicatedByHistory: Although it was a success, it was despised outside its tween demographic and mocked on the internet for being such a blatantly idealistic story in the oh so cynical late 2000s. Not to mention movie musicals were still far from mainstream (it was common for trailers to hide singing to disguise that the film was a musical even as far as the early 2010s). Years later, it's remembered far more fondly by the now grown-up children and teens who loved it in their youth. The popularity of musicals and appreciation of the messages about toxic masculinity have only helped the film age very well.

* DracoInLeatherPants: While Sharpay has sympathetic qualities, some fans tend to give her more sympathy than she deserves by saying that she wasn’t a villain and is a victim. This negates the fact that not only was Sharpay a rude AlphaBitch to almost everyone she came across, but she (with Ryan) went out their way to convince Ms. Darbus to change the time of the audition schedule just to ensure that Troy and Gabriella cannot audition for the lead roles in the play. This also points to Sharpay not being willing to work for the lead role or feeling entitled to it.

** Ryan being dyslexic is brought up in at least 75% of fanfics where he has a lead role, most likely based on him being unable to read Go Drama Club in the first movie despite being portrayed as very intelligent in the later movies.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: As hard as it is to believe today, ''High School Musical'' was very popular and praised by critics when the first film debuted in 2006. It was seen as an impressive step-up from a production, writing and acting standpoint from the previous Disney Channel Original Movies of the era in most every way, and it getting two sequels ([[DevelopmentHell with another in development]]), a spin-off, foreign remakes in Latin America and China, a concert tour, stage adaptations for the first two films, and tons of merchandise was unheard of for their previous movies. With most of the [=DCOMs=] after this one being {{Spiritual Successor}}s to ''High School Musical'', such as ''Film/CampRock'', ''Film/TeenBeachMovie'', ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Zombies2018}} Z-O-M-B-I-E-S]]'', the format of promoting a teen star being streamlined by both this film and ''Series/HannahMonatana'', and even other studios deciding to take advantage of its popularity, most noticeably ''Series/{{Glee}}''[[note]]Creator/RyanMurphy adamantly denied that he had heard of ''High School Musical'' when people pointed this out, but if Murphy does have some {{plausible deniability}}, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that Creator/{{FOX}} jumped on his idea because of FollowTheLeader.[[/note]], it is hard to remember that the original film was seen as inventive and fresh compared to a lot of children's programming at the time. Its success even brought the musical genre back to the mainstream after ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' was seen as the final nail in its coffin for a while, something completely lost to new viewers today who see it as another run-of-the-mill musical.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: As hard as it is to believe today, ''High School Musical'' was very popular and praised by critics when the first film debuted in 2006, getting two sequels ([[DevelopmentHell with another in development]]), a spin-off, foreign remakes in Latin America and China, a concert tour, stage adaptations for the first two films, tons of merchandise, and four {{Spiritual Successor}}s in ''Film/CampRock'', ''Film/TeenBeachMovie'', ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Zombies2018}} Z-O-M-B-I-E-S]]''.
** Subsequent Creator/DisneyChannel Original Movies would try to cash on with its success, through copying the style of the film or overpromoting any shared actor in them (or giving them larger roles in the case of ''Film/{{Halloweentown}}''), and even other studios decided to take advantage of its popularity, most noticeably ''Series/{{Glee}}''.[[note]]Creator/RyanMurphy adamantly denied that he had heard of ''High School Musical'' when people pointed this out, but if Murphy does have some {{plausible deniability}}, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that Creator/{{FOX}} jumped on his idea because of FollowTheLeader.[[/note]] Even ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' did an episode in promotion. This drove the PeripheryDemographic away, and boosted Disney Channel's reputation as a network meant strictly for tween girls and nobody else.
** Today, while still well-remembered to get a new sequel and spin-off series, ''High School Musical'' is largely seen alongside ''Series/HannahMontana'' as the biggest catalyst for Disney Channel's NetworkDecay and DorkAge, which finally ended in 2017, and has faded out of the public eye outside of its {{narm}}, helping to revive musicals, being the StarMakingRole for Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, and just becoming very nostalgic amongst the Gen Z demographic who watched it as children.

* ValuesResonance: The film's BeYourself message, especially as it applies to Troy and Zeke, [[https://gruntledbananafish.tumblr.com/post/639094617687621632/you-could-argue-that-basketball-in-high-school#notes still resonates for its subversion of gender roles]].

*** During "Stick to the Status Quo", a HollywoodNerd named Martha admits she likes dancing more than homework. All her nerdy friends get mad at her... while dancing at the same time.

** ''High School Musical 2''. Some saw it as a step in the right direction but many people pick up on a lot of issues, in particular the InformedWrongness of Troy's decisions (how dare you miss a baseball game to work for a scholarship!), the Wildcats' reactions (focusing on the future is bad), Sharpay [[{{TookALevelInJerkass}} taking a ridiculous level in jerkass]], and most of all ''it's not even set in high school!''
** ''Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure''. It's not a musical, and even factoring that and its spin-off status in it has a completely different "feel" to the other movies. And those are the minor points - it forgets that Sharpay was supposed to go to the University of Albuquerque after graduation and that Ryan and Kelsi went to New York (they had to rush just to get Lucas Grabeel into the movie at all, so much that his scene is only in the broadcast version).

* StrangledByTheRedString: In a badly-made excuse to stop the rumors that the character is gay, Ryan was paired up with Kelsi in ''Senior Year''. They ''are'' good together, if you ignore the fact Kelsi was paired with Jason in the first two and the insane amount of (intentional) flirting between Ryan and Chad in ''2''.

* {{Wangst}}: Vanessa seemed to be contractually obligated to sing one overly emotional break-up ballad each movie.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** In the second movie, Sharpay tries to get Troy to perform "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a" with her, an extravagant Hawaiian themed number about a pineapple princess and a fish prince falling in love. Characteristic of Sharpay, this is a huge production number with backup dancers and Ryan narrating, providing sound effects/fog, and playing the ocean and fish. ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext and is never brought up again or acknowledged in the plot. No wonder it's not in the Creator/DisneyChannel airings, but limited to the home video release. It may be seen as this in universe as well. Throughout the number, we get repeated cuts to Troy, whose facial expressions likely mirror that of the audience. It is brought up one more time when Sharpay demands Troy and Gabriella's duet from Kelsi. Ryan, who was just kicked out of the talent show by ''his own sister'' ask what'll happen to Humuhumu and what he's supposed to do with his Tiki warrior outfit.
** The dance break in "I Don't Dance" which occurs while Chad is still claiming that he doesn't dance, with nobody during or after this moment bringing up how he took part in what is blatant choreography.

** Even among non-Ryan/Chad shippers, general fanon is that ''something'' went down in the locker room after the staff baseball game in [=HSM2=]. Their SexyShirtSwitch is regularly brought up as proof of it.

* FanPreferredCouple: Chad/Ryan, which is both the preferred ship for both characters and ''the'' most popular ship in the fandom, easily outnumbering [[OfficialCouple Troy/Gabriella]] in the sheer amount of fanwork dedicated to it. After the second movie, Chad and Ryan share [[HoYay a lot of tender moments]] which a good chunk of the fanbase have interpreted as ShipTease, including a particularly ''subtle'' SexyShirtSwitch.

* HoYay: Everything about the "I Don't Dance" sequence in ''2''. The next time we see Chad and Ryan, ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything they've switched clothes]]''. General consensus among fans is that the entire song is about Chad being in denial about his sexuality and Ryan encouraging him to just let go.

*** Similarly, if you go into a group of people that were kids in the mid-to-late 2000s and ask "What time is it?", you bet at least one of them is going to reply with "SUMMERTIME!"

** Not saying that ''2'' is the best is joked as FandomHeresy.
** Troy giving Gabriella a "T" necklace has led to edits of Troy saying different meaning to what the "T" meant, other than his name.
** Two ''[=HSM2=]'' memes that also involve Troy: "[[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/679192-high-school-musical Conflicted Troy]]", based on stills from "Bet On It", and [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/when-your-parents-ask-where-all-your-money-went When Your Parents Ask Where All Your Money Went]], this time involving promo pics of Efron.
** The "I Don't Dance" number constantly being referred to as a metaphor for gay sex.
** The memes from "Gotta Go My Own Way" led to it becoming the SignatureScene from ''2''.

** It's practically impossible to watch "Bet On It" without at least cracking a smile.

*** During "I Don't Dance", Chad (and every other baller) indulges in full on blatant choreography, even as he continues to say he doesn't dance.

* SpecialEffectFailure: In ''2'', during the song "Bet On It", has Troy looking into the water of a pond, showing his reflection. Ignoring the obvious CGI effect, the reflection itself was not mirrored.

* {{Wangst}}:
** Vanessa seemed to be contractually obligated to sing one overly emotional break-up ballad each movie.
** Zac became obligated to supply one token emo, {{narm}}y song per movie, famously including "Bet On It" consisting of his interpretive-dancing {{angst}}ily through the golf course in what's supposed to be a serious moment.