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1[[WMG:Film/HighSchoolMusical]]
2* Why isn't Kelsi considered a main character? I'm pretty sure she's more relevant than Taylor, who is a main character.
3* Does anyone have any idea why Troy's father didn't just tell him "You made a commitment when you took on the role as captain of the basketball team. Auditioning isn't much, Troy, but if you get the part in the musical, the rehearsals will increasingly conflict with our schedule, which you signed onto at the beginning of the year" instead of the equivalent of "Dude, you're a jock. Jocks don't sing. You may only have one hobby at a time"?
4** That really bugged me too. "Learn to take priorities" became "Cheat to do whatever you want. Since you're popular, you will not get punished".
5** Troy was preparing for the championship game which takes place at the end of the season. (In the third film's championship game, Jack says after it's done the team will have finished up with basketball for the year). So after the championship Troy wouldn't have the basketball commitments and would have free time for rehearsals. The only overlap period was the callbacks and the final game, and originally they were on different days so didn't interfere with each other.[[note]]The two times Troy missed practice it wasn't because he was singing, but because he had ''detention''. It just happened to be the drama teacher and his singing partner.[[/note]] His dad/coach didn't have any justification for not letting him get involved. Apart from 'you're a playmaker not a singer' thing.
6** Probably an analogy to the whole "singing isn't manly" thing that these movies deconstruct so nicely.
7* In all the time between Gabriella was shown Troy saying that neither she nor the musical was important to him at all, INCLUDING when Troy and all the nerds told her it was either a set-up or "those stupid things", why did it never occur to her what the odds were of anyone getting a recording or whatever it was of him saying that without it being a set-up?
8** Even the world's smartest teenage girl is susceptible to turning into a moron where the person she likes is concerned.
9** And whether or not Troy was pressured into saying he didn't care about her, he still said it. Remember Gabriella hinted to him that she'd been bullied and ostracized at her previous schools. From her perspective it didn't matter if he was set up, it was still a betrayal from the one guy who'd accepted her for who she was.
10** When first found out that Troy was a popular basketball star, she probably had a sinking suspicion that him liking her and wanting to take on a whole new hobby with her was too good to be true. Once she had evidence of that (no matter how flimsy), confirmation bias kicked in.
11* I sort of throw my hands up every time a teen girl's laptop computer first does some sort of weird webcam linkup, then manages to control the entire school to set the stage for the finale. Yes, I know, 'it's just a show, I really...'
12* Am I mistaken or is Gabriella something an OmnidisciplinaryScientist with a smattering of TeenGenius, just with a glance of the books in her locker?
13** That would explain why she was called a freak at her old school.
14* At the audition Ms Darbus claims Sharpay and her brother were the only people to audition in pairs. So what about the pair who were on before them?
15** Maybe it was an auditioning student and his/her best friend and accompanist, who was willing to help their best friend get a part but couldn't be in the play itself because the soccer team, like the basketball team, had a schedule that conflicted with the drama club?
16** The girl seemed to be doing most of the vocalizing, with the boy there as 'backup'.
17* Why are Sharpay and Ryan competing for a scholarship (rather than just a place in the school) if they're filthy rich?
18** Because it's still free money, you don't just pass that up.
19** Because it would meant they're better than everyone else there.
20** This troper went to school in a wealthy school district. People from upper middle class or wealthy families still try to get scholarships because 1) they're status symbols 2) because someone's family can have a lot of money but not enough to afford $50-60,000 dollars per year for college, and having higher income means not qualifying for financial aid.
21* Why are Troy and Gabriella are still friends with Chad and Taylor despite the fact that they are assholes to them and tried to break them up in the first place? All they had to say was "whoops" and that was it. Maybe I'm a screwed up person, but if one of my friends did that to me, I'd never speak to them again.
22** It's a completely fair point. If it had been me, I don't care how long I've known these people. I'd have punched them in the face.
23** You're not screwed up at all. I think that's what any sane person would be doing if their best friend screwed them over like that. Maybe they get away with it because admitting them to be villains would stir up the MoralGuardians. How dare a children's movie bring up such UnfortunateImplications over African-Americans!
24*** Uhm, back up for a second, there. First of all, no one said anything about race. Don't turn this into a race issue. Secondly, Sharpay is the one who is clearly framed as the antagonist of all three movies. Chad and Taylor could fall into the area of WellIntentionedExtremist, and it's not like they do on a regular basis. Maybe Troy and Gabriella are too forgiving (they, especially Gabriella can be seen as MarySues).
25*** While the race thing was unnecessary, it is true that Chad and Taylor are a weird mix of genuine friendship AND false friendship. While Sharpay is the antagonist, in the first movie all she did was convince Darbus to change the date of the callback (And technically, she didn't lie to do it). Chad activelly screwed over his best friend new relationship, while Taylor only seek Gabriella's friendship when she learned of her [[InformedAttribute smarts]]. Second Movie, Sharpay (indirectly) gives Troy a summer job, and as a side effect ends up giving employment to basically the whole school. True, she throws her money and status around to get Troy to "date" her, but she never forces Troy to do anything. Chad (and all the others) only bitch and moan about having to do a job (which they wanted in the first place) and bitch and moan even more when Troy gets a promotion. Taylor does the same, with the plus of almost all of her scenes telling Gabriella to dump Troy... for some reason. Third movie, while Sharpay is still a bitch, she isn't a direct antagonist, but the only conflict in the movie is planning for the future. Chad doesn't do anything this movie, and Taylor basically treats him like crap.
26** To be fair to the team, in #2 Troy was kind of being a jerk, not sticking with his friends, not talking to them that much after the promotion, etc
27*** Troy forgiving Chad in #1 is kind of believable, since they've been friends since kindergarten and have probably fought/made up before. You don't just throw that away. Plus, Chad's perspective is a little more sympathetic than Taylor's: He and Troy have been dreaming of the championship for years he's supported him as captain...and then a few days before their biggest game ''ever'', Troy gets distracted with singing and a girl? Yeah, Chad went too far, but you can understand him freaking out. In the second film he's obviously just jealous, even though Troy went out of his way to get him a job.
28*** With Gabriella and Taylor...Maybe Gabriella just wanted to be accepted by Taylor's friend group. I mean she's the shy new student, Troy seems to have betrayed her and half the school hates her for the callbacks. At that stage, Taylor was really the only viable friendship option. Unless she wanted the nerds to turn on her too. And both Chad and Taylor make it up to them in the second half of the film.
29* Did the musical in the first movie only have two parts? Because that's the only reason as to why Sharpay and Ryan would fight so hard against Troy and Gabriella and then settle for understudies at the end. I could see Sharpay's pride leading her to put up a fight, but then wouldn't they rather take a slightly smaller part rather than be the understudies to the people who took the leads? Weren't there any secondary romantic couples for them to play, assuming that they still refused to play characters who don't hook up?
30** If the lead character gets her kneecaps broken in an unfortunate collision with a random skateboarder who is suddenly twenty dollars richer, a person in a smaller role doesn't get the part, the understudy gets the part (except where the person in the smaller role ''is'' the understudy because the two characters aren't onstage or with speaking roles at the same time).
31** The above is normally only true for professional shows. In several high schools, the understudy for a main role tends to be one of the stage managers, or in a few cases, one of the prop managers. If the cast has an ensemble, one of the ensemble people may move up to a minor role, and the minor role may move up to the major role. It's rare that directors in high school would cast an understudy, because there is only a slight chance that they will not be able to go on.
32** Maybe Ryan and Sharpay took on minor roles, ''and'' were understudies for Troy and Gabriella? (With an even more minor people understudying for them). Knowing Sharpay, when Ms Darbus announced the roles and went: 'Sharpay is blah-blah and back up for Gabriella if necessary' all she heard was 'understudy'. In the third film, Sharpay had her own role and song, but was Gabriella's understudy as well.
33** In my experience at least, high school directors would be more likely to double cast a part rather than have an understudy. High school actors have fragile egos and teachers tend to like hurt feelings to be kept to a minimum.
34*** Ms Darbus is not your average high school drama teacher, though. She treats all her students like haughty professional casters- just look at how dismissive she is of everyone but Ryan and Sharpay at the auditions, loudly telling them to "show them how it's really done". She doesn't care about hurting feelings, as she outright tells the interpretive dancers that they are "disturbing" and should go see the counsellor. It's clear they're pretty hurt.
35** I think the song they performed was just the audition song for every single role, because IIRC Ms Darbus decides to just call for the auditions of the leads, which just happened to only be Ryan and Sharpay. Callbacks could do any song they wanted from the musical, but as everyone performed the same song and Ms Darbus refers to Ryan and Sharpay as the only people auditioning for the leads...
36* Making Ryan and Sharpay understudies makes no sense from any perspective. Your average high school is iffy in the talent department, and East high is ''way'' below average if the auditions are anything to by. Sharpay may be a diva, but there's no denying she has great stage presence and can sing well No sensible casting director would put someone like that behind the curtain when they've got roles to fill and the only other options are someone who can't emote and someone who thinks "projecting" means shouting every line. Especially when, as pointed out, the chances of an understudy being used are so little you might as well risk not having one.
37* What does Zeke (the guy who bakes) actually see in Sharpay other than that she's a girl and that she's kinda cute? I mean they don't call her the Ice Queen for nothing. She's vain, selfish, snobbish, shallow and manipulative. The only time she actually started to noticing him was when she ate some of his cookies and begged him to make more for her. Unless he's into abuse, I see no good coming out this relationship.
38** He thinks she's hot which is good enough for most High Schoolers.
39** 'Cause 1: Ashley Tisdale is hot. And 2: she's actually not ''that'' bad deep down, as shown by the end of each movie and in ''Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure.''
40** (In reply to the original comment) You are forgetting that these are ''teenagers relishing high school and looking for hot girls'', not adults seeking a serious relationship.
41* Ever notice how people try and convince Troy and Gabriella to stop singing...by singing a song about it?
42** Oh the irony.
43** You can't even say the dance numbers and such aren't actually happening, since Gabriella actively tries to avoid the dancing people in the lunch room.

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