This speculative article is for a research journal specializing in film theory. I analyze a childhood movie and how it relates to Laura Mulvey's "male gaze."

Gender roles are pushed on children the moment they enter the world. These biases are enforced by a person’s peers, their school environment, and the media they consume. When trying to examine and dismantle these oppressive systems, it can be beneficial to analyze the implications of media targeted toward children. High School Musical was a wildly successful trilogy of movies from the children’s network Disney Channel. The first installment coming out in 2006, the trilogy became world-famous and spawned many tours, spin-off movies, and launched the careers of its stars. However, upon closer examination, the film falls prey to derogatory stereotypes, particularly towards its female characters. The most notable victim of this is the character Sharpay Evans. Sharpay is the pretty-in-pink president of the drama club at East High and becomes cast as the villain of the series for her obstruction of Troy and Gabriella’s chance to be in the winter musical. Although the major theme of the first High School Musical is to wholeheartedly be who you are, it does not extend to people and interests that lie outside the norms of masculinity. Because High School Musical tended towards the male gaze, Sharpay’s femininity and her subsequent behaviors are villainized, despite her ambitions and desires equaling that of the male characters in the film.

Although there is an equal ratio of men and women in the main cast of High School Musical, the plot of the movie focuses on the male character’s struggles more than those of the women. As Mulvey writes, “Hence, the split between spectacle and narrative supports the man’s role as the active one of forwarding the story, making things happen” (625). In High School Musical, the male characters are the ones that are pushing the plot forward. Troy Bolton is a high school basketball captain who feels a lot of pressure from his teammates and his father, the coach, to make basketball his sole priority in life. He grapples with peer pressure, the meaning of leadership, and self-acceptance as he finds a newfound passion for singing. Even for the minor male characters like the random basketball team members, the audience still learns a lot about them and their struggles. The male characters in High School Musical are fully realized and explored characters whose struggles become the foundation for the plot. The audience is supposed to be rooting for their successes rather than the female characters. 

On the other hand, the female characters show very little thought or development, particularly Sharpay. The movie even admits its faults in its one-dimensional portrayal of its female characters in Chad’s line, “Look, I don't attempt to understand the female mind Troy. It's frightening territory” (00:55:44). Sharpay is one-dimensional; she is the vain femme fatale who is just there to be the gaudy foil of the shy Gabriella. She and her twin Ryan run the drama club and she has a crush on Troy, but that is all the audience knows about her. Instead, Sharpay becomes a bedazzled spectacle, impossible not to look at. Mulvey writes, “Satisfaction can come from watching, in an active controlling sense, an objectified other” (623). Her lack of substantial character reduces Sharpay to an object—a sounding board for Gabriella and someone for the audience to root against without giving her the honor of a fully fleshed-out character. She is made to fight over Troy and her identity is tied up in her relationship with him. The male gaze has infiltrated this seemingly innocent kid’s movie and resulted in a lack of understanding and an inability to afford its female characters the bare minimum respect of thought and effort. 

Sharpay Evans stands out from the other female characters because she takes active steps to push the story forward. Mulvey writes, “The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a storyline, to freeze the flow of action…” (624-625). The women in High School Musical are simply a roadblock to the male character’s plots. Troy’s father even directly mentions this, telling his son that Gabriella is a distraction that is keeping Troy’s focus away from winning the game (00:54:06-21). However, Sharpay demonstrates great drive and ambition throughout the film. She takes action to get what she wants as a male character would. However, because she is not supposed to be an active participant in the story, Sharpay is demonized for her hard work. Her ruthlessness in achieving her goals is labeled as catty and evil. Chad praises Troy for his hard work and dedication to basketball, saying, “These Wildcat legends became legends because they never took their eye off the prize.” (00:58:30). Sharpay never took her eyes off the prize of the lead in the musical. She changed the date of the callback auditions to a day that Troy and Gabriella couldn’t make it. Though this is a morally questionable action, Sharpay did this to challenge the priorities of first-time actors Troy and Gabriella to make sure they were willing to work as hard as she does to make the musical amazing. This action is not heralded in the eyes of the movie in the same way as the masculine ambition of Troy and his basketball team. It is framed as a villainous and selfish plot to target the main protagonists rather than what it is: an example of the same “don’t take your eyes off the prize” mentality Chad was lecturing Troy about. 

The film shows this dichotomy between male and female ambition best in a scene between Sharpay and Troy. Early in the movie, Sharpay greets Troy and Gabriella as they consider signing up for the musical. She surprises the couple by mysteriously appearing from behind the column. This wacky and creepy framing choice sets Sharpay up as a villain immediately. It alludes to her always haunting in the shadows, knowing what is going on around the whole school. She cheerfully asks Troy, “When’s the big game?” (00:13:09) Troy responds flatly and Sharpay answers, “You are so dedicated… just like me!” (00:13:12). Troy looks noticeably uncomfortable. The entire scene is underscored with a trumpet melody that typically accompanies comedic scenes, which indicates to audiences that Sharpay is not to be taken seriously as a character. The film is communicating that Sharpay’s dedication is not as valid as Troy’s. Sports are seen as a masculine interest and thus gain respect from the film. Musical theatre, on the other hand, is distinctly feminine and is thus not treated as valuable. Sharpay and Ryan put an immense amount of work into their audition from costuming and choreography down to working with an accompanist to create their own version of the audition track. The twins are not given any credit for their hard work. Instead, the film implies that theatre is easy and anyone like Troy and Gabriella can walk up with no preparation and blow seasoned performers out of the water. In reality, Sharpay is right; Troy and Sharpay share a similar drive and dedication to their respective interests. However, the film mocks Sharpay and dismisses this ambition because she is a feminine actress and not a masculine basketball star. 

Although Sharpay is a hard worker and a talented performer, she rarely achieves the goals she sets out for. In the first movie, she does not get the lead in the school musical and Gabriella gets it instead. In the second movie, she doesn’t win the Stardazzle Talent Show. In the final film, Sharpay is betrayed by a friend and embarrassed on stage. She doesn't even get into Juilliard, her life-long dream school, while her friends around her all get in. Mulvey writes, “Woman then stands in patriarchal culture as a signifier for the male other, bound by a symbolic order in which man can live out his phantasies and obsessions through linguistic command by imposing them on the silent image of woman still tied to her place as bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning” (621). Sharpay is trying to make meaning in her life, yet the preferential treatment for masculine characterization keeps her from doing so. The masculine characters are rewarded while the only feminine character is pushed down for her ambition. For example, Sharpay’s twin Ryan has the exact same interests as his sister and was just as involved in the scheme for the lead roles. However, by the end of the trilogy, Ryan has a full redemption arc in which he denounces his sister and becomes close friends with the core protagonists. Sharpay is never afforded a chance at redemption or given forgiveness even though her brother is. Ryan is acquitted while the woman bears all of the burden for the plans they concocted together. These defeats to the only hyper-feminine character translate to the audience that femininity is negative. Femininity is associated with weakness, failure, and being “helpless” or “incapable” (Modleski 635). Sharpay’s constant defeats serve as a reminder that she is a woman who is not allowed to gain power above her station in life. She is supposed to be silent and still, and her nonconformity to this order gains her the role of villain in the story. 

Sharpay is instantly recognizable for her love of fashion. Her costuming reflects her bold personality: filled with hot pinks, sequins, and a plethora of shiny mid-2000s accessories. She stands out amongst the modest costuming choices for women like Gabriella, Taylor, and Kelsey. All of the other women’s costumes are distinctly masculine. Taylor wears headbands and button-down collared shirts. Kelsey dressed in cargo pants and oversized coats in shades of brown. Gabriella is more feminine than the rest, but her innocence is reflected in her conservative clothing and her soft pastel colors. Thus, a spotlight is shown on Sharpay in her ultra-femininity.  According to Mulvey, “Women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (624). Sharpay’s over-the-top fashion and persona demand to be looked at both within the film and in the audience. She is a shiny spectacle that is custom-made to draw the attention of a critical male spectator. Though she dreams of being in the Broadway spotlight, the male gaze looks at her in a negative, objectifying way. When the only overtly girly character is cast as the villain, being feminine once again becomes associated with evilness and annoying dramatics. The spectator looks at her pink rhinestoned world and is led to mock and reject its femininity by the film’s framing. It teaches young girls that bold feminine energy is meant to be reigned back and fit within certain guidelines of gender presentation.

Sharpay’s confidence and her femininity give her both power and punishment. Modleski’s article examines Hitchcock’s Rear Window through the lens of the male gaze. She writes, “Lisa’s exquisite costumes give her the appearance of an alien presence in Jeff’s milieu, more strange and marvelous than the various exotic wonders he has encountered in his travels—a strangeness that is fascinating and threatening at the same time” (Modleski 637). Modeleski’s examination can easily apply to Sharpay, another glamorous woman surrounded by the gaze of men. Her deviant personality and loud choice of apparel set her apart from the rest of the students at East High and put her on a god-like pedestal. In the song Stick to the Status Quo, the film quite literally does this. Sharpay stands high on a balcony towering over the rest of her class as they eat lunch. She is literally set apart from the rest of her peers and the spectator is forced to draw their attention to her. The song Stick to the Status Quo is her outcry that she might be losing her grip on the world that she once had tight control over. She sings, “This is not what I want./ This is not how I planned./...And we gotta get things back where they belong” (00:42:02-29). These are the words of someone with omnipotent power, which only draws the fascination and intrigue of a spectator more. Anyone else could have been selected to stand on the balcony and the audience may not have given it a second thought. However, Sharpay’s hot pink floral power suit and blown-out blonde hair make her even more beguiling amongst the faded colors of East High, connecting her omniscience with her femininity.

Though Sharpay may draw the fascination of a male spectator, this is a double-edged sword. As the second part of Modleski’s previous quote reads, Sharpay’s hyper-femininity also makes her “threatening” (637). Even though Sharpay has a passion for traditional feminine pursuits, she and other women are persecuted for enjoying them. Modleski writes, “... On one hand, woman’s concern with fashion quite obviously serves patriarchal interests, on the other hand, this very concern is often denigrated and ridiculed by men…—thus putting women in a familiar double bind by which they are first assigned a restricted place in patriarchy and then condemned for occupying it” (636-637). Women in High School Musical face an impossible contradiction in which they must present as feminine, but not too feminine. Sharpay’s excess of femininity becomes a target for demonization by both the male characters and the male gaze of the spectator. Her subsequent confidence and interest in fashion are labeled as vanity. Chad repeatedly mocks Sharpay’s overt femininity, saying, “She spent her holidays the way she always does… Shopping for mirrors” (00:08:37). This negative treatment extends to other stereotypically feminine interests and activities. Gabriella and Taylor mock a group of cheerleaders, insinuating they are dumb and boy-obsessed (00:22:46). After their derogatory comments, Taylor adds, “Unless you’d rather sit with the cheerleaders and discuss the importance of firm nail beds.” Gabriella responds, “My nail beds are history!” (00:23:05-13) Taylor laughs, indicating that her nails are also bad, and the new friends run off giggling. Caring about nails and appearance is stereotypically associated with being feminine, and the characters are ostracized in the eyes of the film for prioritizing them. The “acceptable” feminine protagonists the audience roots for base their entire friendship as a protest against ultra-femininity. Because the main characters position themselves directly against ultra-femininity, male spectators and even female spectators are led to believe there is a “wrong” way to be feminine. Sharpay, villainized and mocked, embodies it. High School Musical may be a film targeted towards children, but that does not mean it isn’t worth critical engagement. This movie and others like it set a precedent for how children should think of themselves and treat people around them. The power films have over a child’s perception of the world is dangerous if in the wrong hands. High School Musical’s male gaze and demonization of femininity in Sharpay teach young spectators they must adhere to the strict gender expectations the world has laid out for them or suffer for breaking them. This Second Wave Feminist ideology has met its expiry date. There is no correct way to be a woman. Instead of putting down women like Sharpay, women should be reclaiming them and lifting each other up. If the world hopes to eradicate the male gaze and gender stereotypes, it has to start with educating the youngest generation. Thus, children’s films must be cognizant of the type of information they are broadcasting; they could be breaking free from the status quo, or simply perpetuating it.