So I was reading the news tonight, looking for the article on High School Musical coming to my town since Mama's gonna get us tickets to it. I came across a few stories, comments, etc. And I gotta tell ya, I get more and more pissed with every one I see.

Let me be very clear right off the bat: this isn't a rant directed at someone who happens to not like HSM. I hate my share of things that EVERYONE loves as well. (Lord of the Rings, Napoleon Dynamite, Borat, etc.) Here's what DOES piss me off: every freaking review I read picks on HSM simply because it's EASY.

It's a Disney Channel Original Movie, and they usually suck. But notice the key words there: DISNEY CHANNEL. If I see one more review saying "it's too childish", I will blow up. IT'S A DISNEY MOVIE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!

Holy crap, if you're gonna rip on something for being too childish, you gotta rip on Dora the Explorer too. But we rip on HSM because it's a phenomenon that everyone loves, so it's easy to jump at. These rants that people in their 20's and 30's are making are starting to bug me because the movie is NOT aimed at them for crying out loud! Audience. That's something we learn right away in writing. It's like a food critic saying cat food has "too much tuna". Calling HSM too childish is a laugh. THAT WAS THE POINT.

NOW personally I didn't find it very childish. I know the "be yourself" moral has been used for, but recycled morals are in EVERY SINGLE MOVIE. How you get to that moral is important, so I found the plot to be very original, intrinsic, and the music is fantastic. I adore music, so it's the perfect combo for me. For the record, 1/3 of HSM 2's viewers on opening night were teeangers. That's a LOT and doesn't include adults as well.

Okay, so I'm starting to get off track; let me say again: it doesn't annoy me that there are some people that don't like HSM. That totally makes sense and is to be expected with ANYTHING. The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm getting annoyed with the people who are ragging on it only because it's SO EASY to rag on things made for a young audience.

At the same time, that kind of makes me sad. It's easy to make fun of things devoid of cursing, blood, violence, risque humor, etc. The most common thing it seems HSM is poked fun at for is its message of friendship, loyalty, trust, compassion towards others and all that jazz. That is the biggest reason it's easy to make fun of. IT PROMOTES GOOD MORALS, AND THUS IT'S MADE FUN OF.

It's a pattern in a lot of movies, not just HSM. But that's the one that really bothers me. I'm totally cool if you didn't like HSM because you just thought it was a bad movie. I'm totally bothered if you didn't like it because it carried an obvious, albiet beautiful message.

Looking on the good side though, I was very happy to hear HSM 2 broke the record for most watched cable show in history. (Beating out the sopranos.) Not just because it's my favorite movie, but because it restores my faith in humanity that America can like something where people don't get their heads blown off.

So that's the good side, I suppose. They're coming out with another friggen Saw movie (a series of torture movies), but they're also coming out with HSM 3. So there's that to keep my sanity at least.

I leave you on this last note of bias in the newspaper. This article was about a drama teacher complaining that Disney was being outrageous with how much they charged for giving licenses to schools to do their show.

""For 600 seats per night, at $7 a ticket, we were charged $895 per show.""

Um.... one word: lolwhut? 600 x's 7 is 4,200. Disney doesn't even take a third of what they make. Pretty generous of them if you ask me since THEY WRITE THE SHOW and give you ALL THE RESOURCES to perform it.

But if they had written it "For $4,200 a night, we were charged $895 per show" it wouldn't look like Disney was OMG TEH EVIL.

Thank you, Mr. Gypton, for teaching me how to catch sneaky jerks like this in the media.

-Chi <3