The first and foremost thing you should know about me as a person is that my favorite film trilogy in the world is High School Musical. I live for High School musical. This love started back in 2006 and over the past 10 years I have watched the series at least 50 times, which is a low estimate because my mother spent her entire second trimester of her pregnancy with my little sister watching High School Musical 2. Out of all of the characters in High School Musical, and there are many (several personal faves are the girl on the boy's basketball team, Rocket Man, Chucky the Choreographer, and Mr. Fulton the concierge), Sharpay Evans is my favorite. I know, she's the "villain", but I don't really think that's true. As everyone who has ever spent more than 6 hours with me knows, here is why Sharpay Evans is the true hero of High School Musical, and Gabriella Montez is the worst.
As every theater student knows, your junior year roles make or break you. The summer before senior year you'll be traipsing the country auditioning for theater programs and conservatories, and you need to have your resume packed. Now Sharpay Evans came into her spring of Junior year in a very confident mood: she had starred in the past 13 school productions, she had her brother and best friend by her side in all of those parts, and she only had two more musicals before audition season started. And then all of a sudden, a transfer student comes in and takes her part. Now, in most schools, this would just mean that Sharpay would get a secondary role, like Miss Dorothy in "Thoroughly Modern Millie". But that is not the case. Apparently, Miss Darbus only casts talented people in leads, everyone else is the trash who sings "It's hard to believe that I couldn't sneeze- SEE". So does Sharpay get a secondary role in Twinkle Town the Musicale when Gabriella beats her out for the part of Minnie? No. She gets to be an understudy. AN UNDERSTUDY! A girl who had starred in 13 school productions and was president of the drama club, as well as the financier of the BETTER ARRANGEMENTS OF ALL OF KELSI NIELSEN'S WORK, was relegated to "understudy". She doesn't even get to perform again until the Spring Musicale later that year.
This obviously shakes Sharpay's confidence. She decides to spend the summer at her country club surrounded by friends, family, and happiness. While it is for selfish reasons, Sharpay does get Troy a job at the country club. When the rest of his friends show up, is Sharpay thrown off? Yes. And what do the Wildcats do? They all start complaining about how their jobs require them to actually work! They make fun of Sharpay when they're supposed to be serving her, they harass the Evans family and Fulton, and they turn Ryan against Sharpay, his best friend and Twin Sister!!! And who does this the most? Gabriella, who literally tells Troy and Ryan that Sharpay is bringing them down. When Sharpay believes that the Wildcats are shirking their duties and turning her brother against her, she makes Fulton schedule them to work during the talent show, which is their job regardless of that fact that they were going to sing a fun song. Who yells at her? Gabriella. And then the Wildcats do what? They take retribution by humiliating Sharpay in front of her entire community and family, as well as take away yet another opportunity for her to perform by having Gabriella replace her in a showstopping number. I understand that anyone can do anything at East High, but it seems to be that anyone can do anything as long as they aren't Sharpay Evans.
We finally get to movie three, and we're hoping that things are finally getting better for Sharpay. They seem to be at the start: she has a double locker, a new assistant, and free reign of the drama club. She's applied to Julliard and get's a home visit from the school, along with her twin brother who she obviously loves more than anyone else in the world. For her senior year musical, does she want a lead? Obviously, Julliard is coming and she needs to impress them. Who gets the lead? Gabriella. And then Gabriella, who knew she probably wouldn't be here for the show anyways, gets confirmation that she is going to not be present for the performance, she just drops the show without even caring. When Sharpay takes over and works her hardest to get the show to a good place, she is chastised by everyone for DOING HER JOB! And then on the actual show, Troy runs away to go get Gabriella and doesn't tell anyone, especially not Sharpay. So in front of the Julliard reps and her parents who she barely sees, as well as her fellow Wildcats, Sharpay is humiliated by both Rocketman not showing up until several minutes after his cue, Rocketman then singing horribly, and then Troy and Gabriella running in and singing and showing her up. And then, when she tries to go back to her original number, Tiara Gold humiliates her yet again and makes her seem unprofessional by trying to sing her number. And at the end of the day, Sharpay's twin and her enemy Kelsi get the scholarships to Julliard and Sharpay has to go to the University of Albuquerque. She finally makes it on Broadway by the end of her fabulous adventure, but it was a very long uphill battle that probably would have been easier had she not had to compete for everything she had.
While High School Musical has many characters, and you may think that Gabriella and Troy are the heroes, Sharpay is obviously the victim of these films and deserves better. If you want to discuss this with me further, comment below or find me from the hours of 10 am and 2 am, I'll be yelling about this and crying. Thanks for reading, and stay fabulous!! #JusticeforSharpay
