#mrsevans

Part II of my analysing the above scene from High School Musical 2. (Part I is here).  Apologies in advance for the poor video quality: I got this from YouTube. The full video is available from Google Play or in DVD format.

Having watched this scene yesterday and again today, I have some new observations on the various problems with Gabriella’s behaviour throughout. The last observation I made was that Ryan Evans had no problem with Troy chasing this scholarship opportunity, as it was clear from Mr. Evans’ high praise that he had earned it. 

“Oh yeah, they’re awesome! Playing with them is like being in another world.”

I had a previous post on this comment, but my computer froze before I could post it, so I lost everything. However, I do recall noting on this scene that the Redhawks had gone out of their way to welcome Troy. They invited him to scrimmage shortly after they met (without even watching Troy play first), listened to his tutorial on holding a golf club, gave him one of their jackets, and gave him a free ride to their gym. 

The film wants you to believe that these men help Troy get too big for his britches. Does the evidence support this? Notice that while Troy appears starstruck at meeting U of A players, they don’t bask in the praise. In fact, the first player is impressed that Troy has watched them play, and senses that he takes basketball seriously. Hence the immediate invitation for scrimmage. 

Yet just because Gabriella takes objection to Troy calling them, “the guys”, we’re to dismiss these men who take their profession seriously and play at an advanced level altogether. Gabriella ironically belittles them, calling them “all those tall people”. I invite the audience to decide who is really the snob here. As far as I can see, these Redhawks have shown themselves to be polite, friendly, and generous.

What’s “another world” for Troy? We don’t know. I can only assume that, based on their practice, Troy is more part of the team, rather than the one being pressured to deliver (as when he plays with the Wildcats). But that is just an assumption. 

Of course, Gabriella won’t pass on any compliments to Troy, even though by an impartial source, he is doing very well. Instead, she says:

“Well, you missed out on a fun night...”

So her priorities here are 1)- attention on her (hence dancing with Ryan); 2)- Troy only making friends she approves of (she takes no interest in the Redhawks); 3)- having fun right now (telling Troy that he “missed out”). Then she giggles with Ryan to underline how she has moved on emotionally.

To recap: Gabriella has ignored Troy’s call(s), treated Ryan as a new Wildcat, invested herself emotionally in Ryan, refused to apologise for missing Troy’s calls (which implies she ignored those calls), visibly shows more interest in Ryan (looking up at him while he passes on Mr. Evans’ compliment, but not Troy), and uses subtle hints to show that Troy is “missing out”. 

Remember these things, because the general consensus in the comments’ sections for HSM II videos is that Troy is at fault. I again invite the audience, armed with the above facts, to consider that-- particularly given Troy’s visible jealousy and upset with the above behaviour. 

“But the dessert afterwards had to be the best part. Her mom makes the best brownies in the entire world--”

“Yeah, I know: I’ve had ‘em.”

I think I have noted before how Gabriella did not see fit to invite Troy to her mother’s house, even if he had missed the baseball game (or even dessert). We know this, because Troy tried calling her to let her know that he was stuck at the gym. As I have fairly demonstrated, Gabriella ignored that call, because she only stared at him coldly when he mentioned it. 

As must be evident, Gabriella wishes to emphasise to Troy that he has been left behind. This is punishment for his “failing” to meet previous commitments and for appearing close to Sharpay. Many, if not most viewers take Gabriella’s side here, even though Troy did his utmost to explain on several occasions precisely why he had missed arrangements with his friends. 

Consequently, Troy cuts off Ryan, leaving an embarrassed silence as the latter eventually admits that things are troubled between the couple. He makes a quick exit, and who can blame him? 

I have just realised that Gabriella never defended Ryan after Troy cut him off. Taken in isolation, this is a rude action from Troy, and if Gabriella had discovered Ryan’s true worth, now was her chance to step in. But she remains silent, leaving Ryan to stand around in an awkward silence and then leave, no doubt feeling as though he did something wrong. 

(We know this, because later on, he waits for Troy to address him personally before speaking.)

Ultimately, as much as Gabriella does like Ryan, he was a tool to help her inflict emotional punishment on Troy. I think I have fairly demonstrated this, and I call upon anyone who feels that Troy was at fault to prove otherwise. The resulting cold silence between the two after Ryan has left more than proves this, with Gabriella refusing to even move an inch to bridge the gap between them or explain her feelings. 

The most I can say for Gabriella by the end is that she does appear remorseful after he has left: we can see her face change a little. This is consistent with HSM I, where she looks wistful standing alone at home, after having ignored Troy. But the other consistent theme here is Gabriella’s refusal to explain those feelings. I have far fewer problems with her behaviour in HSM I, but come the summer, she defaults back on the same fault: freezing Troy out-- and this time, replacing him with someone else. 

So here’s an honest question. How come Troy has to apologise to everyone and his mother for losing sight of his friends and his commitments, while Gabriella, who used Ryan, quit the show and had to be dragged back, is treated as though she was right all along? 

For me, Troy undoubtedly had his faults in this movie. But Gabriella’s behaviour here is indefensible. Troy had explained himself time and time again. She didn’t have to agree with or like those explanations, but it would have cost her nothing to listen, let alone give him the benefit of the doubt. Yet she behaved as though Troy had betrayed her, when all he did was put his future first so his parents could worry less about college costs. 

Youtube perhaps made the mistake of recommending this clip from High School Musical 2 to me, leading me to watch the scene again and make some new observations. 

First of all, I just realised that Gabriella didn’t approve of Ryan’s clothing, either. She begins by saying to Ryan, “Wow, Wildcat!” sarcastically, saying his clothes are too much “only in daylight”. This isn’t a major complaint, but does follow on from previous comments Gabriella has made about Troy’s clothing, notably his “Italian golf shoes”.

(One may recall that Gabriella complained about Troy not asking her opinion on his “new Italian golf shoes”, but she later proceeded to use this as a term of mockery until Troy gave them up altogether.) 

Also, Gabriella is calling Ryan “Wildcat”, the title she usually reserves for Troy. This already hints that she has moved on from Troy emotionally and wants Ryan to fill in the void. I personally think Gabriella latches onto Ryan for the following reasons: 1)- he is sensitive and eager for praise, 2)- he has the kind of talent she admires, 3)- despite her later behaviour, she genuinely felt sorry for him.

“Be true to your school, right?”

“Absolutely.”

Ryan’s intentions here are harmless, but anything Gabriella says at this point must be taken in conjunction with her emotional distancing from Troy over him chasing the scholarship opportunity. So this gives a fourth reason for her latching onto Ryan: he appears more loyal to the Wildcats than Troy. 

Notice that after expressing an unfavourable opinion about Ryan’s clothes, the next topic Gabriella discusses is the show. Not just that, but everyone else’s opinion on the show-- she doesn’t even say, “I’m excited about doing the show...” (though she is). Furthermore, Troy isn’t included with the “everyone”, even though Gabriella pleaded with him to sign up first. 

Once again, Gabriella has already left Troy behind. 

Now we get to Ryan’s real motivations for joining forces with the Wildcats. “...I know everyone thinks I’m Sharpay’s poodle, but I really think that I can--” Unfortunately, this shows that the Wildcats are as judgmental of others as they were in the first movie, despite claiming to have changed. 

Ryan’s words here reveal an admirable characteristic: he wasn’t as easily taken in by the Wildcats’ apparent hospitality, because he knew what they said behind his back. Notice his use of the present tense: “everyone thinks”. Not, “everyone thought”. We have no choice but to assume that despite the ridiculous baseball game, they still think little of him as a person. Ryan knows this, and is keen to disprove that. He is also relieved and grateful that Gabriella does not share this viewpoint (she genuinely does not). 

Gabriella’s response: “Hey, if they were thinking that, they’re not thinking that today.” In HSM I, Gabriella was present when Chad called Sharpay and Ryan “show dogs”, which is a similar insult to “poodle”. So why does she use the conditional statement, “if”? Anyway, this is a minor issue, since Gabriella’s behaviour here is genuine. She does not believe Ryan is a “poodle” and she does believe in his potential. 

Then Gabriella asks Ryan for the dance steps he did last night, because she wants to have fun and she wants to be the centre of attention. This scene itself would be innocent, if not for the fact that when Troy appears, Gabriella does not immediately let go of Ryan’s hand. Again, that wouldn’t be a problem if not for the fact that Troy’s evident jealousy would at least require some placating. 

Notice that Ryan’s greeting is more friendly, because he hasn’t done anything wrong. 

It’s hard to watch Troy’s bewildered, jealous, and hurt expression before this scene, still more the fact that he pulls himself together to speak next. 

“So I called last night, got, uh, hung up at the gym.”

Gabriella’s response? Total silence. 

As I watched this scene yesterday, I realised that Gabriella had not only missed Troy’s call: she had ignored it altogether. Why do I say this? Well, you can excuse the phone being in her bag while she was befriending Ryan. 

But what about the party afterwards, which Ryan will shortly mention? A phone will usually notify you of a missed call. It would be absurd to think that Gabriella never checked her phone between the baseball match and returning to her mother’s house. 

If Gabriella had genuinely missed his call, why the silence? It’s a silence so cold and so embarrassing that Ryan, after looking to Gabriella for an explanation, feels the rudeness of her behaviour. 

“Hey, my dad says you’re doing great with those college guys.”

This is Ryan distracting from the rudeness of Gabriella’s tacit admission that she ignored Troy’s call and feels no remorse for doing so. 

It’s worth noting here that Ryan was previously canned by Sharpay, because she wanted to sing with Troy. Last semester, he lost the lead role in the musical to Troy. Earlier, he was worried that Kelsi’s new duet was for Troy and Gabriella, rather than for him and Sharpay. 

Why is Ryan polite to Troy here, rather than bitter (as he was beforehand)? 

Simple. Since he has made friends with Gabriella, he wants to cement her good impression by being friendly with Troy. Also, it may be that Ryan respects his father’s opinions on Troy, as opposed to Sharpay’s opinions. Mr Evans went out of his way to assess Troy’s playing ability (showing that he did not just rely on Sharpay’s own descriptions). Troy has impressed him so much that he informs his family of this, despite the fact that none of them play basketball. Ryan has to take that seriously. 

This shows that Ryan has no problem with Troy chasing the scholarship opportunity, doesn’t see it as a betrayal.