Michael Giltz: High School Musical 2:The Biggest Pop Cultural Event in History http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/high-school-musical-2the-_b_60743.html [4/5/2009 8:45:13 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz Posted August 16, 2007 | 02:57 PM (EST) BIO Become a Fan Get EmailAlerts Bloggers'Index High School Musical 2 :The Biggest Pop Cultural Event in History Entertainment News It's no surprise that the debut of High School Musical 2 Friday at 8 p.m. has inspired a tidal wave of press coverage.</p><p> Almost every mediaoutlet in the country was slow in picking up onwhat a phenomenon HSM was becoming and now they need to make up for lost time.</p><p> But thistween sensation should make that easy: it'salmost eerie how many trends in pop culture arereflected in the story of this film.</p><p> To wit: Musicals are Back - For 26 years (since MTV launched), virtually every kid in America has grown up watching artists break into song and dance.</p><p> The idea that they might find a musical odd or off-putting is just crazy.</p><p> And now everyone has caught on, thanks to the box office success ofmovies like Hairspray, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Once (in its way), HSM and a host of others.</p><p> Further proof: local live theater productions of HSM have sprouted around the country.</p><p> Kids Love Repetition - Every parent knows that kids like to hear the same story over and over again.</p><p> But HSM took this to unprecedented extremes.</p><p> Since the movie debuted in January of 2006, the Disney Channel reran it again and again and again, always to millions of viewers - even after it came out on DVD.</p><p> Cable TV Overwhelming Major Networks - This summer reached a tipping point, with the major networks churning out uninspired fare (like Pirate Master ) that reached fewer and fewer viewers and cable channels delivering one audience grabber after another, from Army Wives and Damages to Mad Men and Flash Gordon .</p><p> The major networks would kill to have a TV movie event even remotely as anticipated as Disney's HSM2 .</p><p> A Star is (Almost) Born - Zac Efron, the star of HSM , is clearly a breakout talent, thanks to a Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Get Breaking News Alerts Share Print Comments never spam Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! 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Really? He's an appealing, talented kid.</p><p> But it's hard to think of anything LESS rockand roll than the Disney Channel TV movie High School Musical and its sequel.</p><p> It is the exactopposite of rock and roll.</p><p> People Still Love Pop Music - As much as the industry bemoans slowing music sales, the disappearance of record chains across the country, and the lack of a hot new musical force (like the Seattle scene) to get folks excited, the simple truth is that people still spend billions of dollars ayear on pop music like HSM , the best-selling album of 2006.</p><p> TV is the New Radio - Radio stations are so bland and monomaniacal about playing the same formatted batch of tunes whether you're in Miami, Florida or Minneapolis, Minnesota, that theysimply don't matter any more.</p><p> Thank God for TV.</p><p> No wonder the music supervisor on Grey's Anatomy got their own record label -- they've done a better job of spotting and promoting talent like Snow Patrol and The Fray than most A&R folk.</p><p> Kids Expect a Multicultural World - Our hero is super-white.</p><p> His best bud is black.</p><p> His girlfriend is a sexy mix of Filipino, Chinese, Irish and Native American.</p><p> And the "bad" girl's brother seems to be a coded gay character.</p><p> But kids don't blink twice.</p><p> They expect their movies and TV to look just like their world, where interracial dating and out teenagers are a banal fact of life.</p><p> The Atomization of our Culture - HSM took so long to gain traction in the Traditional Media because everyone is in a different room in the house, with mom watching Lifetime and dad watching Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel and neither of them having a clue that little Suzie is obsessed with HSM .</p><p> With literally something for everyone, can anything bring us together the way, say, I Love Lucy did in the 50s and The Cosby Show did in the 80s? Some Events Can Still Bring Us Together - Don't worry.</p><p> Something for everyone doesn't mean everyone can't gather around the water-cooler every once in a while and talk about the sameevent.</p><p> American Idol may score lower ratings than The Cosby Show but it still pulls in a massive audience.</p><p> J.K.</p><p> Rowling had people of all ages lined up at midnight to buy a book.</p><p> And HSM2 made enough noise that it won't be just tweens sitting in front of the TV to see HSM2 this weekend: their parents will be there too to check out what all the fuss is over.</p><p> So, did I miss any trends encapsulated by High School Musical ? More in Entertainment... "Washington Unplugged" Arianna was on CBS' "Washington...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Appears on ABC's "This Week" Roundtable With George Stephanopoulos (VIDEO) Arianna was a guest this morning on... "BRUNO" TRAILER! Calamity, African Babies, Chase Scenes And More (NSFW VIDEO) IT'S HERE! 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RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3Police Officers Dr.</p><p> Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama binLaden?Weekend Update...</p><p> Lavish...$40,000 Choreographer Accused Of...</p><p> HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Ads by Google Vanessa Hudgens Pics New Vanessa Hudgens Picture Scandal Full Story w/ the Celebrity Toolbar Celebrity.alottoolbars.com Comments for this entry are currently under maintenance but will be restored soon.</p><p> Ads by Google Vanessa Hudgens Pics New Vanessa Hudgens Picture Scandal Full Story w/ the Celebrity Toolbar Celebrity.alottoolbars.com AIG Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... 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