Watching ‘High School Musical 2’ with no sound
Zach Loveall
“High School Musical 2” deserves all of its attention, and its colors show why
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The Michigan Daily
When you think of “High School Musical 2,” I’d be surprised if the first thing that comes to your mind is color — I’m pretty sure it’s the music. Every single song is so iconic that, at the sound of each first note, memories come flooding back of jumping on my couch in my living room, dancing and singing to the movie. “High School Musical 2” has always just been about the music to me. So when my amazing friend Sabriya asked me to write an article about the colors of “High School Musical 2,” I decided to watch the movie differently than I always have, by watching it with no sound; I immersed myself in the visuals and color of a film known first and foremost for its music.

When I first clicked start, I immediately noticed that every color has its saturation cranked to 1000. All the outfits are so bright they almost pop right out of the screen. Gray and brown are otherworldly horrors in the universe of “High School Musical 2,” rarely seen at all except hiding in the corners of East High. Even dirt isn’t found in the familiar pale browns and beiges of reality; in the New Mexico deserts where most of the film takes place, soil is instead a brilliant red. I couldn’t think of anything that fits better for a world where a baseball player can insist he doesn’t dance while romping across a baseball diamond in a Broadway-esque choreographed dance sequence. The colors are campy, fun and intense — everything the movie is.

Having seen “High School Musical 2” more times than I like to admit, context was sometimes enough to figure out the gist of conversations, but often I had to fall back on the visuals to remember specifics. The colors always grabbed my attention first, whether it was the bright blue sky, the dazzling silvers of the many metal items or the brilliant outfits in every color imaginable.

The second most iconic thing about “High School Musical 2” beyond its music is the main pseudo-love triangle of Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale, “Phineas and Ferb”), Troy (Zac Efron, “The Greatest Showman”) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens, “The Princess Switch”). Their relationship is the primary conflict of the entire movie as Troy gets dragged away from Gabriella by the allure of the high-class connections of Sharpay’s wealthy family. Sharpay is a dazzling poisonous fruit, both figuratively and literally. She represents a path for Troy to meet influential people who can help with his sports career, a path which might also ruin his relationships with his friends, but she also is always dressed in bright pinks and blues. Sharpay’s outfits glitter with sequins that flash so much light that she stands out even in the oversaturated landscape. She’s contrasted with Gabriella, who’s dressed in softer, more subtle colors: yellow and lilac purple, with cool whites calming down the vibrant world around her. She stands out in her own way, a calm among the storm of colors. Then there’s Troy, simple and confused. He’s often wearing plain red and blues; in his iconic “Bet On It,” song he is in full black, his angsty and moody anger exploding through the screen just from the visuals. The love triangle might be one of the oldest cliches in the book, but it made childhood me absolutely obsessed.

I have to admit something. When I first thought of this idea, I thought it’d be some dumb fun where I just got to laugh at a ridiculous concept. I expected my own two-hour version of the YouTube edit of “Work This Out” where the sounds are replaced with actual clanging dish sounds but with no sound at all. Instead, I was met with a fascinating experience of visual overstimulation. I got to rediscover the genuine excitement I felt for a movie I probably watched dozens of times while growing up. It’s always easy to bash low-quality kids’ movies, to tear into their cheesy acting and awkward dialogue — I do it all the time. But sometimes taking the harder route and looking for the time and craft poured even into these admittingly simple films is more rewarding. Kids’ movies are their own art just as much as Oscar-nominated films are, and art exists to be talked and thought about. So maybe next time you’ve got two hours to waste, take a minute to rewatch your childhood film just a little differently.

Daily Arts Writer Zach Loveall can be reached at zloveall@umich.edu.