Who Knew High School Musical 2 was Anti-Capitalist Propaganda?
In High School Musical 2, the struggle between the rich ignorant country club owners and their staff of rebellious teenage Wildcats represents the Marxist struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Sharpay Evans represents high society and the allure of capitalism. Gabriella Montez represents financial and class equality. Troy Bolton and Ryan Evans represent the average person navigating the pros and cons of a capitalist society.
The country club owners, also known as the Evans family, meet all of the criteria of the bourgeoisie class: they control the means of production, and they highly value their many material possessions. Sharpay and Ryan Evan’s entrance is studded with a personalized sports car, a personalized license plate, a purse puppy hanging out of a designer bag, and make-up and hair that could have only been perfected by a full glam team. If that isn’t the definition of being a “have”, I don’t know what is. Not to mention that Sharpay’s first performance of the movie starts with something as privileged as a grand piano in the swimming pool of her family owned country club and only gets more ridiculous from there, essentially turning out to be a list of her most beloved material possessions. The Evan’s parents are introduced in an equally high profile way. Mr. Evans makes his first appearance via helicopter landing in a golf coarse he owns and also happens to hold the record for. Mr. Evans has monumental sway over the admissions program at his alma mater, University of Albuquerque, which just so happens to be the dream school of the boy Sharpay is in love with. When it comes to the Evans family, saying they control the means of production seems like an understatement, afterall their country club is the backdrop for this entire movie.
The Wildcats, lead by high school power couple, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, are the textbook definition of the proletariat working class. The Wildcats were enjoying their summer freedom before they became chained to the confines of financial responsibility in a capitalist society. They are oppressed by the upper classes of the capitalist system which gives them the common goals to rebel against it.
At the beginning of the movie, Sharpay uses her high class connections to pursue her romantic interest in Troy Bolton. She gets the General Manager of her family’s country club, Mr. Fulton, to offer Troy a job at any cost in an attempt to isolate him from Troy’s girlfriend, Gabriella. Mr. Fulton follows through on his orders, but Troy’s conditions are not exactly what Sharpay had in mind. Troy wanted to bring all of his Wildcat buddies along with him as an act of working class solidarity. It is one theory that as a member of the bourgeoisie, Sharpay doesn’t understand the behaviors of the proletariat so she couldn’t forsee Troy bringing his other working class buddies along with him. When Sharpay found out that the other Wildcats were ruining her plan, she ordered Mr. Fulton to make their lives horrendous. Her oppression of the proletariat class for her own personal gain, shows that she doesn’t truly understand the people in the system she controls.
The working class Wildcats describe their frustration with their unfair treatment in a song title “Work This Out”. Jason was especially upset in relation to the mistreatment because he “needed benjamins but this ain’t worth the stress”. Sharpay is pulling all of the strings at the country club to torture her classmates, yet she sits poolside and relaxed for the majority of the movie. The gravity of the situation seems incomprehensible to her given how upset and picky she got during the first song of the movie, “Fabulous”. Sharpay never would have tolerated that treatment, yet she was raised as a “have” as opposed to a “have-not” so she’s always had privileges her classmates do not.
In an effort to further isolate Troy from the other working class Wildcats, she introduces him to other members of high society and gives him opportunities his working class peers would never be able to offer him such as talks for a basketball scholarship at Troy’s dream school and a higher paying job. Troy’s interests are no longer fully aligned with the working class anymore. With his new job as a Caddy and the benefits he’s receiving from Sharpay’s high status, he is profiting off of capitalism and therefore doesn’t want the system to be demolished.
As Troy’s interests changed in relation to class, so did Ryan’s interests. Ryan starts the movie in high society right alongside Sharpay, but after she throws away their talent show duet like it meant nothing to her in an effort to further pursue Troy, Ryan starts to realize that high society isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Ryan finds friendship in a group of Wildcats during the staff baseball game, the same game that Troy decided to miss. Ryan realizes that since he’s seen the bourgeoisie from the inside, he can help the Wildcats organize an uprising. The annual talent show is quickly approaching and Ryan knows the secrets to destroy the ongoing capitalist abuse. He directs the Wildcats in a song that they plan to debut in the show, until Sharpay finds out and bans all staff from participating in the show except for Troy, of course.
The controversy with the annual talent show was the spark that set the class system on fire. Sharpay is so wrapped up in the prestige of winning the talent show and so threatened by Ryan’s song composed for the Wildcats that she tells Mr. Fulton to prohibit all staff members from performing in it. Gabriella could no longer put up with Sharpay’s abuse of the lower classes and decides that she’s gotta go her own way. Gabriella quits her job and her absence snaps Troy out of the high society dream he had been living in all summer.
As Sharpay prepares for the talent show, Troy shows up to talk to her. He is wearing everyday clothes associated with the working class instead of the sparkly get-up that matches Sharpay’s costume. The symbolism of his solidarity to the working class is only echoed by his refusal to perform the duet him and Sharpay had been planning. Kelsi, a member of the working class, witnesses Troy’s behavior and reports it to the other Wildcats. They decide to forgive him for the way he treated them while on the high of the bourgeoisie and Ryan begins to hatch a plan to overthrow the capitalist system.
After talking it over with his working class friends, Troy goes back and agrees to sing with Sharpay as long as the Wildcats can perform as well. This shows Troy’s commitment to class equality. Sharpay agrees and right as Troy goes to inform the Wildcats, Ryan whisks him off to learn a new song supposedly at Sharpay’s request. Before Troy and Sharpay’s act, Troy questions her about her new song choice. Sharpay is unaware of any changes to their act. Ryan then prevents her from joining Troy on stage as the revolution begins.
Troy performs a duet with his working class counterpart and love interest- Gabriella Montez. The duet is titled “Everyday” which could be an allusion to the everyday struggles the working class deal with that people like Sharpay are oblivious to. This message is punctuated by the workers banding together to sing the chorus of the song.
The final scene shows a staff party that takes place at the pool that Gabriella and Troy had previously been scolded for using which is a real full circle moment. The staff sings a song titled “All for One” which couldn’t have a more obviously anti-capitalist title. Sharpay and Ryan, who at the beginning of the movie prided themselves on their high status, are now partying alongside people they once looked down on. Partying besides one another at their place of employment also illustrates how their jobs are no longer only for the sake of financial gain. They value their relationships with one another over the simple promise of a paycheck because material goods are no longer relevant in their post-capitalism society. The Evans parents are nowhere to be found, showing that the bourgeoisie who didn’t adapt to the new way of life were driven out of the country club once the working class were in control.
High School Musical 2 was written to the tune of Marxism so perfectly that it is hard to believe the writer’s weren’t holding an anti-capitalist grudge. Troy choosing Gabriella over the glitz and glam of Sharpay is too canny of a metaphor for choosing Socialism over Capitalism for it not to on purpose. Sharpay’s hatred for Gabriella too closely represents the bourgeoisie hate for the proletariat to be a coincidence. Accidental or not the theme of Marxism is hidden in every scene of this movie just past Zach Efron’s dreamy smile.
