I have to admit that the High School Musical phenomenon passed me by.
The 2006 Disney film was a smash hit as soon as it was released and
has spawned sequels, spin-offs and seemingly endless merchandise.
The plot is fairly simple: basketball captain Troy meets academically
gifted Gabriella on a winter holiday. They connect with each other
while singing karaoke, then go their separate ways at the end of the
holiday. Gabriella moves to Troy's school and their friendship is
rekindled as they both try out for parts in their high school's
musical. Their friends want them to concentrate on other things
rather than singing, and the two who usually get the lead roles in
the musicals also try to stop them. Think Romeo and Juliet or Grease
and you'll get the idea.
One
of the themes of HSM is the pressure that Troy and Gabriella face to
conform with their 'tribe'. However, in breaking the stereotypes,
they encourage others to do so too, so there's a basketball player
who likes to bake, a 'nerd' that likes hip-hop, a skater-boy plays
the cello – as one character explains: “people
suddenly think that they can do other stuff; stuff that's not their
stuff”.
The
crucial song is “Stick to the Status Quo”, where those
who try to 'rebel' are told: “Stick to the stuff you know / If you
want to be cool, follow one simple rule / Don't mess with the flow /
Stick to the status quo.” For teenagers especially, the desire to
want to be in a group and blend in is very strong, but the message of
HSM is that it's OK to not conform with the stereotypes, and that
peer pressure to conform can and should be resisted.
In adults this
tribalism can manifest itself in identity politics – people
grouping themselves together on the basis of a single shared
characteristic, often with a claim of victimisation and
discrimination, and often with the aim of getting recognition and
power. Now, of course, seeing someone as of less worth than someone
else because of a characteristic they have is always wrong, but
although it seems a good idea, identity politics has undesirable
consequences. From the point of view of society there is the problem
of the hierarchy of identities: how do we decide which of the
marginalized groups needs to be heard the loudest; what happens if
someone has more than one marginalized characteristic; when does a
marginalized group campaigning for themselves start discriminating
against others? This last question is increasing seen in the way
freedom of speech is stopped whenever the speaker wants to challenge
the assumptions of a marginalized group.
But on a personal level
there is something very worrying about investing so much of your
identity in one characteristic. If you do this you will inevitably
see yourself as being in competition with everyone else, and life
becomes all about dominating others to your advantage. There is only
one characteristic that truly matters: that we are humans beings.
And for Christians that means we have a dignity because we're made in
the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). If we identify
ourselves first and foremost as human beings problems of
victimisation and discrimination start to fall away. As the Wildcats
sing at the end “Everyone is special in their own way / We make each other
strong / We're not the same / We're different in a good way /
Together's where we belong / We're all in this together.”
No comments:
Post a Comment