Johnathan Gray wrote in “Intertextuality and The Study of Texts” that “Intertextuality theory provocatively asks us to what degree a text as entity can exist outside of itself as a physical object and live through other texts. The 2006 movie musical, High School Musical, is arguably Disney Channel’s most popular movie and with such a large fanbase means the movie has existed and been referenced in several Disney Channel shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Then in 2019, the degree that this entity could exist was pushed and taken to a whole new level when a show was made on Disney+ based on the movie called High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (HSMTMTS).
No, it’s not a cheesy reboot. It’s a series with a lot of intertextuality. The school where High School Musical was filmed is actually a real school in Salt Lake City, so the series is a mockumentary about the real East High’s drama department putting on High School Musical for their seasonal production. The casts cover songs from the film and the last episode of season one is the opening night of the show. The series may seem like a copy of the movie, but the show has its own storyline, characters, love triangles, and songs. The film is referenced and intertwined with the theater kid’s lives, but overall, HSMTMTS is its own entity outside of High School Musical. To separate itself from the film, each episode has two songs: 1) a cover from High School Musical and 2) an original song. For example, in the sixth episode of season one “What Team?,” the drama teacher is on leave when the school board makes accusations about her teaching credentials. Carlos, the student choreographer, has to take over rehearsal for the day. The students argue over the High School Musical scene where Gabriella sings “When There Was Me and You” and how to bring the film scene to the stage. Ricky covers the song to show another character how he thinks the performance should be done on stage. Later in the episode, everyone finds out about the drama teacher potentially losing her job, and they show up to the hearing and sing an original song called “Truth, Justice, and Songs In Our Key.”
This episode is a great example of why HSMTMTS is an example of intertextuality and not a reboot. The show has its own storyline, but incorporates the text of High School Musical into its plot. As Gray would say, the film “lives through” the series. The second season shows the drama club producing Beauty and The Beast (which makes the title of the show confusing), so now instead of a season with intertextuality of High School Musical, its Beauty and The Beast songs that will be covered and references that will be made.
One reply on ““High School Musical: The Musical: The Series:” The Intertextuality”
Hi Nikki!
I’m glad I could a little more about this show from you.
As you said, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (HSMTMTS) may seem at first like an easy reach– just another cheesy reboot. However, under closer inspection, I agree that the show contains lots of interesting layers of intertextuality that are worth looking into.
Some of us will remember the insanity of 2006 when the first HSM movie first aired on Disney Channel, garnering a record-breaking 7.7 million viewers. (Unfortunately, I was not allowed to watch it because my parents thought TV would give me ADHD.)
The franchise soon took over grade schools and big-box stores the world over, and our generation became obsessed with the greatest love story of our time; the real-life boyfriend and girlfriend Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Just like the franchise itself, the real-life drama cycle of onscreen/offscreen romance continues in the new leads of today; teen stars Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett now feature as the young lovers whose fledgling relationships play out on the national scale. While likely a personal hell, this level of extratextual interaction also contributes to the overall narrative complexity and intertextuality of the series and works to draw in a new crowd of fans along with the old.
In the end, I think HSMTMTS gives us what we want: campy, polished songs that rest on a solid bed of (pop) cultural significance, all while being able to branch out to new territory.