Inside the ‘High School Musical’ Craze

Forbes: Inside the 'High School Musical' Craze

NEW YORK – Jessica Benjamin is a bit bashful about admitting this. But sometimes, driving by herself, this mother of four in suburban New York has been known to slip the "High School Musical" soundtrack into the CD player.

And Terri Welch, a mother in Houston, often catches herself alone singing "What Time Is It?" from "High School Musical 2," the second installment of the Disney Channel megahit.

Thus these two women slip into a parallel dimension, one inhabited largely by tween-aged girls (roughly 6 to 13) and the people who live with them. This universe spans the globe, and its deities are Zac and Vanessa (or sometimes "Zanessa") – two smiling teens as familiar and adored by inhabitants of this universe as they are unknown and irrelevant to those who don't live there.

So foreign is the "High School Musical" franchise to those with no connection to the tween world that Kenneth Feld, co-producer of the new ice tour that kicks off this weekend, calls it "almost underground." Tongue in cheek, of course. How many underground movements can claim the top-selling CD of 2006 and a global viewership of over 250 million? Or become the source of hundreds of amateur productions across the nation, not to mention untold numbers of preschool birthday parties?…

I've seen both 1 and 2. It is catchy fun stuff. I can fully understand why it is so popular.

I find interesting the rise of this entertainment in light of William Strauss and Neil Howe, the gurus on Generational analysis (and about the only ones I read on the topic.) They suggest a recurring four-generational pattern that has little to do with technology changes and more to do with oscillations in parenting and sets of values. They suggest the generation born between 1982-2000 is the same archetype as the G.I generation born 1901-1924. They and the generation after them are more of the "We" generation than Boomers and Xers, which are more "Me" generations. They point out that as these kids came of age, movie entertainment became the golden era of the grand musicals, which were sentimental, feel-good events. This was in contrast to the more cynical "wised-up" sexually reckless era of the twenties leading up to it. Sexuality took a turn toward a more wholesome. And what is the central theme of the musicals? "We're All in This Together," an uplifting sentimental "We" mentality. This is precisely what Strauss and Howe predicted would emerge 15-20 years ago.

Michael Barone wrote on this topic back in July.