#IDon'tUnderstandTroyellaFans

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Hypocrisy Files: Gabriella Montez

I know, I know. I should stay away from HSM II, given how it hikes my blood pressure. But after this post yesterday, I just NEED to back up my defence of Troy Bolton with a comparative look at Gabriella’s staggering hypocrisy during her confrontation with Sharpay. WHY people cannot see this is beyond me. In my Questions for HSM II Continued, I said that Gabriella’s actions here were “somewhat commendable”. I hereby retract that comment; after further analysis, I now conclude that Gabriella did not have one scrap of moral authority to lecture Sharpay at all. If anyone should have shouted at Sharpay here, it should have been Kelsi. 

I will now conduct a line-by-line analysis for why Gabriella’s actions here are disgraceful, hypocritical and far worthier of censure than ANYTHING Troy does in the ENTIRE film series. 

Hold your horses.

Hypocrisy Files: Gabriella Montez

Agent Deborah: At 08:25am this morning, I watched exclusive clips of Suspect Montez engaged in acts of heinous hypocrisy. Report as follows. 

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So, we discover that Sharpay has banned employee participation in her beloved Talent Show, too envious of Ryan’s creative genius and the potential he has to outshine her (finally) during the event. She wants to hog the stage with a completely unwilling Troy. At this, Gabriella storms out of the kitchen, determined to give Sharpay what for, as this is only the latest in a series of gimmicks that Sharpay has played to assert her dominance. Gabriella calls Sharpay away from her group of laughing sycophants to begin what is ostensibly a moral stand, but actually a complete farce. 

[G] “Sharpay! Forget about the rest of us! How about the fact that your brother has worked extremely hard on the show?”

Well, I’ll give her credit here, since Sharpay is clearly in the wrong for flushing all Ryan’s hard work down the toilet just because of her insatiable desire to be Top Dog, even though she is less talented than he. Thankfully, Ryan will receive his opportunity to demonstrate his grit and talent in the upcoming movie, but not before we’ve heard yet more of Gabriella’s atrocious moralizing. 

[S] “Oh, boo-hoo! He’ll be in the show! He’ll do his... celebrity impersonations.”

I think this comment speaks for itself, which is what makes it so rewarding when Ryan stands up to her later on. 

[S] “And don’t lecture me about Ryan! Given the way you’ve been interfering in Troy’s future.”

[G] “What?”

[S] “You’ve got him written up by Fulton for sneaking on the golf course. Swimming after hours! I had to step in just to save Troy’s job!”

Now, much earlier when I watched this, it appeared to me that Sharpay was merely trying to guilt-trip Gabriella by making what appeared to be false accusations against her conduct. After all, Troy was the one who suggested the picnic on the golf course, assuring Gabriella that it was fine for them to be there, when in fact he was breaking Club rules. He also suggested sneaking a swim (by shouting it aloud to the world in the middle of said club), which was also against the rules. Furthermore, Sharpay is quite clearly posturing with her fake philanthropism, solely based on acquiring Troy as a trophy under the guise of her Talent Show. 

But now, I realize that Sharpay IS right! Not for the reasons she thinks, though. Gabriella HAS been interfering with Troy’s future. Her reaction to his promotions and privileges was, one of disdain, condescension and cruel mockery. She falsely accused him of having become a “new Troy” on the basis of 1)- his inability to make dates on time, 2)- his new Italian golf shoes, 3)- his clothes, meaning his promotions and privileges. 

As a result of this, Troy was crestfallen and no doubt filled with guilt that later manifest himself as he flushed his future down the toilet to reunite with Gabriella and get in good with his friends. If that’s not interference, then I don’t know what is. Any supportive girlfriend would have been delighted, pleased and proud when Troy said “I can’t believe how things are working out here!”. They would not have cut him down to pea size, mocked him for wearing new clothes and made him feel like an arrogant imposter, rather than a hard-working and talented student. It might not be physical interference, but you can see how Troy’s pleasure and good mood is completely eviscerated by the end of this scene. At the beginning, he did a twirl, was shooting hoops and smiling. By the end, he looked thoroughly downtrodden, confused and hurt. Gabriella has a habit of destroying Troy’s mood within seconds, as I will explain shortly. 

[G] “I’m not interested in what YOU think you’re doing for Troy! That’s between you and him!”

When I first watched this, I was cheering Gabriella on. Yes! She’s not interested in Sharpay’s meddling, she’s standing up for what is right! 

Oh, what a fool I was. Read Gabriella’s comments carefully, folks. Now let’s rewind a little back to the Free Cheeseburgers Travesty. What did Gabriella say, after finding out that Troy had asked Sharpay’s opinion* on his new Italian golf shoes?

“He didn’t ask me.”

That might sound innocuous, but then if you fast-forward a little, Gabriella brings up the SAME topic when she derides Troy for allegedly having changed. 

“So I see. ITALIAN GOLF SHOES, new clothes, golf carts... It’s crazy stuff. Hard to keep track of, I bet.”**

So in other words, she’s lying. Of course she is interested-- interested enough to repeat information she couldn’t possibly have known without taking an interest in what Troy was doing. After all, Troy did not ask her about his new shoes. She is jealous of the entirely fictional possibility that Troy was cheating on her with Sharpay. 

Take Gabriella’s comment with a pinch of salt. 

[G] “But you’re messing with MY friends, MY summer, and that’s not okay with me!”

Again, I was cheering Gabriella on during my first watch so long ago. Could I possibly have been more wrong?

First of all, this comment makes it appear that the crux of Gabriella’s complaint is self-centred. All of this is inconveniencing HER. But what about her defence of Ryan, I hear you say? Well, I have no choice but to assume that she was merely using Ryan as a way of squeezing some remorse from Sharpay. I know I have said differently beforehand, but upon closer inspection, I think I was wrong. She says “MY summer”-- I’m sorry, lady. You were never here to have YOUR summer. This is the lady who had been struggling to find work, and told Troy, “I hope some of those activities include a job.” But more importantly, were she so concerned about Ryan’s hard work, why didn’t she say something like this? “You’re messing with Ryan’s friends, RYAN’s summer and that’s not okay with me!” Would that not be more consistent with her alleged concern for Ryan’s hard work? FURTHERMORE, not long after her supposed defence of Ryan’s work, SHE QUITS LAVA SPRINGS without even waiting to see whether Sharpay, who looks ashamed of herself, will change her mind. Later on, Taylor has to DRAG her back to Lava Springs to complete the show/reunion that Ryan and Kelsi helped to plan. Surely someone deeply concerned about Ryan’s hard work would need NO persuasion to return? That is not to mention the fact that, during HSM III, she once again has to be persuaded by Troy to return to Albuquerque so that Ryan and Kelsi’s hard work isn’t wasted. Hypocrisy or what?

On top of THAT, note her claim of “MY friends”. If you view this in conjunction with her earlier comment, that she wasn’t interested in what Sharpay was doing for Troy, it is implied that Gabriella isn’t counting Troy as one of her friends. Why do I make this assumption? Because Gabriella NEVER criticizes Sharpay for harassing Troy throughout this exchange. She makes the implicit assumption that Sharpay and Troy have some kind of agreement (which they clearly do not), and leaves them out of the equation. “MY friends”, according to Gabriella, includes the Wildcats only. They have been inconvenienced. Troy, according to her, is living the high life. (This is after she derided him for daring to succeed without her. This is after she flirted with Ryan to his face to punish him). Think about this, folks. Gabriella has SEEN Troy being pushed left, right and centre by Sharpay. For example, during the “sneak a swim” exchange, Sharpay pulls up and you can see Troy’s confusion and exasperation when he gets onto the golf cart. So can Gabriella. Apparently, this escapes her mind. Also escaping her mind is the obvious fact that Troy would NEVER have connived with Fulton to do what Sharpay did-- 1)- he’s a downright decent guy and 2)- he is an EMPLOYEE and does not have the clout. And yet Gabriella has a go at Troy as well, as though this were part of his grand plan. 

On top of THAT, let’s talk about “messing with MY friends”. Troy is supposed to be her friend and yet she had no scruples and precious little remorse for pretending to flirt with Ryan to his face. I repeat this fact again and again folks, because it is the single most reprehensible act in the movie. It decimates any argument against Troy’s supposed “jerk” behaviour. SHE messed with Ryan, exploiting his desire for recognition and validation, leading to Ryan unjustly bearing the brunt of Troy’s humiliation and irritation. So this renders her alleged defence of him utterly irrelevant. It’s apparently not okay with her that Sharpay messes with The Wildcats, but there is nothing wrong with her using a good-natured, kind and generous boy who just wants a bit of credit as a tool in her petty revenge scheme against Troy based on FALSE EVIDENCE and LUDICROUS SUSPICIONS. Please, if you have any modicum of objectivity, weigh the two actions and tell me which is worse. 

[S] “You don’t like the fact that I... won...”

Yet more proof of why Troypay is a thoroughly false and ridiculous ship.

[G] “What’s the prize? Troy? The Star Dazzle Award? You have to go through all this just to get either one? No thanks, Sharpay. You’re very good at a game that I don’t wanna play. So... I’m done here. But you better step away from the mirror long enough to check the damage that will always be right behind you!”

Hypocrisy of hypocrisies. She treated Ryan as a prize not long earlier, with her fake flirting when he lost the Staff Baseball game. “You’re so awesome!”, she said, whilst ignoring Troy’s call. She was willing to compromise and even destroy a potential friendship between Troy and Ryan by giving the impression that she and the latter had something going on. That’s playing games, and she expected Ryan to play along with her, and humiliate Troy. Ryan didn’t do this, instead choosing to pass on a compliment from his father to Troy, showing that he had nothing but good intentions towards the both of them, and was being hoodwinked by the conniving hypocrite standing next to him. I have already discussed the stupidity of Gabriella quitting the job when no one else did. As for the damage that will always be right behind Sharpay? The irony of this scene is that the damage is standing RIGHT BEHIND GABRIELLA when she is giving this risible speech: Troy. The boy she has mocked, belittled, manipulated, humiliated, bullied and shunned for NO reason other than her own jealousy and controlling tendencies. Sharpay is not the only one who should step away from the mirror. Gabriella, filled with thoroughly false notions of her own moral superiority, is swimming in a sea of staggering hypocrisy. 

I know I should stop. This movie is not good for my well-being. 

*sigh* 

I’m headed back to Trelsi next.

(*FOOTNOTE-- And by the way, there is NO CRIME in asking a girl about new Italian shoes. The Italians make damn good shoes. Remember, Troy is not rich. I wouldn’t even say he was comfortably middle-class. He is like a kid in a candy store when he arrives at Lava Springs for the first time, and is stunned when Mr. Fulton promotes him on a salary of $500 a WEEK ($2000 a month) PLUS tips: “Per week? That’s off the hook! I ca... I think that’s very manageable.” Later, thoroughly bewildered, he asks Mr. Fulton: “How did this happen?” Are these the words of an arrogant show-off? So of course, he would be chuffed to be wearing expensive shoes, given that most of the time, he wears sneakers. 

Troy reacted to a compliment that Sharpay paid him-- yes, a compliment he thought was genuine, but was actually emotional manipulation-- and thus asked her opinion. Taylor edited this part of the conversation to relay back to Gabriella. Folks, please watch the scene where Taylor is shown appearing in the background whilst Troy and Sharpay are talking. You will discover that Taylor clearly heard MORE than this, most notably, Troy saying the following: “Your parents have been really nice. But singing with you isn’t a part of my job.” Taylor is within earshot and yet doesn’t give Gabriella this information. If Taylor’s spiteful and misleading behaviour isn’t sufficient, you then have Gabriella’s mournful “He didn’t ask me.” Well, maybe there is a reason for that. As BoltonEvans has pointed out, Gabriella makes fun of Troy earlier about his shoes! “Your shoes don’t match though! Kidding!” Was that the kind of comment she was also hoping to make on his Italian golf shoes?!)

(**FOOTNOTE--  “So I see. ITALIAN GOLF SHOES, new clothes, golf carts... It’s crazy stuff. Hard to keep track of, I bet.”

People, if you have a significant other who speaks to you like this, you will need to re-evaluate your relationship. Do the people who bow and make sacrifices at the altar of Troyella ever watch this scene? Do they block it out? The rudeness, sneering condescension and hostility are jumping out of the screen here. And may I point out that Gabriella is, in effect, blaming Troy for wearing things THAT WERE GIVEN TO HIM. 

Mr. Fulton promoted him earlier on. Of course, we don’t see any scene in which Gabriella congratulates him upon having received a promotion on the job. Mr. Fulton promoted him because “It would seem that the Evans family think you have untapped potential.” Despite Sharpay’s harassment and manipulation, and Ryan being increasingly sidelined whilst Troy got the limelight (his sarcastic faces during the dinner scene are priceless!), it is Mr. Evans who was clearly impressed with Troy’s skill and willing to offer him opportunities. Troy didn’t go looking for any of this. So for Gabriella, who already has the very decent job of being a lifeguard ENTIRELY THANKS TO TROY (needless to say, she NEVER thanks him getting her a job, and quits later on), to act as though he is nothing but an opportunist peacock is an indictment upon her and her alone. 

One wonders why, in the next film, Troy asks Gabriella to pick out a suit for him. It’s cringeworthy and embarassing. But could it be because of this scene? Gabriella mocks his clothing choices throughout-- let me reiterate: “Your shoes don’t match though! Kidding!”/”Look at you! Go team!”/”Italian golf shoes, new clothes...” Could it be that because of Gabriella’s continued mockery, Troy loses confidence in his ability to dress himself and so consults her for what suit he should choose in the next movie? If so, this is yet more proof of how Troy’s self-esteem, confidence and self-image have plummeted as a result of his “relationship” with Gabriella).