Sharpay was our hero

Sharpay Evans was the blonde haired, brown eyed villain of our childhood. But was she really as bad as we think?

I saw a post that stated Sharpay’s villainous portrayal was an unfair representation. Her over zealous ambition was a gateway to a mean streak but if we’re honest, the girl was intent on making moves. Like any smart person, she used her connections at her disposal and because she was infatuated with Troy tried to share that with him. Is that terrible?

Also, I would be way more offended if my friends used underhanded techniques for their own advantage. Are we forgetting Troy and Gabriella’s besties, Chad and Taylor, cooked up a scheme to make it look like Troy was bad mouthing Gabriella?! That’s ice cold baby.

Furthermore, the post compared Sharpay with Gabriella saying that all Gabriella did was sing and cry. LOL. However, in her unassuming defence she did help him admit his love for singing.

Another way in which Sharpay was our hero is that she was authentic from the jump! I don’t recall her pretending to not be herself and she didn’t care what other people thought of her. Theatre wasn’t the most popular group to be a part of at East High School, but she didn’t let that stop her from walking around like a boss! Then let’s get into the looks. A regular school day was a fashion show because she gave us sequins, glitter and heels. All things fabulous, bigger and better is best!

Like most people, as I got older I realised that in school the quirky kids were the outsiders and the majority preferred to not stray too far from whatever the acceptable line was. Then, by the time we got to university, more and more people wanted to be noted for their individuality.

Therefore, Sharpay really deserved credit and our understanding. Although the others taught us the journey to self acceptance, it was marred by the need for the ‘popular kids’ to give the green light and make it okay for everyone. Sharpay should have been the one we learned from as she kept the same energy the whole way through and was not deterred by the general consensus. She was unlikable but right.

Witches and wizards and Sunday school

I wasn’t allowed to get into the Harry Potter brand when I was young, although I did read The Philosophers Stone (it was given to me to read over the summer). It’s heavy on the wizardry and the saints don’t play with that.

On the other hand, I never missed an episode of That’s So Raven and definetly watched the Twitches movies. If you lived under a rock in the noughties, the former is about a teen psychic and the latter about twin sisters who find out they’re witches destined to save the world. I reconciled it’s due to the shows having Black leads and when I asked that was pretty much the reason.

It occurred to me that technically fairytales (and I’m a Disney STAN) should probably be held to the same standard, right? They’re all about witches, wizards, casting spells and Hercules is based on Greek mythology! So what’s the difference? Many of the households where Harry Potter was forbidden weren’t blocked from Sleeping Beauty. Again, is there really a difference?

As for Halloween, I understand discouraging the devil (if you believe in him) as fancy dress. And I certainly do not see the joy in pretending to be a murderer or other sinister character. However, a child’s party where they carve pumpkins and listen to scary stories with the fright level of a Mona the Vampire episode… is it that deep? And if we circle back to the magical entertainment content, where does that line get drawn?