Monday, November 10, 2008

Pom-Poms and Prisons: The Powerful Statism of Disney’s High School Musical (Scott Meyer)

Scott Meyer on the dangerous propaganda of Disney's most popular franchise:

From both the left and the right, you can always count on some level of support for television and movie censorship. Both groups seek to protect their collectivist interest and pet opinions through the use of government enforced broadcasting laws. Whether it is the latest school shooting or gruesome rural murder, TV is often blamed. But we rarely hear of any group protesting the even more destructive programming of glorifying our statist Prussian education. Even our churches and libertarian communities are usually silent on the issue. From Happy Days to Saved By The Bell, Hollywood has long been the public relations wing of our federalized educational system. Today's juggernaut of public school idolatry is the Disney's High School Musical series. There is no more pro-state entertainment program as deft and dangerous as the Disney High School Musical franchise. Indeed, it promotes more immoral attitudes and beliefs than any sexy slasher film that I can think of.

The High School Musical franchise is the most wildly popular series of made for television movies in the history of the medium. The theatrical release (High School Musical 3: Senior Year) is currently one of the top movies in the country, after breaking all Hollywood opening night records for G-rated movie release. HSM has won numerous awards including an Emmy, Billboard Award, Teen Choice Award and the Television Critics Association Award. From the program itself to the clothing, websites and videogames that have followed it… High School Musical is a bona fide American cultural phenomenon. This is a series of films seemingly universally accepted by the viewing public. It tells the masses exactly what they want to hear: that the government is doing an excellent job of educating our kids, and is also having tons of fun doing it.

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