Sophia White-

An important question that has begged for an answer since the dawn of time is “Which defining nostalgic movie series of the early 2000s is superior to the other: Camp Rock or High School Musical?” To clarify, this article will be the opinions of the writer.

One extremely integral element of these two movies is the music. Everything is cheesy and cliche – weird shoulder shimmies included! Right off the bat, the music in Camp Rock tends to be better than that of High School Musical. Camp Rock holds 3 of the top 5 songs between the two movie franchises. My favorite one is titled “Introducing Me”, sung by Nick Jonas. It holds the top spot with its cute lyrical bop and also because, come on, it’s Nick Jonas! One thing I should point out about Camp Rock is that none of my favorite Camp Rock songs are sung by the two main characters, Mitchie or Shayne. Some of my favorite songs within Camp Rock are sung by the side characters, the decidedly wrong choice on Disney’s part, but Disney will do what it must, I suppose.

Alternatively, with High School Musical, their songs can be pretty church camp-like (which is somewhat true for Camp Rock as well) but there is a very evident growth in the musical capabilities of Zac Efron across the three movies. While in the first movie he doesn’t actually sing at all (Drew Seely sang everything for him), it is impressive that Efron chose otherwise for the two sequels. The third movie of the HSM series ended up having the best musical quality which was reflected in the plot. My favorite HSM song has to be “Scream” by Zac Efron, which appears in the third movie. I think this song really emulates the feeling of a graduating senior going into college and not knowing which path to take. I’d scream with you any day, Troy.

Another element of importance is the two movies’ plots and their ability to develop the characters across sequels. Something I’d like to note: HSM doesn’t force the viewer to suspend their disbelief as much as Camp Rock does. Besides Camp Rock 1 having a cringey opening getting-ready scene, Mitchie, conveniently has the chance to go to this camp of rockers after talking about it the same morning, when her mom says she cannot afford it. So, you introduce a family that supposedly does not have the financial means to send their daughter to a rock camp, but then not even five minutes in she is sent to the camp. It is lacking some realism there, but then again… it’s Disney.

And don’t even get me started on how much I hate Mitchie as a character in the first place. She lies, time and time again, to get what she wants. Even at her “redeeming” moment, she manipulates people she has already hurt and acts like revealing her true self will fix her fakeness. Talk about a Disney pick-me! In HSM, Troy is initially a jerk and keeps some of these tendencies throughout his Senior year of high school. Troy Bolton inevitably refuses to hide who he is: a basketball player and a theater kid.

The story of High School Musical has more realistic cliques and clichés replicating real life, like the jock and the theater kids not really belonging together, and Troy has a realistic point for trying to hide his love for it. Yet his attempt at hiding that does not last long because he professes that he loves theater early on. His plot point revolves around trying to find a way to be both a jock and theater kid, which is a real life struggle when it comes to all life’s difficulties with time management.

To me, HSM’s story talks about not letting your dreams go in real life. This message can be important in many areas of life the older we get, especially the more some of us may believe that we need to let go of some things that make us happy and who we are to fit in other “necessities”.

With Camp Rock, there’s not really a point to Mitchie lying as much as she does. She meets people that she could be friends with that would easily accept her for having a mother who’s the camp cook, but it is out of a need for popularity that she lies her way into things. It gets ridiculous to the point that I’m almost cheering on her rival, Tess, as I get older. Yes, set that girl up for failure.

There’s not really a plot point or goal with Mitchie other than that she wants her music to be heard. In general, most people want that if they’re a musician, but the way she goes about it is a poor example. It makes sense for people to try on alternative personas in their life and see where it takes them when they’re discovering their identity and music, but all she really finds is a person she is not.

That seems to be the same for Camp Rock 2, where her identity as a musician and a person revolves around her camp experience. She comes across as one of those people that only identifies themselves with one thing and then sticks to it, never letting go no matter how much said thing is falling apart. There’s loyalty there, but it’s just not a good message, because identity is fluid and nuanced. No one is ever just one thing.

This all being said, in terms of music, Camp Rock does better at lessening the cheesiness of the musical and increasing quality. HSM sometimes purposefully makes it cringey, but it is passable since this is still technically a movie for kids. The plot in HSM is better even though it is a pretty averagely used plot by Disney. Mostly because the message is significantly better than telling kids they can be whoever they want to be in a movie about class status. Camp Rock trying to floof up capitalism?

With all of this being said, I do prefer High School Musical as a movie overall because they don’t try to make many misleading statements about class. But, again, why let my article deter you from listening to your favorite pop icons during their early eras of acting? The movies are a bundle of nostalgia on blast. Plus, we can’t forget the joy of a little shoulder shimmy in lieu of a real dance move.