Gender Communication- Applied.

At first, I struggled to find a piece of something current that would connect to gender communication because so many movies, articles, magazines, and works of art touch on our society’s view of what is masculine and what is feminine. Then, all of a sudden I had an epiphany- “High School Musical.” Yes, you might be laughing right now because I am connecting something so complex to the Disney channel, but it really does work! At the beginning of the movie we meet Trey. Trey is the star basketball player at his school, and is well liked by both boys and girls. He is awesome at basketball, not to mention ridiculously good looking. From birth, Trey’s dad wants him to play the beautiful American game of basketball. Like every father, Trey’s gives him positive reinforcement when he performs well. His father pretty much wants him to eat, breathe, sleep, and play the game so that he can go to college on scholarship. So, you are probably sitting here wondering what the problem is, right? I mean why wouldn’t Trey want to put all his efforts into something he is actually excellent at? Well, Trey also is great at acting and singing. When he tries out for the play, he gets the lead role. Of course, his leading lady is also beautiful and wonderful vocally. Trey then decides that he will balance basketball practice, play practice, and academics. This is a difficult feat considering each thing takes a great amount of time. Trey starts out doing this well, but then the basketball team learns he is in the school production, things go downhill. The entire basketball team makes fun of Trey because acting today is seen as something that is more feminine than masculine. Trey also receives a lot of grief from his dad, which is negative reinforcement. And although the play is very important to him, he gives it a second thought. Because it is our goal, usually as humans to be similar to our peers, being different in anyway can be troubling. Trey as an individual has so many characteristics that make him unique. Though, when people see him singing and acting on stage instead of playing basketball, they question his masculinity. Even most boys, who have seen the movie, consider Zach Efron to be highly feminine. I believe that this movie is a great example because it is focused towards teens. Disney knew that we have all developed stereotypes about what is masculine and what is feminine, and therefore, we could comprehend why is was difficult for him to be in the play.