After analysing how Gabriella Montez used Ryan Evans to punish her boyfriend, Troy Bolton (Part I; Part II), let’s examine the cumulative effect of this behaviour (including Chad’s shouting match and the Wildcats leaving him behind in rehearsals) on Troy.
According to Mr. Bolton, Troy has been in his room “the last 3 or 4 days”. As we can see, he throws a ball aimlessly, totally dejected. We then learn that even if Troy tried calling “the guys” to “get the game going”, they would just ignore him. This shows that they were, in fact, ignoring him even before the infamous kitchen scene.
Troy isn’t just upset and lonely: he now questions his entire existence. Why? Because everyone else, from his girlfriend to his team, claims he has changed. As they are the majority, and people whose opinions matter deeply to Troy, he crumbles under their collective criticism and hostility, assuming that he is at fault.
Never mind that Troy’s concern for his parents’ worrying about college costs drove him to take responsibility and seek financial independence through earning enough money and chasing a scholarship. Never mind that Taylor helped poison Gabriella’s mind against him just because Sharpay was pressuring Troy to perform in the Talent show.
Never mind his blatant discomfort with Sharpay’s behaviour throughout the entirety of this film.
Never mind the fact that his girlfriend cosied up to Ryan in order to punish him (and never apologised). Never mind the fact that he had earned Mr. Evans’ approval through hard work. Never mind that the Redhawks liked and respected him. Never mind that his father said he should keep his eye on the prize, as the Wildcats won’t last forever.
Troy never considers any of these inconvenient facts, instead ruminating on Chad’s claim that “if I don’t know who you are these days, then who does?” and Gabriella’s claim that “it seems like a new Troy”, not to mention the mockery and coldness of Zeke (who owes his confession about baking to Troy signing up for the Talent Show), Jason, and others.
“Maybe my friends are right-- maybe I’m turning into a jerk with new shoes.”
On analysing Troy’s word choices, I hold out hope that by using the word “maybe”, this implies that he had tried defending his actions. We have good evidence of this from his argument with Chad, in which he stated plainly that he was offered opportunities and he showed up to work the same as everyone else.
Furthermore, he pleaded with Gabriella that he was just working on the scholarship and that he meant everything he had said. (As usual, she dismissed him entirely and asserted without evidence that he had only meant this “at the time”.)
Unfortunately, that deliberation is won over by the near condemnation of his friends and girlfriend.
Notice that Troy never criticised his new shoes until Gabriella mocked them. In the above dialogue, he misses out the adjective “Italian”-- for good reason, I think. Now that fact embarrasses him.
Mr. Bolton is now filled with concern, rightly pointing out, “New shoes, not a new kid, where’s this coming from?”
Earlier, Mr. Bolton warned Troy to keep his eyes on the prize: getting a scholarship. He also said that his son should never be ashamed of promotions if he had earned them (as he had). This once again undermines the claim that Troy became too big for his boots, since the idea of being served by Jason and Chad embarrassed him.
Mr. Bolton thought Troy had taken this advice to heart, and proudly told Mr. Evans that Troy always gave “110%, that you can count on.” As far as he was concerned, Troy was putting his future first. That means Mr. Bolton never saw Troy as ditching his friends. The opinions of Troy’s father must surely carry more weight than those of his friends and girlfriend.
Yet Troy ignores this, because he wants to escape his father’s shadow and because he cares more about being liked than being right.
“I’ve been so focused on my future: Gabriella quit, Chad won’t talk to me, I don’t see the Wildcats running around here...”
Yet more evidence that Troy blames himself, despite the evidence painting a different picture. Gabriella was supposed to be angry at Sharpay, but then blamed Troy and left entirely, despite claiming that she needed a job and despite making Troy promise they would be together all summer. Troy makes it sound as though it is his fault that Gabriella quit because “I’ve been so focused on my future.”
Ditto for Chad, also supposed to be angry with Sharpay’s interference, but letting his jealousy against Troy burst free like water through a dam. As far as Troy is concerned, that is his fault, too. Ditto for the Wildcats refusing to visit the house.
Mr. Bolton, again rightly, says that the scholarship “is only a big deal if it makes sense to you.” Despite Mr. Bolton’s regrettable flaw of projecting onto his son, he does care deeply for his wellbeing (far more so than the Wildcats) and only acts out of love and concern for his son. Since they share a bond over basketball, he has every reason to believe that this opportunity makes sense to Troy.
But it’s too late. Troy already has his back to his father, probably not even registering this advice. Chad, Gabriella, etc. have all won, leading him to conclude that, “I don’t even know who I am, anymore.” Of course, he knew full well who he was when he commendably argued against Chad earlier. But as soon as Chad brought up the “brothers” and “pre-school”, and “I don’t even know who you are”, he broke.
Simply put: Troy “doesn’t know” himself because his friends and his girlfriend told him this, not because it’s unquestionably true. As I already showed, several people have not made any such comment: Mr & Mrs. Bolton, Mr & Mrs. Evans, Ryan Evans, the Redhawks, Kelsi Nielsen-- even Sharpay hasn’t claimed that he is changing. Later on, she realises that he is “a good guy”, which ironically undermines all previous claims to the contrary!
Mr. Bolton tries, as only he can, to lift Troy’s spirits. Troy’s expression here indicates that he has heard this talk beforehand. Mr. Bolton’s advice here is that Troy will “figure out the right thing to do”. But he has just heard Troy confess that he doesn’t know himself, so how can that be the case?
Once again, Mr. Bolton is so close, yet still so far. He doesn’t dig deeper. Notice that he has not criticised Chad or the Wildcats for ignoring his son to the point where he hides inside his bedroom and refuses to eat. Neither has he criticised Gabriella for quitting, evidently leaving Troy distressed and alone. I understand perfectly that Mr. Bolton is trying to empower his son to make the right decisions, but he didn’t witness any of the scenes between Troy and the other Wildcats. Had he done so, perhaps he would have had some different advice.
Troy cannot make the right decisions at this point, because he genuinely believes he has lost himself over a scholarship. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he blames himself for everything.
Meanwhile, none of the Wildcats are ever shown in such confusion and upset, neither do they ever apologise for their treatment of Troy.
I leave the audience to decide who is truly in the wrong here.
