I agree so hard with you about sharpay. I LOVE her, she’s iconic, but I’m so tired of this edgy rhetoric where everyone’s hating on gabriella (who is lovely and did nothing wrong!). yes, sharpay worked hard, but so did troy and gabriella? for that matter gabriella is a woc and definitely did not get everything handed to her in life lmao, whereas sharpay is literally a rich white girl. I’m glad ryan got the scholarship bc he deserves it, but sharpay sabotaged people. she’s not a victim!!!
thanks!!! i knew i wasn’t the only one who doesn’t like this sharpay is a victim rhetoric, but it’s always nice to see it confirmed, lol.
i think i’ve said this before on this blog (several times, in fact, lol), but the thing is that i understand her actions, but i don’t think they’re justified. she has a reason to feel hurt, but it’s no excuse for how she screwed over pretty much everyone else. plus, the reason why sharpay is such an interesting character is because she’s such a morally ambiguous mess, and i feel like treating her like some wounded baby animal kind of undermines the characteristics that make her great, if that makes sense?
also, intentions are also important, imo. again, i understand why sharpay feels hurt and threatened by troy and gabriella, but neither of them ever deliberately want to hurt her. sharpay, on the other hand, performs many (although not all!) of her antagonistic actions with obvious intentions of screwing someone else over.
and yes, exactly, re: sharpay being more privileged. every time someone says gabriella is more privileged than sharpay, i feel my soul leave my body, tbh.
tl;dr sharpay’s actions are understandable, but she’s no angel and i wish people would stop ignoring all her crappy behaviour.