Disney hooks youngsters
NEW YORK — Talya Appelbaum recently had a "High School Musical" birthday party. She got special balloons and a slice of cake decorated with the spoiled Sharpay, her favorite character because "she's with Ryan."
Jemma Fox has an HSM karaoke microphone and trading cards of the East High gang.
Talya and Jemma are 3 years old. They have tot-sized insights but large obsessions with the wildly popular Disney franchise that has jumped from TV show to hit song factory to merchandising mania since 2006, when the Wildcats first took kid culture by storm.
But it's high school, and now senior year at that. Do Talya and Jemma need to "bop to the top" or demand "all things fabulous?" And what about the kissing, the backbiting and the big-kid fashions?
With the October release of the third HSM movie — this one in theaters rather than on the Disney Channel — parents of extra young aficionados are debating whether the phenom is innocent dance-'til-you-drop fun or not quite appropriate.
"It really is insipid and Disney starts early and has some clever ways to get to the kids who don't even watch movies, listen to the radio or read," said Jemma's mom, Jennifer Hawkins of New York.
Talya's mom, Melanie Appelbaum of Harrison, N.Y., has three older kids, including a 4-year-old daughter. All are HSM fans. Appelbaum isn't sure she could shield her youngest, even if she wanted to. But HSM's popularity among young children, along with similar adolescent fare like Hannah Montana — the other Disney megafranchise — isn't limited to those exposed through older siblings.
Jemma, who has a 2-year-old brother, stumbled on HSM at a Target store, where Hawkins bought "what I thought was an innocent toy." She didn't know the microphone was preprogrammed with two HSM songs and admits: "I didn't really look at the packaging."
Five-year-old Valencia White got hooked after dad bought tickets to "High School Musical: The Ice Tour" last year.
"She went straight from Disney princess to 'High School Musical,"' said her mother, Virginia Duplessis of El Cerrito, Calif. "The child has never seen the movies, yet she knew the songs immediately. It just got to a point where it's everywhere and the more we were trying to make it this forbidden fruit, the more interested she was getting."
Therein lies the parenting challenge, said Jean Twenge, a social psychologist and associate professor at San Diego State University who studied young people and pop culture for her book, "Generation Me."
The pressure to succeed, materialism, an emphasis on outer beauty, narcissism, romance trouble and other issues faced by high schoolers might not be what draw in young children, but the issues are there nonetheless, Twenge said.
"How do you even talk to a 3-year-old about this stuff? Think before you leap. If you've leapt, then cut her off. There are things you have to take a stand on," she said.
Any hint of parody or sarcastic nuance is most likely lost on the very young, Twenge said.
Consider Sharpay, the brash and popular HSM schemer who wants heartthrob Troy to herself and makes dark-haired, brainy Gabriella miserable in the process. While Sharpay might learn some life lessons on the way, her journey could be difficult for the very young to process.
Like 3-year-old Talya, Duplessis' daughter Valencia is a Sharpay fan.
"I say she seems kind of mean, and she says, 'Oh but she's so pretty, and I really like that song "Fabulous.""' Duplessis said. "It's the focus on clothes, appearance. That's what bothers me the most. It's good clean fun with Jimmy Choo flip flops, perfect hair and makeup. I would just rather her focus on being a kid and having fun and getting dirty."
