#` ii ‚ the watchful angel ! » gabriella : study.

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

The Marvel of Trelsi (Part VIII)

Now it’s time to look at  the romantic potential of Trelsi. As stated in my Introduction, I still have the following questions to answer:

Question- Friendship, Romance or Both? What’s their dynamic? What would attract the both of them? What are their flaws? How would these flaws work together?

Question- Why is Trelsi a superior potential romantic ship to Troyella? (Oh, I’m going to have a field day with THAT one!) Why is Trelsi so poorly appreciated as a potential romantic ship?

On second thoughts, I’m going to flip that round. I think it makes more sense that we understand what’s wrong with canon before discussing the benefits of Trelsi, which is a non-canonical ship. That’s a more objective and honest approach. Once we have a picture of all the problems that present themselves, I can demonstrate how Trelsi is a superior fit. I’ve been planning these posts in my head and on paper for over two weeks now, but with regards to writing Trelsi fiction and the notes I wrote then, this is MONTHS worth of thinking coming to fruition. I’m daunted by the task of exploring the Trelsi romance, and I might well come back to this in a year’s time and find my analysis defective. We shall see. 

Why has it taken eight posts to get to the romance part? I believe in starting from canonical resources; and what we receive in canon is friendship. Second of all, the Trelsi friendship should never be underestimated, and should be appreciated in its own right. Thirdly, for a relationship to make sense, it needs to be built on something more tangible and long-lasting than mere attraction and sexual tension. Once we understand the foundations of Troy and Kelsi’s relationship, that is to say their wonderful friendship, what it means, why it works and why it is important, then this makes for a solid base when considering romance. It also reduces the influence of my bias throughout the series, so the reader can make up their own mind. After all, for many fans, their friendship is so good that it’s just sufficient, and I certainly wouldn’t disagree with them. Fun fact: I was first a platonic shipper of Trelsi before being persuaded by the romantic potential. 

As you know, I go into a LOT of detail. I will reiterate things I have said before; some readers may have seen material in previous posts as leading up to this part. 

Question- So, what’s wrong with the central canonical pairing, Troyella? 

After all, it is by far the more popular ship in the fandom, with the vast majority of fanfiction dedicated to the romance between Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez. Take a look at the HSM fandom on fanfiction.net to see proof of this. By contrast, if you put in a filter for Trelsi fanfiction, you only get 42 results-- and some of them don’t even feature the Trelsi pairing! Trelsi is, of course, a non-canonical pairing, is considered “unconventional” by many in the fandom (more on that later) and is generally not very much appreciated beyond the scope of friendship; even those who value the friendship barely pay any attention to it when writing, mostly considering Kelsi a device by which to promote Troyella and ignoring her true genius and value to the fandom. Furthermore, the official storyline is compelling enough: East High’s Primo Boy discovers a love for the Performing Arts through a chance meeting with a Pretty Nerd. As I’ve said before, I really wanted to ship Troyella back in the day. What could possibly be wrong?

I’m so glad you’ve asked. :D I’ve liked and disliked my fair share of ships from various fandoms. Some I consider meh. Troyella for me is indisputably one of the worst ships I’ve encountered in a while. Does this contradict my post on Troy Bolton, whom I consider to be my absolute favourite character? Absolutely not; my problem is entirely to do with Gabriella Montez, who was designed as the deuteragonist, and who was supposed to represent good moral values, was supposed to have real passions and understandable conflict, but instead turned out as a monstrosity dressed up in angel’s clothing. It truly beggars belief. So when I ask, “What’s wrong with Troyella?”, what I’m really asking is why is Gabriella such a poor romantic partner for Troy and such a poor representation of the movie. My reasons as follows.

1- Troy and Gabriella do not share a passion for the Performing Arts.

The movie narrative tells us that Troy and Gabriella found common ground in singing/performing. We are to infer from this that such a shared passion is what develops their romance throughout the canonical movies. But in every movie, Gabriella abandons the musical or show due to circumstances that often have very little to do with Theatre. 

Consider the first movie; quite apart from the fact that Troy was (quite obviously) being deceived and exploited by his friends, his outburst should not have led Gabriella to so quickly abandon the Winter Musical. Why? Because out of the two of them, it was Gabriella, who overcame her nerves and ran into the auditorium FIRST, begging for an audition. She did NOT expect Troy to join her-- watch her surprised pleasure when he unwillingly and shyly puts himself forward. Furthermore, Gabriella was crushed when Ms Darbus refused her (them) an audition, and then delighted when Ms Darbus finally granted her (them) a callback. Regardless of how Gabriella felt about Troy ditching her, it seems implausible that she would completely give up on something she had intended to try herself. Remember that this was a HUGE DEAL for Gabriella, who suffers from stage fright (curiously shown only twice in the entire movie series-- in HSM II and III, it’s like she never had it). Remember that she came to the auditions by herself, clearly interested in trying out after all. She wasn’t looking for Troy, or expecting him to accompany her. It doesn’t make sense that she’d go to all this trouble herself and then sing (wail) a whole song about “when there was me and you”. Am I taking things too seriously by expecting some consistency here? 

In HSM II, Gabriella quits because Sharpay banned Employee involvement in Lava Springs’ talent show. I’ve raged about HSM II here (Part 1) and here (Part 2), I’ve even done analysis on Gabriella’s astounding hypocrisy here and then had to get blood pressure meds from my doctor, who’s also treating me for episodes of psychotic rage caused by HSM II and HSM III. Again, SHE begged (manipulated) Ryan into putting in hard work and time for the Show. I know this might be a stretch, but given how Gabriella’s outburst against Sharpay subdued the latter, and assuming a strong intention to continue with the show, Gabriella would have been a true hero of the story had she, and not Troy, persuaded Sharpay to reverse her decision. After all, Mr. Fulton was willing to sidestep Sharpay in admitting the Wildcats to Lava Springs by speaking to Sharpay’s mother. And Sharpay appears not to have the power to revoke her mother’s decisions. If Gabriella REALLY cared about performing, she would have taken action to secure her dream, instead of yelling at Sharpay and then storming off in high dudgeon. Guess who does take action? Troy, who despite being hounded and pushed and manipulated by Sharpay, still has EVERY INTENTION of performing in the Talent Show. As we already know, Gabriella’s return was the result of Kelsi and Ryan’s planning, as well as Taylor having to DRAG her back to reunite with the boy she supposedly loves. 

In the third movie (and if you can stomach my rage, please see Questions for HSM III Part VII and Part VIII for more information), Gabriella quits the musical to attend Stanford’s Freshman Honors Program. Now, like I said in the footnotes for my last Marvel of Trelsi post, this is only the second act showing real initiative from Gabriella in the ENTIRE film franchise. One of the few things I like about Gabriella, aside from her friendship with Taylor-- but that’s mostly because of Taylor!-- is how she takes her studies seriously. Minus the silly giggling when she gets sums/equations correct*, she is absolutely right to pursue her studies, and being in an environment with like-minded people is good for her. The problem is, of course, that PRIOR to this event, Gabriella had insisted that everyone take part in the musical. Forgive me once again for expecting some consistency here, but I assumed this command to involve herself. We later learn that she commanded everyone to participate whilst knowing that she might be accepted for the Freshman Honors Program. She gets accepted and leaves, presumably without letting the entire class know: ([Ms Darbus] “As SOME of you may know, Miss Montez is no longer available to us.”) The capital emphasis is my own. Who are the “some”? I make an educated guess that Taylor most likely knows, and she may have told Chad, maybe Martha. Ms Darbus knows. 

Who’s missing from that list? Her boyfriend, who had no idea she left until, presumably, she stopped showing up for class, cleaned out her locker (when did she get time to do this without being seen?), presumably stopped answering his calls (because it’s only a couple of days later when Mr. Bolton asks whether Troy has heard from Gabriella) and has a “For Sale” sign in front of her house. I have made an assumption that Kelsi was not told (see footnote number 1 on this hyperlink), simply on the basis of Gabriella’s penchant for quitting abruptly when things aren’t going her way, leaving others to pick up the pieces. I assume Ryan wasn’t told, as Gabriella only interacts with him when he’s putting in work on her behalf. Later on, Gabriella dumps Troy over the phone and decides she isn’t turning up to prom, THE MUSICAL or graduation despite having promised to do so. A Gabriella Montez who was PASSIONATE about performing would have 1)- said that everyone should do the musical, 2)- but pointed out that she might not be there the entire time thanks to Stanford’s Freshman Honors Program, 3)- given everyone advance notice of her departure, 4)- let Ms Darbus know that she would still return to perform, so that Ms Darbus didn’t have to stay up after school hours rebalancing her play instead of working on other things teachers have to do, 5)- kept in regular contact with Troy and asked him about the musical (instead, she discussed the geniuses at Stanford and the food), 6)- scheduled her flight back to Albuquerque to perform in said musical. 

The real Gabriella Montez does none of these things. 

So what does this imply? If we look at Troy by contrast, who bends over backwards to try and keep everyone happy, despite being initially UNWILLING in EVERY movie to perform, to the point of sacrificing his own sleep, comfort and safety just to pull off every show, we see the following actions: 1)- match interference in HSM I, 2)- giving Sharpay an ultimatum to allow Employee involvement in HSM II, 3)- the worst of them all, driving 1 053 miles to bring Gabriella back so he can perform in HSM III. Every time, Troy is willing to put himself on the line to pursue his passion. Gabriella, by contrast, is not. Despite the increasing hurdles that Troy faces from friends and foes alike, he NEVER gives up. Once he’s made a promise, he keeps it, which is why he agreed to sing with Sharpay after all, despite all her atrocious behaviour towards him. By contrast, Gabriella quits based on behaviour that is nowhere near as inconvenient and destructive as that shown to Troy-- more importantly, based on behaviour that is nowhere near as atrocious as her own. I was rewatching some of HSM II yesterday, and Troy’s face when he thinks Gabriella is more interested in Ryan just reminds you of how cruel she can be. More on that later. The bottom line is, that the Troyella relationship was supposed to be grounded in a shared passion for performing, but we clearly have an imbalance; Troy’s commitment is complete. Gabriella’s is heavily conditional. 

Remember that Troy decides to pursue Theatre after graduating. Gabriella does not. Had Theatre been a part of Gabriella’s identity as it is for Troy, then she would have incorporated it into her future somehow. So if their performances together are continually jeopardized by Gabriella’s whimsical refusals to participate unless tempted with undue credit and silly waltzing, and if only one of them can foresee a future in which they pursue the Performing Arts DESPITE the fact that we’re supposed to view their relationship as being built upon this shared interest, then the case for Troyella is based on sand. 

2- Outside of music, Troy and Gabriella have almost nothing in common.

Gabriella doesn’t understand Troy’s love of trees. “And what is it with you and trees?”, she asks him as though speaking to a kid. Bear in mind that they’ve been dating for ALL of Junior Year, all the summer and presumably all of the Winter semester. She doesn’t understand why he likes to hide away from the world, even though, by all accounts, she should. “So, another top-secret hiding place?” She doesn’t understand his sense of humour, sometimes even taking offence to harmless/sarcastic comments: (HSM I) [Troy] “By the way, I missed practice, so if I get kicked off the team, it should be on your conscience.” [Gabriella] “Hey, I wasn’t the one who told you to--”, before Troy tells her it’s a joke. In HSM III: [Troy- treehouse] “You’re the second girl I’ve ever had up here.” [Gabriella glares at him and gives him an aggressive nudge], [Troy] “The first was my mom!”. When Troy tries to show her a golf course in HSM II, she tells him “I don’t play golf”, which is harmless enough. But given that she should have known by then that her boyfriend was on the school’s Golf Team, it would have reflected better on their relationship had Gabriella taken an interest in his golfing, whether she liked it or not. Particularly since Gabriella was later bitter that Troy didn’t ask HER opinion on the much-derided “Italian golf shoes”. If she doesn’t play golf, why does she care? 

To be fair, Gabriella clearly enjoys shooting hoops with Troy. In fact, I still like that scene in HSM I, minus her inability to take a joke and her once again rubbing her academic brilliance in his face: “...In the same day, I invented the space shuttle and microwave popcorn...” I know this was supposed to come off as funny, but it was bordering on obnoxious for me, particularly if you view this in conjunction with all of Gabriella’s other objectionable behaviour. Gabriella clearly likes basketball, so that’s something they share in common. She comes to support Troy for his games, shows sympathy when the game in HSM III wasn’t going well, and is supportive and even genuinely affectionate when he wins. In HSM II, she does like baseball, even criticizing Troy for forgetting to come! And Gabriella does appreciate Troy showing her his hideouts (HSM III- “Well, I’m honoured. This place is so cool.”), because they remind her of kindergarten.** We can assume that they shared the rooftop hideout many times, that Troy often came round Gabriella’s house in the evening with pizza, and that they liked using that swing/hammock thing in her garden. So clearly, Gabriella is willing to spend time with Troy. Furthermore, Troy DOES  propose some activities which he and Gabriella could do: “we could go the movies, download music-- oh, and I’m definitely teaching you a twisted flip on the skateboard.” Obviously, they would go on dates; I’m assuming from HSM II and III that they would watch movies and/or eat pizza and chocolate-covered strawberries.

However, given the gulf between them in what is supposed to represent their primary interest, I don’t get the impression that even shooting hoops, dates or skateboarding mean they have a lot in common, either. They certainly don’t have anything in common that they don’t share with anyone else. After all, Gabriella is friends with Chad, Jason, Zeke and the rest of the East High basketball team. And since Troy had the audacity to break down social walls in East High, we’re told the skater dudes like talking to the basketball/cool people, so it’s not like she was missing out. In fact, when Troy proposed skateboarding, she quickly assumed she would fail at it, joking about her First Aid practice to “patch myself up afterwards!” Do they have a similar taste in movies and music? Maybe. It wouldn’t really make a difference. Couples do have differences in their tastes and hobbies, but 1)- they do make an attempt to take an interest in each other’s tastes and hobbies, 2)- they do have very strong things in common that go beyond everyday activities-- things like shared values, shared passions and shared outlooks. Troy and Gabriella don’t have any of these. I don’t get the impression that Gabriella understands Troy as a person, and so considers many of his interests weird. Despite loving kindergarten, she teases Troy for having a “pirate’s wheel”, a robot and a Batman/Superman cloak in his treehouse, despite having called the place “so cool” not moments beforehand! 

The biggest indicator that they have little in common is the stilted and awkward nature of their conversations. It seems the formula for a good Troyella conversation includes: 1)- Gabriella whinging about things that aren’t actually problems, 2)- Troy encouraging/flattering Gabriella, 3)- Troy discussing his problems, 4)- Gabriella taking brief note of his own issues, then reverting the conversation back to herself repeatedly, 5)- Troy making one of his dorky jokes, 6)- Gabriella indulging this with a condescending giggle, 7)- Troy trying to reason with Gabriella and failing miserably. A proper conversation is reciprocal, covers a wide range of subject matter and when considering a novel or play, adds or reveals something about each character. I don’t feel any sense of progression or evolution as a result of Troy and Gabriella’s conversations, because they are largely oriented around Gabriella and often involve her refusing to see any point of view other than her own. Here are just some examples:

HSM II

[Troy] “It’s been wild, you know? I can’t believe how things are working out here!”

What Gabriella COULD have said: “I understand,” or “Can I come watch your game?”.

What Gabriella ACTUALLY said: “So I see. Italian golf shoes, new clothes, golf carts. It’s crazy stuff-- hard to keep track of, I bet.”

HSM III

[Troy] “I haven’t told anyone this, but I’ve had offers from other colleges. I’m really listening.”

What Gabriella COULD have said: “Wow, that’s great! Which colleges? Are you still thinking about Juilliard?...”***

What Gabriella ACTUALLY said: “I get it, Troy. I still have decisions to make too.” This is AFTER he told her that she was fortunate enough to have chosen Stanford. (And he’s so lovely and too damn forgiving that he doesn’t ask her why she laughed at him for potentially getting into Juilliard). 

If Gabriella can’t even listen to Troy’s point of view, engage with his concerns and discuss things other than herself, then clearly they have very little in common. It all starts mentally; once a couple are mentally in sync, then they find common interests physically. 

We will discuss more in upcoming posts. Don’t worry, I will discuss Trelsi in due course! :D 

TO BE CONTINUED

(*FOOTNOTE-- I can sympathise with Gabriella feeling isolated by being seen as the “freaky math girl”. But might that have anything to do with her obnoxiously smug giggles whenever she gets a sum right? Remember in HSM I: “shouldn’t the second equation read sixteen over pi?” I completely agree with Sharpay rolling her eyes there; Gabriella’s smile has an “I’m so clever” vibe about it. Don’t get me wrong; I am fully supportive of Gabriella’s academic brilliance. I sometimes got teased for being good at some subjects in schools. But REAL nerds don’t behave like this. We might be pleased at being proved right about something, but we don’t start grinning as though we’ve solved the Middle East crisis. I guess this is a far lesser gripe about Gabriella, though). 

(**FOOTNOTE-- Did Gabriella lose her father whilst she was either in kindergarten, or not long after? Her continuous emotional attachment to this time explains her carefree attitude, nostalgia and even her immaturity. Or perhaps, she was just beginning to make friends in kindergarten and then had to move shortly afterwards, thus losing any potential of building a long lasting friendship, such as she has with Taylor. Certainly, some of Gabriella’s behaviour suggests an attachment to childhood innocence and freedom; she runs in corridors, runs in a SCIENCE LAB (which every good scientist knows NOT to do), loves playing/dancing in the rain. Like a child, she only thinks of herself and her needs/wants. She expects everything to be perfect for her and throws childish tantrums when things don’t go her way. I’m not being mean here-- just stating facts. These are just some interesting observations about Gabriella that could have been explored). 

(***FOOTNOTE-- It was disgraceful for Chad to laugh at Troy for getting accepted to Juilliard. However, I must give him credit for at least taking an interest or recognizing this as a possibility in Troy’s future later when they go to the junkyard. (By the way, it appears they didn’t lock up, like they were told). I know that Chad’s response was dismissive, but hey-- at least he tried. He has his ways of being a good friend, even if he says insensitive or selfish or mean things along the way. Even though Gabriella says, “I get it, Troy”, in a way that was intended to be sympathetic, but almost came across as impatient, she NEVER asks Troy about Juilliard again in the entire movie. She just looks at him during the graduation ceremony when he might be chosen for the scholarship. There are two key opportunities when she could have done so. 1)- you will notice the Juilliard booklet sitting near the windshield of Troy’s truck; when Troy’s truck came to a shuddering halt, they didn’t appear to be engaged in any conversation. Given that they had just come back from school, Gabriella could have asked him about his thoughts on Juilliard. Instead, she laughed at his truck after she had just gotten a free ride home. 2)- When they are in her garden, she could have made enquiries about Juilliard and his thoughts, given that the subject was their respective futures, AND that not long beforehand, Gabriella had insisted that he admit to his love for performing! “Why is that SO HARD for you to admit?” she said. But later on, she turns the conversation back to her and Stanford, instead of being consistent and encouraging the possibility of him attending Juilliard!)

#Trelsi #OTP #TroyBolton #KelsiNielsen #Playmakers #LiterallyTroyandKelsiForever #TroyellaAnalysis #WhyTroyellaSucks #ToBeContinued #WhyDon'tPeopleLoveTrelsi #I'mSadAsHell #ButMyLoveForTrelsiContinues!