High School Musical director Kenny Ortega recently confirmed with Variety that one of his most iconic characters, Ryan Evans, is gay. Not that it comes as a surprise to the generation who grew up with HSM, but explicit representation is always important.
(Pixar introduces first-ever gay main character)
Ortega described that there is a common ‘queer aesthetic’ that runs through all his movies. In High School Musical, that was through the character of Ryan Evans, played by Lucas Grabeel.
“I think, yeah, that it’s just there, and whether it’s screaming at you, or whether it’s just sort of quietly there, it’s there,” he said.
Ortega says of Ryan specifically: “We decided he’d probably going to come out in college. It was less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward.”
As for why this was never made clear within the movies itself, Ortega explained he felt it wasn’t possible to make such a move.
“I have to be honest with you. I didn’t think at the time — and Disney is the most progressive group of people I’ve ever worked with,” he begins.
“I was concerned because it was family and kids, that Disney might not be ready to cross that line and move into that territory yet,” Ortega adds.”So, I just took it upon myself to make choices that I felt that those who were watching would grab. They would see it, they would feel it, they would know it and they would identify with it. And that is what happened.”
To conclude the topic, he shares: “I have to say thousands of kids that have said, “If it weren’t for ‘High School Musical,’ I don’t know that I would have ever been comfortable in my skin. I don’t know when I would have been able to feel comfortable enough to come out, embrace who I am.”
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