Disney continues tradition of ruining tween actresses lives

So I had not even heard of High School Musical until this year's Scav Hunt, which resulted in this glorious video from the Snell-Hitchcock team:



Apparently I was in the minority, as High School Musical 1 was already a certified phenomenon whose soundtrack was the top selling album of 2006. There are now dozens of productions all over the U.S., High School Musical 2 broke cable TV records, and the HSM soundtrack very well may repeat as bestselling album of 2007. Of course, there was the rumored romance of stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hudgins, which was believed to be a ploy to hide the fact that Efron may possibly dig dudes. Of course, if Zac Efron were gay, he wouldn't be interested in the naked pictures sent by his 19-year old costar (proving that the Maroon is a front for pornography, you can see them in a very NSFW link here). It seemed like a win-win, help prove male hearthrob's masculinity while simultaneous proving squeaky queen teenage girl is more mature than she gets credit for.

Apparently, Disney didn't take the bait. According to OK! (via Defamer), Hudgens will not be invited back to High School Musical 3. Here was a Disney insider's reasoning:

"They feel that as long as Zac Efron is in the movie, all will be fine. He's the real star -- the household name -- and, most importantly, he comes without baggage."

I have not seen HSM and have no business judging Hudgens' acting abilities or her chemistry with Efron. But this decision is not based on Hudgens as an actor, this is about Disney protecting its family friendliness to ridiculous extremes. I know they don't want another Lindsey Lohan, but wasn't it the shackling of Lohan to family friendly roles and the lack of respect Disney gave her that caused her to spiral out of control in the first place?

They seem to forget that their main audience for High School Musical is 9-12 year-olds who can't really fully grasp the social implications of nude pictures being posted on line (let alone know if they exist, though I hesitate to underestimate 9-12 year olds). I don't think any parents are really going to be offended by having someone who posted pictures on the internet appear in a role she's much better known for than as internet nude starlet (which already puts her ahead of Paris Hilton). All this seems to do is to preemptively clear your name of any potential DUI, coke possession cases, even though by killing her career you're actively facilitating that.

I'd say the best outlet for Hudgens to take was to back up the goals of the photos and do some serious, adult-themed acting work. If successful you can bitch about Disney all you want and seemed justified, but it's going to be hard to break out the character mold she's set herself up for. The good thing is there's a whole segment of the population who doesn't know who she is. Macaulay Culkin was a much bigger child star with much bigger tabloid headlines, and even he managed to salvage a decent film and stage career while facing drug possesion charges. Hudgens is nowhere near that point yet, but she certianly has enough examples of how not to live her life (Jason Bateman: good. Drew Barrymore: bad).