Society shifted in 2006. Jack Dorsey launched Twitter with ambitions for the platform to be nothing more than a lighthearted microblog. Facebook opened to the public for the first time. YouTube exploded and was bought up by Google for a billion dollars. In many ways, 2006 is considered to be the last “normal year” before culture transferred online. Viral moments were shared by everyone rather than by personalised algorithms, music charts really mattered, and people still watched live TV programmes in their multi-millions; at the time shows were scheduled, without a second screen.
Which is how I wound up cross-legged on the floor of my rich friend Jodie’s bedroom, staring up at her TV screen with the eager anticipation of, well, a 10-year-old girl who was about to see Zac Efron sing and dance in a slinky basketball jersey for the first time. Jodie had Sky TV at her house, which meant she had Disney Channel: the home of Kenny Ortega’s High School Musical. After years of Disney sitcoms like Lizzie McGuire and That’s So Raven, this was the first film aimed directly at pre-teens. So, here we were, at our artfully scheduled sleepover, dying for a glimpse of fantastical teenagedom and romance.
