Do You Want to Know a Secret? #WriteMore

Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana played a massive role in my early teenage years. Explaining how much of an impact it made on me wouldn’t do it justice but showing you might just work…

To clarify, Hannah Montana / Miley Stewart was my least favourite part of the show. I was there for Emily Osment and Emily Osment only. Although later on, her friendship with Oliver also became an obsession of mine.

I wanted to be everything Lily Truscott (Emily Osment’s character) was. She was excitable, tomboyish, confident, hilarious, and stylish. Her style is something I tried to mimic for years, but as a fifteen-year-old, I didn’t know how to translate what she wore on tv into something I could recognize while walking through Kmart. There was a disconnect there that only as an adult I’m beginning to wrap my head around. That’s a topic for another blog post, but here’s an idea of how much time I spent trying to copy Lily’s dress style.

Every one of those folders has up to 10 photos inside them, and this is only Season 1 (and not even the whole folder).

Now, we recently subscribed to Disney+ for the Mandalorian.

Funny side-story: Kyle didn’t want Disney+ originally, but now loves the Mandalorian more than I do and has excitedly introduced me to Gargoyles which he adores.

So, while Kyle was cooking dinner last night, I sat down to watch the pilot episode of Hannah Montana. I was not prepared for the flood of joy I felt at seeing Emily back on screen again after maybe about ten years. I was in my element, and every now and again I’d get a frisson of excitement as she would deliver her line so perfectly and, what I felt, so uniquely. I was in love.

Disney had a hard time casting someone for Hannah, because while they were impressed with Miley’s audition, she was only twelve years old. The casting process took over a year before they finally chose the leading role. I can’t quite remember the details, but I think Emily and Mitchel Musso were cast relatively easily. I vaguely remember at the time of auditions that their chemistry together is what got them the part.

Now, the pilot episode is a bit different to the rest of the show. There’s a lot of that classic, terrible Disney Channel shout-acting that I can’t stand. And, unfortunately, Emily has an increadibly squeaky voice which I had kind of forgotten about. So, I didn’t blame Kyle for his dismissive comments of the show. The cast are very young, which is adorable, but doesn’t quite set the tone for the rest of the show (in my opinion). This episode is also pre-hat-wearing Lily, but as far as I can tell, Oliver’s attire stays as dorky as every through every episode this season.

Despite this being one of my least favourite episodes, Emily does give a strong performance. Yes, she’s over the top, shouts a lot and screeches way too much, but she does deliver her lines in a way that doesn’t feel predictable-American teenager. And I’m not saying all this just because I think she’s adorable.

Earlier in the below scene, she knocks a vase off the table and her subtle and very natural “oops” is a prime example of just… I don’t know… good acting! Other than Shia Labeouf, there has never been a Disney Channel actor this good, and you can quote me on that.

Emily Osment (left) & Miley Cyrus with pie on her face (right)

I had possibly just turned fifteen when I first saw this episode, and luckily, those things on her arm were very popular. So, I acquired a few just from finding lost ones on the street. Unfortunately, it was winter, so I never actually wore them and used to put them in my mouth instead and pretend I had black braces; which is probably the opposite level of “cool” I was going for.

This episode also started me growing my hair long (and I mean long) as well as my never-dying love of Chuck Taylors. I never quite had the courage to pick up skateboarding like Lily did. But I did get my ears pierced and learnt how to style my hair a whole lot nicer.

I would love to break down this episode and pick out the bits where Emily just blows me away, but video clips (with audio) aren’t very intuitive on Steemit. So, instead, here’s a picture of Lily-obsessed Simone, back when Emily’s character had her fringe cut in Season 2. So of course, I had to do the same.