I'll give a brief plot summary for those who are unfamiliar. Cece and Rocky (played by Bella Thorne and Zendaya, respectively) are two best friends living out their dream of being dancers on the popular local TV show, Shake It Up, Chicago. Naturally, they need to balance their lives as dancers with their lives as regular teenagers, a theme you see in most Disney Channel shows. With Cece's little brother, Flynn, Rocky's older brother, Ty, their friend, Deuce, and their two frenemies, Gunther and Tinka, all along for the ride, a lot of shenanigans occur throughout the three-year running series.
Shake It Up premiered at a time when most people my age were losing interest in Disney Channel. Good Luck Charlie premiered in the same year, and I know a handful of people my age who have watched that, but Shake It Up I believe is where most people drew the line. Some see it as the start of the next generation of Disney Channel shows, moving on from Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place to Austin and Ally and Jessie. It wasn't even just that my age group was growing out of these shows; a lot of them saw a decline in the quality of their shows from Shake It Up onward. I didn't watch Shake It Up when it premiered or at all during its run, and have only actively kept up with one live action Disney Channel show since then. However, it's not for the same reason as my peers, not at all. Up until a few months ago, I had hardly seen any of these shows, so I had no opinion on them, and me not watching them had nothing to do with me thinking they didn't look good. When the slew of new shows first came in in late 2010 and during most of 2011, I was in an emotional state where I didn't have the energy to keep up with any shows. I was also in a position where I basically felt as though I wasn't allowed to watch or enjoy any of these shows. I admit, from first glance, Shake It Up looked kind of dumb to me, but a lot of the reason I felt that way was because of peer pressure. It didn't take me long to get over that and think, "Wow, I'd probably really like this show", but I didn't have it in me to start it. Last November, Shake It Up aired its series finale, and around then is when I thought maybe I could watch the whole series now. That's the thing, nowadays I'd love to watch and keep up with these shows, but I'm already seasons behind. However, once one ends, it's easier to keep up, because it won't get ahead of me. I had just finished watching Mighty Ducks on YouTube, I needed a new show to watch. All of Shake It Up was on Netflix so I thought, let's give this a go! And boy, am I glad I did.
Shake It Up was a great show that I loved and enjoyed very much, and there's one main reason why. We'll get into that along with the other lesser reasons, along with a scene that really won me over.
The Friendship: To use a less professional term, Cece and Rocky have become one of my biggest brotps. But not without reason. For starters, Disney Channel girl/girl friendships are always adorable and always cause me to feel a lot of emotions. Miley and Lilly, Harper and Alex, Maddie and London, Raven and Chelsea, you name it. They're all super sweet. But something about Cece and Rocky is different. The thing is, this show isn't about "a girl and her best friend" like some of those others are. It's about "two best friends". I'm not saying that's necessarily better, but it's definitely something new for Disney Channel to play with. And it was good for them to give it a try, not have one character dominate over the other. Sure, you still have the dumb one that always gets them in trouble and the smart one who always wants to keep everything perfect, but you do see the love reciprocated, which is important. Cece and Rocky just have a special connection that stole my heart, and I think I know a lot of the reason why: they remind me of me and my best friend. I can't say they do when it comes down to the specifics; I wouldn't classify myself as Cece and my friend as Rocky or the other way around; we're both kind of a mix of the two. But it's the bond that they share that I can relate to. They're there for each other no matter what happens or what rifts may come between them and they always want to be together. As I got into this show, I noticed myself wanting to text my best friend more, hang out with her more, talk to her more. The more I saw of me and her in Cece and Rocky, the more I appreciated her. That's an impact no other show or movie has had on me, and when a show has an impact on you that branches beyond the show itself, you know you've found something special. I'm glad I found that something special, because I hadn't felt a spark with a Disney Channel show since Hannah Montana. Without a doubt, Hannah Montana will always have the biggest impact on my life and will always be the show closest to my heart and my favorite, but even if to a much lesser extent, it was nice to have a special feeling like that with a show again. There are times when I find myself re-watching bits and pieces of episodes just to get that rush of "brotp feels" again, and that's something I haven't done with any other show besides Hannah Montana and the other Disney Channel show I am currently watching (Liv and Maddie). They just have those special moments, those special lines, that stick with you, and you know the writing is done well when that's the case. Aside from my best friend, Cece and Rocky remind me of some of my past friendships as well. While it is bittersweet to think those relationships have ended, the fact that I can still relate them to a friendship I have now makes it okay.
This is what makes the show stand out. This is what made me fall in love with the show. This is why this show is special and why it will stick with me. This is the main reason why I loved it; the reasons below are important, but not as much.
The Comedy: This is a category I can't say it necessarily has over any other Disney Channel show, but like other Disney Channel shows, this show has had me rolling. There are a lot of aspects of this show that they can pull easy jokes from, and some of them never get old. You have Cece's constant stupidity (which seems like it'd be full of cliche jokes, but many of them are actually rather clever), Rocky's perfectionist behavior, Cece's quirky little brother, Flynn, and what most agree to be best of all, the Hessenheffers. I am still disappointed that Kenton Duty didn't return to play Gunther in season 3, but Caroline Sunshine as Tinka is a riot in and of herself. Disney Channel always has that special ability to give you jokes that you want to bring up in conversation with your friends, and Shake It Up was no exception.
The Music: Guilty as charged, I love Disney Channel music. Give me High School Musical, Teen Beach Movie, or anything in between; I'll love it. It's just such uppity music that gets me in a good mood. Shake It Up has some of the best and catchiest music of its generation. Zendaya is a great singer and has a great voice. Bella Thorne....doesn't have as great of a voice but her songs are still hard not to like. Some of the songs in the show, I'd hear the first note and already think "okay, this is awesome, I love it." Some of them I forgot about until I got a few Shake It Up CDs in Disneyland last week, and upon hearing them again, I fell in love. Again, they're all just so catchy and really capture the essence of this era of Disney Channel. Now, I mention music because it's an integral part of this show. Almost every episode has a song because almost every episode has a dance on Shake It Up, Chicago. If you're going to have music often, it better be good, and in this show, it is, making the show all the more enjoyable.
The Age Range: My generation primarily grew up on Hannah Montana, That's So Raven, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. When Miley and Lilly were graduating high school, I was just about to graduate middle school. This never kept us from loving these shows, but it's still an interesting thing to think about. You couldn't watch season 1 Hannah Montana and think, "Man, I know how THAT feels!" because when she was in 8th grade, you were probably in 4th. I had the advantage of becoming obsessed with Hannah Montana not long before I became the age that Miley was in the first season, so as I re-watched the show throughout my obsession, I began to find things I could relate to. Shake It Up, on the other hand, is matched with my age range. In the episode, Future It Up, I noticed a sign that said "Class of 2015", and I'm the class of 2015. Cece and Rocky were 13 when I was 13. They end the show with them being 16; I'm 17 and was 16 when the show ended. If I had watched the show from the start, I could've related to the 13 year olds as a 13 year old, but it's still fun watching earlier episodes now thinking, "Yah, I remember when it was like that." Plus, I'm still able to watch more recent episodes and relate to them on a more current level. I bring this factor up because I remember when I was about 5 years old being distressed by the fact that hardly any characters on shows I watched were my age. Kim Possible was, what, 15 in the start of the show? I was happy I at least had Lilo, but that was it. Even though shows like Shake It Up aren't made for people my age, I still enjoy them at this age, so it's nice to be able to watch and enjoy a show with people your age in it.
The Relatability: I already discussed how I can relate this show to my friendships, but now I want to talk about individual characters. I'm having a similar problem with this show as I am with Liv and Maddie; I can't decide which character I'm more like! Sometimes I feel like Cece; lazy, takes no interest in anything, just doesn't care about school and just doesn't get it. Sometimes, or actually, a lot of the time, I feel like Rocky, needing to have everything perfect and needing to be at the top of the class. The episode, Stress It Up, I could really relate to, feeling that you need to do everything at once and you can't just stop and relax. I believe it was that episode that dealt with Rocky "having" to do something to get into a good college when really she didn't, and that's a feeling I get a lot. I'm glad they explored both sides of the teenage girl, especially because one teenage girl, like myself, can feel like they have both of those sides. I think Rocky's character was an important risk for Disney Channel to take, as we've had our "nerds" before, but only a few characters, like Cody Martin, who actually show a need they feel to do everything they can that's right and how that can eventually make them snap, because that's a need many teenagers have that isn't always shown in sitcoms. Also, a good four characters in the main cast remind me of people from my school, some of them even look similar to people at my school in addition to acting similar! That's never happened to me with a show before, and for them to be so similar that I can barely look at the people at school without thinking, "hey, there's Rocky!" or "hey, there's Deuce!" really shows you how well they nailed teenagers on the head. It's also just a fun experience to make those comparisons.
The Fun: This show is just plain fun like most Disney Channel shows. The fact that the main characters are on a dance show promises fun episodes with dance scenes and such, and on top of that, you get the classic Disney Channel quirky adventures and mishaps that keep the show enjoyable.
The Maturity: Here's what the naysayers of today's Disney Channel don't seem to see. People these days argue that Disney Channel no longer has any heart or any important messages. I know not everyone will agree, but I think Shake It Up alone is enough to prove that opinion wrong. I caught myself in near tears at least three times throughout this series, and that doesn't happen to me all that often. I can remember a few of the important times that happened and why they were important.
Rocky trying to get Cece back: In the series finale (spoilers ahead), Cece gets amnesia and doesn't remember Rocky, and Rocky eventually finds herself in tears trying to bring the old Cece back. This scene hit home for me because you don't always see the side of Rocky that really cares for Cece. Sure they always hang out, but Rocky pokes fun at Cece a lot, so sometimes, especially for someone who loves these two to death, you need reassurance that Rocky loves Cece as much as Cece loves Rocky, and this scene gave me exactly that. It's not only that, but it's also that this is one of the rare instances in a Disney Channel show where a character cries in a non-joking way, which we will discuss more later on.
Cece's mom crying about her divorce: The only thing more hard-hitting than a Disney Channel character crying is an adult Disney Channel character crying. No other times come to memory where a parent or other adult on Disney Channel has cried. And in this scene, she is crying about a real issue that could impact the kids watching this show: divorce. Flynn is missing his dad and it shows that Georgia is missing him too, in a sense. This shows kids that divorce isn't only hard on the kids, it's hard on the parents, too, but reassures them that their parents will love them no matter what happens.
THIS. SCENE.
Discussing a more serious issue on a children's show: In no way is this the first time Disney Channel has done this. That's So Raven did so with fat shaming and racism, and that racism episode is something that I talk about with my mom to this day. Hannah Montana did so with diabetes. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody did so with dyslexia as well, but I only have vague memories of it. I may be wrong, but I remember never seeing that episode on after a while, so I have a feeling it might have been pulled from the air. This scene definitely stuck with me more than that episode did, though. I'm kind of stating the obvious here but it's very important for children's shows to discuss issues like this because if they understand it from a younger age, they will be better understanding of it as they get older. Plus, some of these issues may apply to them at their age and, as silly as it may sound, there might not be anyone to explain it to them besides Disney Channel. Young kids can easily be victims of racism or fat shaming, or have diabetes or dyslexia, and as many young kids treat TV like one of their caretakers, it's great whenever TV can tell them how to deal with these issues and reassure them that they're not alone. Don't believe me? I remember watching Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas on TV as a kid and there was somewhere in it where some character, I believe it was Max Goof, was donating toys to charity or something of the sort. A few minutes later, I walked up to my mom and told her, "I want to help out other kids this Christmas!" Growing up, we're connected to these characters, which is why the writers use them to teach us lessons. Heck, many of us are still connected to them today and can still learn from them. And I think the line, "People can be mean, especially if they find out you have some kind of weird disorder", is very important, because kids, be they in elementary school or high school, get made fun of for their disorders on a daily basis, and some young kids watching Shake It Up may not know what to do about it. While, of course, they should talk to a parent or counselor about it, this show does help give them a head start, not only reassuring them that there's nothing wrong with having a disorder, but warning them that not everyone will respect and understand their disorder.
An accurate representation of a teenage girl in this situation: I'm a teenage girl, and an often emotional one at that. And I can confirm that this happens. This is far from an over-dramatization, but Disney Channel and other kid's shows rarely seem to show emotional reactions to this extent. Reaching a point where you can't talk and you just fall against your friend crying? Yah, that happens. I know that because it's happened to me. As I was saying before, it's rare to see a serious crying scene in a Disney Channel show (but props to Emily Osment for doing the funniest crying in history as Lilly Truscott). And to have it actually realistically acted out is all the better. This is how teens react to these situations and they're not sugarcoating it, which is important.
An accurate representation of a friend aiding a friend: Again, this is a type of situation I've been in myself. Putting their arm around you, reassuring you that there's nothing wrong with being the way you are? That happens. That totally happens. I've already gushed over this friendship, but for it to be this realistic, especially in a situation like this makes it even better. It shows you how true of friends they really are.
The reality of it: Bella Thorne actually has dyslexia, so the things she's saying are probably actually coming out of Bella's mouth, not Cece's. That crying is probably real.
Up until this episode, I was enjoying the show. I liked it, I thought it was fun. But this episode really won me over and showed me that this show really has a lot of heart packed into it and is special. A lot of the shows I've watched have had "that one episode", and for this show, it was Add It Up. So if you're going to watch an episode of this show to see if my opinions on it are right, watch that one.
Some final personal notes: Aside from the impact on my friendship this show had, this show helped me continue moving forward and away from another relationship. As I said before, when this show premiered, I was in a position where I was "not allowed" to watch it or enjoy it. I have since broken ties with the person that wouldn't allow this and am still on the road to recovery. Watching Shake It Up was an important step on it. Doing something this person told me not to do made me feel a sense of pride and independence in myself. She told me "don't watch it because I know you're gonna like it", and I did like it. This show has been a fun and exciting part of the last few months of my life and I'm glad I didn't let that person stop me from experiencing it.
Overall, Shake It Up was a fantastic show and I'm more than glad that I watched it. Beyond just being enjoyable, it has some special aspects of it that make it stand out amongst other Disney Channel shows. It could easily end up in my top 5 all time favorite Disney Channel shows. So if you think Disney Channel is declining, try watching Shake It Up. It may just change your mind.
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