Camp Rock

By Nina Raemont

There’s no better way to walk down middle school’s memory lane than by watching a young Demi Lovato decide which mediocre outfit to wear to the last day of school while romping around her room, spilling foods on herself, and sharing a summer love with teen hottie Shane Gray, played by Joe Jonas.

The movie begins when Lovato’s character, Mitchie Torres, gets the opportunity to go to Camp Rock when her mom accepts the position of camp caterer. Through interactions with the ostentatious divas who run the camp, she realizes she won’t have the socioeconomic clout to make a name for herself if she is known as the caterer’s daughter. So she tells the divas that her mom is a music producer. 

As this conflict develops, so does a relationship between Shane and Mitchie. On the surface, the viewer sees this musical rom-com as an upbeat movie where Disney stars got their first big break. We bop to the music, accept the cliche moments, and giggle at the interactions between Shane and Mitchie. 

My middle school self adored the movie and my 20-year-old self does too. There’s something about revisiting things you loved as a kid that reminds you of who you once were. Camp Rock is an ode to that uncomfortable phase in our lives when we were desperately trying to find out who we were. Sometimes that involved lying to our friends and to ourselves, but after awhile, we came to a place of acceptance, where we could—I can’t emphasize this enough—rock.