Do you remember? BY REILLY RUSSELL

Hannah Montana  Hannah Montana was my favourite childhood television series.  This programme was based on a teenage girl who wanted live a normal life as well as be a popstar so she would disguise herself as Hannah so that she could live both lifestyles.  It was released in the USA on the 24 th March 2006 and ended in  The producer of Hannah Montana was Richard G. King.  It was aired on Disney channel.

Characters  Hannah Montana/ Miley Ray Stewart was the main character who was played by Miley Cyrus.  Hannah Montana lived with her dad on the series who is also her dad in real life. Their on set home also had Miley’s on screen brother living with them called Jackson who is played by Jason Earles.  Miley Ray Stewart’s two best friends were Lily and Oliver were played by Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso.  The character of Miley’s mother passed away previous to the show which I think added a sentimental factor to her and her fathers relationship throughout the series.

How popular was it?  It was such a popular television programme in the late noughties that Hannah Montana was made into its own film as well!  The movie was released on 4 th October 2009 and has made $79,576,189 over its lifetime.  On Facebook messenger, I asked a group of 7 people that are the same age as me, meaning they would have been a child when Hannah Montana aired. Four people said yes they liked it and three did not.  All of the people who disliked it were boys which suggests to me that Hannah Montana was aimed at girl audiences.  People who disliked it said that they did not because it was not the genre they liked to watch as a kid and one person who did enjoy it said her reasons were that she liked the characters.

Interviews from other students  Do you remember watching Hannah Montana as a child and did you enjoy it? Jamie Long, 16: yes I do remember watching but I didn’t enjoy it very much. Miah Harper-John, 16: I watched it a lot during my childhood and really enjoyed it.  Who was your favourite character? Jamie Long, 16: Oliver Miah Harper-John, 16: Rico  Did you enjoy the music played? Jamie Long, 16: no it was very cheesy and not my taste. Miah Harper, 16: yes I found it very fun to sing along.  Are you a fan of any of the characters now? Jamie Long, 16: I am a fan of Miley Cyrus’ music. Miah Harper-John, 16: I like Emily Osment’s sitcom so I would say I am a fan of her. This interviewing research shows that just on a very small scale more girls liked the show than boys but suggests it was popular because people can easily remember it.

Comparison to other programmes  Another programme I really enjoyed as a child which was also aired on Disney Channel was Wizards of Waverly Place. This series ran from 2007 until 2012 whereas Hannah Montana was aired 2006 to Due to this, people around my age may remember more about Wizards of Waverly Place because they were slightly older when it finished, 13/14. accessed on 27/09/15 this is a link for the research on Wizards of Waverly Place.  My Parents Are Aliens is a different programme which I enjoyed when I was younger. This programme was not aired on Disney Channel like Hannah Montana because it was filmed in England. Also, it is older than Hannah Montana since it aired from 1999 to accessed on 17/09/15 this is a link for the research of My Parents are Aliens.

Interesting facts  Jason Earles was 15 years older than the character, Jackson, he played.  To disguise Miley as Hannah, she wore a wig which had to be stuck to her forehead by the fringe in order for it to stay in place.  Miley Cyrus was only 11 when she auditioned for the show.

What are they doing now?  Miley Cyrus has gone on to star in other movies such as The Last Song and pixar’s movie, Bolt. She has also been all over the entertainment news due to such a drastic change in appearance and attitude. As well as that, creating popular music.  Emily Osment is the star of a new television series called Young & Hungry.

Hannah Montana Merchandise As Hannah Montana was so popular it could produce a lot of merchandise. For example, lunch boxes, clothing and bedroom decorations. This helped to promote the programme as well because people would be reminded of the series whenever seeing the items in stores or on young people using them.

My favourite episode  My favourite episode of Hannah Montana was the first ever episode: Lily Do You Want To Know A Secret? This is because it is the one where Hannah reveals her secret identity to her best friend. It is very funny makes their friendship stronger for the rest of the series.

Evaluation of research  Most of my research was done through internet search because it is the most convenient way to do so. A really useful website I found was IMDB.com as it has lots of information on celebrities, films and television programmes.  I also watched a video on YouTube of a mix of interviews of Miley talking about her transformation from being the innocent Disney star to wanting people to look at her completely differently. This was useful for my slide on ‘what are they doing now?’ as I found Miley’s point of view.  By using Facebook messenger, I asked a group of people whether or not they enjoyed Hannah Montana as a child which I found was an accurate way of knowing how popular the show was between people I know personally. This helped me to gain knowledge of what peoples opinions of the show was and proved that girls favoured it.  What I would do differently is search for old interviews with the actors when they were filming the show as it would tell me how they felt about the show back then.

Reference  27/09/15 this is a link to official facts on Hannah Montana.  27/09/15 this is a link to a list of cast members in Hannah Montana.  27/09/15 this is a link to part of IMDB which gives interesting facts about the programme.  27/09/15 this is a link to a website which gives information on how much films and television programmes made.