Revisiting a Disney Channel Original and a Zendaya classic. PHOTO CREDIT: Youtube
When you hear the name “Zendaya,” what TV shows or films immediately come to mind?
If you’re like me, you instantly pictured the actor starring in the Disney Channel’s TV sitcom “Shake It Up” or the HBO drama series “Euphoria.” While these performances are iconic, her role as Zoey Stevens in the 2014 Disney Channel Original Movie “Zapped” deserves more name-recognition.
Based on the 2008 childrens book “Boys Are Dogs,” written by Leslie Margolis, “Zapped” tackles themes of perfectionism, gender stereotypes and coming-of-age with a wacky and magical twist— Zoey (Zendaya) has the ability to control boys with her smartphone.
The movie begins practically identical to other Disney Channel Original Movies made in the 2010s, with upbeat music and the appearance of a quirky but relatable main character. In the case of “Zapped,” 16-year-old Zoey becomes caught in the middle of a dog-chase at her mom’s wedding.
Throughout the beginning of the film struggles to adjust to a new high school— complete with the typical mean-girl-trio, unconventional but sweet best friend and, of course, the brooding and sunglasses-wearing love interest.
However, after Zoey downloads the smartphone app “Listen and Obey” in an attempt to train her new dog, the movie’s plot soon deviates from the Disney Channel’s cookie-cutter formula. In a series of phone-chases with her dog, Zoey’s new app began to work on boys instead of dogs.
Equipped with her “Listen and Obey” app, Zoey used her newfound powers to make her older step-brother more focused, her step-father more quiet and her two younger step-brothers more clean and mature. This tool became a controversial yet highly entertaining solution to all of Zoey’s boy-related problems, including messiness, control and lack of personal hygiene.
The app weaponized typically “girly” attributes, such as being obsessed with iPhone apps and fancy organization, and made typically “boyish” attributes, like loving sports and neglecting showers, the butt of the joke. Zoey was seen as a hero for making boys more cleanly and neat for a majority of the film.
Although many teen movies utilize gender stereotypes, they do so in a less persistent manner. For example, the main characters of Disney Channel’s TV show “Liv and Maddie” spend many episodes proving to audiences that girls can do anything boys can do. TV shows such as this demonstrate that the Disney Channel has the capability to use gender stereotypes to advance a plot, not degrade it.
In typical Disney-movie fashion, the climax of ‘Zapped” was at a high school sports event. However, instead of an energetic football game against the town rival, this sports event was a basketball game combined with a dance-off. This plot point was a fun nod to Zendaya’s past Disney Channel role and I love to watch this section of the movie unfold.
Personally, I am a huge fan of Zendaya’s role in the Disney TV show “Shake It Up.” Her character was smart and loved to dance, and this aspect of Zendaya’s acting transferred well into “Zapped.” Although the dancing was not a major plot point until the end of the movie, I always loved — and still love — seeing Zendaya on stage.
As for the actual resolution of the movie, I found it to be very underwhelming and unrealistic. Zoey’s realization occurred after her “Listen and Obey” app got into the wrong hands. At this point, practically every boy in school was standing on their knees and begging to the blonde mean-girl who stole Zoey’s phone.
In my opinion, the visual of a hundred teen boys begging like dogs on a basketball court’s floor is not the most pleasant. It was nice, however, to see all of the main character’s problems disappear once she threw away her sparkly-pink phone— and despite its downfalls, the dramatics did make for a memorable movie conclusion.
Still, watchers of this Disney Channel Original Movie thought the film’s conclusion didn’t do enough to resolve the conflict.
“Zendaya [Zoey] could’ve changed the sociopolitical landscape of the entire world but instead she lobotomized her older brother because he has too many hobbies,” Letterboxd user Alex Falcon said on Sept. 23, 2020.
The belief that Zendaya could have made a political or social impact with this role, however much exaggerated, rings true at its core. We emulate the behavior we see on TV, and as someone who watched this movie as a child, I think that I adopted certain gender stereotypes into my belief system. I viewed skateboarding and adventure as “boy activities,” and copied Zoey’s love of glitz and glam.
While it is important to show that these gender stereotypes do exist in real life, “Zapped” could have been a great movie if the Disney Channel put more emphasis on Zoey’s realization.
The “Zapped” promotional poster for its premier on June 27, 2014 stated: ‘Boys will be boys… but better.’ I originally read this comment as a fun play on words, but after reading reviews on Letterboxd and Commonsense Media, I think that these words hold a different weight.
Whether this movie will reach the iconic level of Zendaya’s other acting endeavors is a question only time will tell, but nevertheless it is an interesting watch that sparks an even more riveting debate on the portrayal of gender stereotypes in media.