Headscratchers / Hannah Montana

Why was she so affected?

• In one episode, Miley lies to her father saying that she liked a terrible song. Alright. But, she is affected by this (she turns into a "truth sayer" sleepwalker). Why? She started to lie to more than a million people when she was 12! It shouldn't have happened.
  • "More than a million people" aren't her father.

Two places at once

In the movie, when Hannah has to be at the banquet and Miley has a date with Travis, WHY (apart from the fact that the story would be less interesting) didn't she just call Travis and reschedule the date? Seriously, her grandmother, father, brother, and best friend, etc. all went to the banquet. She could have easily have told Travis that she had to go, too, reschedule, and he would never have to know that she went as Hannah.

Travis

• Speaking of Travis... what happened to him? Was the movie some sort of AU where its events just didn't carry to the rest of the show and he was retconned out of existence? Could there have been a scheduling conflict with Lucas Till and he couldn't appear on the show? Or did Travis' existence just further complicate the Jake/Miley/Jesse love triangle, so the writers just scrapped him and all mention of him entirely?

Robbie Ray Stewart

• Mr. Stewart is known as Robbie Ray in both identities of Hannah/Miley. He's known as the famous singer/songwriter and manager/father of Hannah Montana, but also as the father of Miley Stewart. How has no one connected him with Miley being Hannah, and why would it be a big shock in that one episode for Jackson to be friends with Hannah? His father is supposedly Hannah's manager. Furthermore, why does Robbie Ray wear a mustache if he doesn't change identities and why has no one on the show been shown to bug him about Hannah?
  • In one episode he's referred to as "Mr. Montana", indicating that he has two identities—number one is Robbie Ray Stewart, the former singer, and number two is Robbie Ray Montana, father/manager and songwriter for Hannah Montana.
  • In the crossover episode with The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Maddie refers to Hannah Montana's dad as Robbie Ray Stewart, showing that the general public does know that Robbie Ray Stewart is Hannah Montana's dad.
  • Actually, in the episodes where it happens ("On the Road Again" and "Can't Get Home to You, Girl"), the people who recognize him only refer to him as "Robbie Ray", never "Robbie Ray Stewart" - implying that his stage name didn't include his real last name. While this doesn't preclude people knowing about it, it still wouldn't be common knowledge, probably confined to his fans. He had a pretty successful career, but it wasn't at, say, Elvis Presley levels (he mentions his total accomplishments in that conversation with Maddie). A similar real-life example is Fiona Apple - that's her real name, but her full name is Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart, which most people (even some of her fans) don't know (and her level of fame is comparable to Robbie Ray's fictional one).
  • Now consider that Hannah's fans are from a completely different generation, never mind the musical genre. Even if they knew (or cared) that her manager was the former country star Robbie Ray, it's not likely they would know enough about him to know his real name was Robbie Ray Stewart, or would go digging deep enough to find out that his daughter bears a striking similarity to a certain teen pop sensation - bear in mind that Miley Stewart is never photographed with him outside of family functions, anyway. Bottom line, it boils down again to the fact that Miley is that kid at school that nobody notices.
  • The one instance where this breaks down is when Rico goes to Robbie to get an old Robbie Ray record autographed. Although it seems that Rico's already figured out the Hannah secret - he is a genius after all. Why doesn't he say anything? Well, for one thing, if he revealed it to the public, he would be betraying his only real friends. Why doesn't he at least let them know that he knows? Because, conversely, it would ruin his reputation if they knew he was keeping the secret for Miley's sake.

Public Recognition and Hannah/Miley

• In addition to the singer/songwriter and manager thing, why doesn't anyone realize that Miley looks an awful lot like Hannah?
  • Give a girl a fancy sparkly dress, high heels and a makeover that includes a different hair color and she will look very different from when she's in a T-shirt, jeans, and no makeup. It also helps that people don't even suspect Hannah Montana has a secret identity. People don't see Miley Stewart when they look at Hannah Montana because they aren't looking for a girl in disguise. And even if she does resemble Hannah, so what? Some people simply look a lot like someone else, sometimes to the point where they are mistaken for each other (see: Amy Adams and Isla Fisher◊). It doesn't mean it's one person leading a double life.
  • The weird thing is that no one even comments on her looking like Hannah Montana. Not one person ever says "Hey, Miley, anyone ever tell you that you look sorta like a brunette Hannah Montana?" and she could give a sly "Oh, I get that a lot" or "I don't see it."
  • Not that weird when you consider Hannah has her own set of friends (Tracy and Co.) who don't know Miley at all. At the beginning of the series, Miley didn't have any friends besides Lilly and Oliver, who were both kind of stupid. No one else at her school cared enough about Miley to give her a second glance. So basically, Lily and Oliver were the only people who could figure it out, and the writers actually acknowledged the possibility. In episode one, Lily sneaks into Hannah's dressing room, and what does Hannah do? She immediately covers her face with cream so Lilly won't recognize her. Fast forward to episode two, Hannah needs to talk to Oliver - she shows up wearing these big sunglasses that cover half her face. For everyone else that knows Miley, the act is enough. When people think about Miley, in their mind they see this◊, while Hannah looks like this◊. There might be a resemblance, but no sane mind would ever make the connection.
  • Although on a couple of occasions it's been noted they sound similar when they sing, it's been dismissed with a "Nah, couldn't be" that they are the same. However, it would be simple enough to get Hannah's fingerprints on a glass and compare them to Miley's prints—if some amateur detective ever took a mind to—since she doesn't wear gloves. Of course this is true of any superhero whose costume doesn't include gloves.
  • Now she's "come out" as Hannah, it's been noted that no one even realized that Hannah's "famous blond hair" was a wig. With that in mind, it's no surprise few people made the connection.
  • It would've been more convincing if "Miley" were to add to her secret identity; you know, a pair of glasses, maybe? Sure, no one ever knew she had a secret identity, but when you come out with songs like Best of Both Worlds or The Other Side of Me (which Miley herself lampshades as being something of a giveaway), don't you think people might question the meaning behind it?
    • Even if they didn't just think the songs were about fictional characters, the song names don't in any way tell you who her secret identity is.
  • In the end, it's probably the same reason so many modern DC Comics argue why nobody's worked out that Clark Kent is Superman; nobody stops to think that Hannah might have a 'secret identity', so they don't bother looking for evidence of it.

Miley, Lilly, and Stanford

• Stanford University accepted Miley and Lilly?! Has either ever been established with an exceptional GPA? Suddenly, both are smart?! Well, when did this happen? As for the egregious problems it brings up, Willing Suspension of Disbelief probably applies. Still....it doesn't seem fair for Miley to be so perfect. She's talented, famous, attractive, social, popular, successful, and smart.
  • Not to mention that Ashley and Amber got in. Miley and Lily can be chalked up to Willing Suspension of Disbelief, but the two dumb mean girls? Again: Ashley?
  • Well, technically they didn't apply to Stanford; they applied to "Standford" University. If you look at the folder the admissions lady was holding, not only does it clearly say Standford, but the school colors (green and yellow) are very different from Stanford's (red and white). Now, whether the nonexistent Standford is meant to be a true fictional equivalent to Stanford is another matter. In any case, given how often she embarrasses herself in just about every episode, Miley is hardly a Mary Sue. Lilly, on the other hand, probably qualifies. While Season 1 Lilly was as dumb as Oliver, Season 4 Lilly is pretty much flawless.
  • And they don't accept Miley - They outright say that due to her lack of extracurricular activities, they wouldn't be able to accept her application unless there were special circumstances that prevented this. It's only when she comes out and reveals that she's Hannah that she's allowed in, and that's largely so they can say "Yeah, Hannah Montana goes to school here."
  • There's also the gross misrepresentation of the way the admissions process works—not that anyone expects Hannah Montana to be accurate, but the idea that she could just drive down to Stanford/Standford, or any college or University, and ask them to reconsider is completely ludicrous.
  • A lot of people can get in if they make a convincing argument that the admissions people are wrong. And even so, they didn't reconsider her. The woman she met with is doing what any college admissions person would do and telling her politely to take a hike.

Cross-continuity Error

• In one episode Hannah Montana meets the fictional president from Cory in the House, fine. But when she meets him again (and it's implied to still be the same guy since she mentioned performing for his daughter, as she did before) he's suddenly gained a race lift and is supposed to be Obama. Also, he knows Hannah's secret, despite him not knowing in the first episode he appeared in. Oh and the reason he's there is he uses his executive power to wave Miley's school registration problem.
  • Miley saying she sang for the President's kids (and that was what Miley said "... when I sang for his kids.") was a sly Shout-Out to Miley Cyrus actually singing for Obama's kids in real life, not that ancient (by TV standards) episode. For one thing, that president from Cory in the House didn't have kids, just one daughter. And another thing, Miley didn't actually sing for her. So yeah, different President.
  • There are these things called "elections." The Cory in the House President was presumably elected in the Disney world in place of George W. Bush. Barack Obama got elected in both universes, apparently — ours, and the Disney Universe, in which Robbie Ray was a country star (except the one time they call him Billy Ray Cyrus), and Miley Stewart is secretly Hannah Montana.

Is there really a need for a web of deceit in Miley's work life?

Let's face it: Miley's not the only celebrity who acts as a character instead of herself or who is very protective of her identity. So while one could see how in her normal life she wouldn't tell people she's Hannah, is it really all that necessary to keep it secret in her professional life? Surely she's had to sign contracts before, and contracts must use a person's legal name.

That also raises two other questions: Who owns the Hannah Montana franchise in the show? Obviously her record company would at least have great stakes in it, and even theoretically would be able to replace Miley with some other girl to be Hannah if they so desired.

The other question is why they even felt it should be even a secret from those in the biz anyway—they couldn't have initially believed Hannah Montana would reach the levels of success we're told she has!

Regarding her social status, it likely really wouldn't matter to all those celebrities she's known to hang out with (albeit her gal pals are a different story), as they would most certainly understand the desire to be out of the spotlight.

• Well she's underage so maybe all the paperwork was done by her father, and even if that wasn't the case it would just have been a matter of signing her actual name (which they don't care about) and filling an agreement not to publish her real name. Also, celebrities will reveal secrets that were confined to them just for a little publicity (especially if they stopped being heard about recently), a lot of people over the years have been fired for selling info and or items from celebrities they work with/for. Paris Hilton once lost her phone, and the numbers were released on the internet, and a lot of celebrities were called tens of thousands of times, and a lot were furious at her because they never gave her their numbers, which she possibly got by asking another celebrity (example: asking Beyonce Rihanna's number or something like that). The best way to keep a secret is indeed keeping the people you tell to the utmost minimum.

When You Wish You Were The Star

• In the episode where Miley makes the wish that she was Hannah all the time, why are Lily and Oliver's lives so affected? For one thing, they don't seem to know each other but they were friends way before Miley showed up. Not to mention that their personalities were completely changed. The wish shouldn't have changed them that much. At the very least, Lily should still be able to skateboard.
  • Perhaps, without Miley to keep them together (ala "What I Don't Like About You"), Lilly and Oliver had a falling out and befriended other people who altered their personalities?

Few?

• The episode where she tells her secret to everyone, at the end, Siena, Jackson, and Rico are singing (which was a good gag stretched too far by the way) and they mention in their song that only a special few people knew her secret, they then list everyone. The number comes up to five individual people and an entire town. And the movie obviously counts here and that shows that her agent (or someone that helps her with the concerts) also knows. And they left out Roxy, who also knows. So, an entire huge town and seven people outside of that town is a very very few people? Seriously?
  • Out of the population of the United States of America, one town isn't a lot - keep in mind that the town likely only had a population of a few thousand at its potential highest whilst the likes of L.A. & New York have populations up in the millions.
  • It's still thousands of people. They make it sound like it was the best-kept secret in the world and yet they told thousands of people.
  • There are hundreds of millions of people in this country alone. If you have a secret as big as "nation-wide singing sensation Hannah Montana actually leads a double life as an average teenager named Miley Stewart" and only a few thousand people in the entire country know it... that's a really well-kept secret.

Why does no one ask "Who is Hannah Montana?"

• So, does no one ever think she might have a real name? A home town? Anything? She's just "Hannah Montana". no questions asked?
  • Actually, everyone knows that Hannah Montana is from Tennesse (possibly even the city she's from), and who her dad is. So they know where she's from, and there's a last name. And they still don't make the connection.
  • Robbie Ray's generally shown wearing a fake beard to go with Hannah's hairstyle, and at least one episode saw a photographer assume his name was 'Mr. Montana', so it likely comes down to nobody suspecting that Hannah is Miley for the same reason nobody suspects Superman is Clark; nobody has any real reason to believe the more famous identity has a secret identity.

What was up with the credit card episode?

• So Hannah Montana has one of those annoying obligatory credit card episodes where she's given a credit card, but "only for emergency uses". Right off the bat, the episode doesn't make sense because in the show universe, she's like the biggest singer at the time. She should be raking in millions of dollars, and yes she's a minor, but shouldn't she be seeing at least SOME of that money? Why, then, does she even need an emergency credit card if she has all that money? Unless her father just spends it all right away without telling her, but that's another discussion. Like the standard credit card episode, she buys a lot of stuff and can't pay the bill so she sells some old Hannah Montana stuff. Just why? She's HANNAH MONTANA. Going on a shopping spree, even a big one, wouldn't even be CLOSE to a drop in the bucket for such a popular, successful singer.
  • Well her dad doesn't seem to work and they live in an expensive beach house with an expensive TV and everything, so a lot of the money probably goes there. Also he probably doesn't want to just give her all that money, although he does give her a checking account in a later episode with five thousand dollars in it.
  • The very fact that Miley Stewart is going through all the trouble to have a "normal teenage girl" identity along with the "pop superstar" identity in order to have a normal life, and her father (who seems not to be too interested in leeching off of her child's success, Malibu beach house aside) is doing his best to try to keep Miley down-to-earth and not get drawn into the Hollywood celebrity game, might mean one way he is doing so is to put Miley on a limited budget while she is underage and not let her get spoiled or materialistic. It also means that once Miley Stewart graduates from high school, she can afford a college education via her Hannah money.
    • Since Robbie Ray had his own hugely successful career, manages Hannah’s career, can claim songwriting credits for Hannah’s catalogue, and wrote for the Jonas Brothers, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they’re able to live off Robbie Ray’s active and passive incomes apart from Hannah’s cut as the talent. They don’t live an exceptionally extravagant lifestyle, the kids go to public school, and Jackson pays for his own car and gas by himself.

Miley at school vs. Hannah Montana

• Does Miley's school board know that she spends random nights performing as Hannah Montana? And if they don't, how does Robbie Ray explain why she didn't do her homework, or overslept before going to school, when she was obviously at a concert somewhere in the world?
  • Hannah’s fans are all younger, so she’s not exactly playing late-night concerts. She seems to do a lot of smaller local shows, not jet-setting around the world, and it’s never established how often she performs. It’s also not unreasonable to guess that she can do homework backstage, since she doesn’t have to do any of the set-up/tear down and it’s hardly a Motley Crue bacchanalia in her dressing room. Arguably, she’s got more time to do homework than any other student with a job, since the total time of her concerts can’t run more than a few hours, tops.

She never looked out the window?

• In the movie, she never looked out the window of the plane and realized rolling countryside isn't something you normally see in New York?
  • Maybe she slept the whole way there.

They didn't know her.

• Rico is upset that he never figured out Miley and Hannah were the same person. Jackson snaps him out of it by telling him no one else figured it out either, listing famous scientists who were fooled. But those famous scientists didn't know Miley and hear/look at her all the time, so doesn't that logic fail?
  • No, it's just stroking Rico's ego. He considers himself a genius, so not realizing Miley is Hannah is a blow to his confidence, and Jackson telling him "So what? Neither did Stephen Hawking or the guys who work at NASA" is just letting him believe that it's okay since no one figured it out, regardless of them meeting Miley or not.

Which Queen were they on about?

From what they say in that early episode, the Queen Miley/Hannah was supposed to perform for was HM ER, but nothing would suggest that. While it probably didn't cause any Willing Suspension of Disbelief for those from Eagleland it most certainly confused Britons. Firstly, HM doesn't have private performances like that. Ignoring that, none of her grandchildren are 10 and she doesn't have a butler called Simon. HM rarely sits on a throne or wears a crown. For a country without a monarchy these facts probably aren't as widely known as they are over here. The crown weighs far too much to be worn for more than a short amount of time and there is one set of thrones, in a throne room. Also, the crown jewels are locked away in the Tower of London, including what may have been meant to be the Coronation crown that HM was supposed to be wearing. Doubly ridiculous because that crown is only used to, well, Coronate a monarch. Finally, nobody (naturally) has such a flat RP accent. Not even the Queen.

• Using the real Queen may have been controversial, so they probably settled on an Expy (giving her a 10-year-old granddaughter makes it clear it is not her).
• Are we sure the Queen doesn't ever have private performances? They certainly COULD.
• They never referred to this Queen by the name "Queen Elizabeth II" or anything like that. It was just a generic queen, not THE Queen.

Jackson's personality

Why is Jackson such a flip-flopper? Seriously though. This boy can switch from your typical egotistical, rude, selfish, shallow guy to a genuine sweet nice guy who cares about his friends and family in a matter of minutes. In the same episode sometimes.

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Just because he's selfish a lot doesn't mean he can't love his family.

Touring

Tours usually last a while, many times it's over a year. So, how is Miley able to tour in another country one night, and then make it back to class the next day?

• Most of the time when she went to concerts, they tended to be relatively nearby (California, Las Vegas, Arizona, etc.). She most likely performed farther away during weekends and such. Also, in one episode, she talks about her upcoming European tour (which she said was her first), so from this it can be assumed she was going to that during the summer. It must have been her first non-US tour as well.

Miley necklace

• There was one episode where Miley purposefully took an embarrassing photo of herself as Hannah and sold it to someone, only to freak out when she realized the photo included a necklace she'd been wearing with the word "Miley" on it. But what's the big deal with that? Even if someone noticed it, it's not like it had her last name, so the chances of the whole masquerade being ruined are very low. Worst-case scenario is, she just can't wear the necklace as Miley again, and she could always just make an appearance as Hannah and say that it belonged to a friend or something, right?
  • Miley wasn't exactly a common name before Miley Cyrus got famous; it's not even Miley Cyrus's birth name (it's short for Smiley, which was her nickname growing up). A leaked photo of Hannah wearing a Miley necklace would have made it much easier to figure out the connection if anyone dug even a tiny bit.

Why not send Lily & Oliver?

• In season 1 episode 3, Miley and Jackson sneak out to go to a movie premiere with Lily and Oliver, but end up seeing their father their with a woman. So the next day, Miley and Jackson go to the woman's job, as Hannah Montana and her manager, to confront her about if she's dating their father. Their father ends up showing up as well and of course from there he figures out what they did and they get grounded(or maybe not, been a while). So my question is, why didn't they just send Lily and Oliver to confront her? Their parents let them go to the premiere so they didn't have to sneak, and I'm sure they would've done it. You could say that "Hannah Montana" may have better chances at getting to the woman but they don't have to go to her at her job, they could just wait until she gets off or find her somewhere else in the world. They could just say they were at the premiere and saw her with their friend's dad, told their friend, and she wanted to know if they were dating.