Hannah Montana/Headscratchers

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 moustache 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 Suite Life of Zack and 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", "Can't Get Home to You, Girl") the people that 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 I'm sure 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 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 I for one believe 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 ^{[dead link]} ). It doesn't mean it's one person leading a double life.
  • I think the weird thing is, however, 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 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 really 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 occassions it's been noted they sound similar when they sing, it's been dismissed with a "nah, couldn't be" that they are one and 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.
  • I think it would've been more convincing if "Miley" were to add to her secret identity; you know, a pair of glasses, maybe? I think she'd have looked really cute like that, and the show would feel less stupid. 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, uh, question the meaning behind it?
  • But people are able to figure it out without having the idea that it's a hoax. Rico did. You'd think seeing both of them so up close like lots of people do would give something away. Especially when you add in both of them sounding the same, when talking and singing (which she makes no attempt to avoid doing when she's Miley (the singing part), her never being around during a Hannah concert (she's obviously pretty popular in later seasons, it's not hard to assume someone would invite her), along with their stupid "cover ups" ("It's not like I'm a popstar or anything!"), someone would figure it out.

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 extra curricular 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 & 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. (This was especially grating to This Troper as she was going through the admissions process herself when this episode aired, and the idea that Miley could do all that was a little insulting.)
  • My admissions process to different music schools consisted of a lot of meetings and phone calls that would probably not be considered the way it "normally works." Believe me when I say 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 really 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 the Hannah secret, despite him clearly not knowing in the first episode he appeared in. Oh and the reason he's there is he uses his exectutive power to wave Miley's school registration problem. Um yeah...
  • 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 the 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.

Rico in "Kiss it All goodbye"

• In this episode Rico finally pieces it together that Hannah is really Miley. However, from a season one episode, Rico finds out about it and uses it against Miley so they can "date" among other things.
  • The secret Rico used against Miley was that she still had a teddy bear, but Miley, Lilly, and Oliver think he knows that Miley is Hannah.
  • But he did actually figure it out. In the episode wih Miley passing a test by singing and dancing, he says that it reminds him of someone famous, then says Hannah Monatana. But they convince him Miley's too stupid to pull it off. So yeah, he figured it out. He didn't believe it, but he figured it out.
    • However, since he didn't believe it, that doesn't really affect things. Also, that wasn't the episode where he uses it against Miley.

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 I 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.

In fact, 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!

In regard to 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 had been a matter of signing her actual name (which they don't care about) and filling an agreement not to publish her real name. The biggest problem with all you said is that...well have you seen celebrity news in the past 20 years? Celebrities will reveal secrets that were confined to them just for a little publicity (specially 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 out most 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 the three people are singing (which was a good gag streched too far by the way) and they say that only a very very 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 it's 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.

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, if I remember correctly, everyone knows that Hannah Montana is from Tennesse (possibly even the city she's from), and who her dad is (he's disguised I think but I'm not sure). So they know where she's from, and there's a last name. And they still don't make the connection.

What was up with the credit card episode?

• Okay, 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 I know 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. Uh... 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. But like I said, the premise didn't make sense in the first place.
  • Well the dad doesn't seem to work and they live in an expensive beach house (in-universe at least, it looks pretty small to me) 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.

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?