Apparently it’s not on the cover of Vanity Fair. So in the latest news on teen celebrity’s gone-bad, lovable Disney princess Miley Cyrus has been catching some flack about her recent “artistic” photo shoot for Vanity Fair. It almost pains me to even write about this subject as it has become so cliche for teenage girls to exploit their sexuality in this industry, but I think this occurrence might be a little different.
Now I’m no Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus nut, but the girl and her father have done an incredible job managing her career. Like her or not, she has become an undeniable force in this industry and is a millionaire at age 15…you can’t really knock that. Sometimes a picture is just a picture, but the particular picture we’re talking about here shows a topless 15-year-old girl in what looks like a bed sheet appearing just a little too cracked out for my taste. What’s the motivation here?
It’s become increasingly obvious that teen stars can no longer expect to “just be teenagers.” 10 year-olds dress like 15 year-olds, and 15 year-olds dress like 22 year-olds, so why are we all surprised? In this case, you have a young girl who has created an image around her innocence and has millions of young fans looking up to her as a role model. Why can’t media and industry folk just allow a young girl to be young without pushing the envelope? Have we not learned from the walking disaster that has become Britney Spears?
When you’re dealing with people who are unfathomably famous at a young age, such as Ms. Cyrus and Ms. Spears, it’s easy to forget that at the end of the day, they are just people like you and I. How far can we expect to push these young stars before the backlash becomes bigger than the profits we make from them? Artistic or not, should posing topless in a bed sheet even be an option for a 15-year old girl? I’m not sure who is at fault here, if anyone, and I don’t really wish to speculate. All I know is that this girl should be allowed to act like a kid while she still is one, and I’m afraid the scandals are going to become all-too-prevalent for her to do so…as they usually do with these things.
Fortune Cookie:
Go pull out your favorite teen star’s album from back in the day and give it a spin. Remember what it’s like to be a kid, and encourage your kids to embrace that.
Listening to:
“Something to Look Forward To” – Spoon
