Posted on 04/30/2008 4:13:14 AM PDT by fweingart
What is the leading breeding ground for tomorrow's role models of degradation and promiscuity? The Disney Channel. On Monday, news broke that Vanity Fair was planning on running "discreet" and "artistic" photos from a topless shoot with pre-teen and tween hero Miley Cyrus. The photos include a shot of Cyrus, barebacked, clutching a sheet to her bosom -- a shot no less pedophilic than the infamous Brooke Shields jeans ads of 1980.
Miley Cyrus is the most popular act in the country. Her 3-D concert film from her tour, "Best of Both Worlds," took in an astounding $31.3 million in its opening weekend. Her show, "Hannah Montana," is a megahit. In 2007, Cyrus reportedly earned $18.5 million.
Cyrus' fan base is largely young girls, who sell out her concerts, buy her clothing line, and sit rapt before their televisions. Now, they're being taught by a teen superstar, her father, and a willing media, that inappropriate behavior is no barrier to happiness or satisfaction.
As I wrote in my second book, "Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future," Cyrus is hardly the first pop tart to make the transition from clean-cut role model to promiscuous party girl. And the vast majority of such characters spring from the geniuses at Disney Channel. Britney "Disaster Area" Spears was a Mickey Mouse Club girl before she morphed into the paradigm of personal pandemonium. So was Spears' former boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, the man who would later be responsible for the term "wardrobe malfunction." So was Christina "Xtina" Aguilera, who sang the theme song for "Mulan" before deciding to get "Dirrty." Lindsay Lohan was wholesome twins Hallie and Annie in "The Parent Trap" before she decided to reveal her twins in the name of art. Hilary Duff was the star of "Lizzie McGuire" before, at age 16, she began dating rocker Joel Madden, age 24; she shortly thereafter denied that she had claimed that she was a virgin, stating, "Whose business is that?"
These are clearly young women without a moral foundation -- and without responsible parents. The creepiest photo from the Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair shoot wasn't her bed sheet pose -- it was a shot of her, midriff bare, leaning lazily back on her dad, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy Ray sure ain't Ward Cleaver.
These pop tarts would also seem to be without direction, celebrities-too-young overwhelmed by the glamour and fame of stardom. In reality, however, promiscuous behavior and provocative poses are calculated career moves for teen stars seeking to break into out of the 10-16 age group and into the mainstream entertainment business.
When Aguilera decided to pose for the cover of her album "Stripped," wearing nothing from the waist up, she explained, "I guess I've grown up in a lot of ways." When Spears posed for Rolling Stone in her nighties at age 17, she stated, "it was Rolling Stone and it has an adult audience. The photographer explained to me what he wanted to do and I was cool about it." When Lindsay Lohan turned 18, she, too, posed for the cover of Rolling Stone. The headline read: "Hot, Ready and Legal!" Rolling Stone observed, "There comes a time in the life of every teenage girl who works for the Disney Corp. when that girl realizes she has suddenly -- how shall we phrase this? -- 'broadened her appeal.'"
Miley Cyrus, then, is following a long line of similarly minded Disney stars in her salacious strategy. Not surprisingly, Vanity Fair observed of her photo shoot that "though the pose was Annie Leibovitz's idea, the topless but demure portrait accompanying this article could be seen as another baby step, as it were, toward a more mature profile."
Here's the big question: does Miley Cyrus really need to descend to the gutter to raise her profile? She's immensely successful, and she can remain immensely successful by continuing to appeal to younger audiences.
Yet, in all likelihood, she will follow the path paved by the Spears/Aguilera/Lohan/Duff brigade. She will do so because Hollywood and the mainstream media propagate the idea that R-rated material sells better than G-rated material, and that mature entertainment must involve sex. To be taken seriously as artists, Disney Channel queens must become Independent Film Channel queens -- or at the very least, Rolling Stone icons.
In the end, no matter how "legitimate" an artist Miley Cyrus becomes, she will never be able to regain her innocence. Neither will the legions of young girls who admiringly follow her example.
“Annie Leibovitz should be arrested for child pornography and Miley’s parents should be arrested as well for child endagerment.”
And you claim to be conservative? I’m glad I don’t live in your Germany circa 1936 world.
I think this is a case of the photographer having a great deal of prestige as an "artist" along with far more experience than the father in situations where he is talking models out of their clothes. "Let's just try this and if you don't like it I'll delete the picture." "Oh, this looks wonderful, you look so beautiful." Between the photographer's sales pitch and the father's knowledge of the context, he could easily have missed the fact that the pictures would look less classy out of context.
The trick is not to get into those situations, but an actress who needs regular photo shoots to keep her name recognition up and maintain her career is in a different situation than most kids, just as her father is in a different situation than most parents. Since her father has decided to allow an entertainment career, he needs to take her through these events. I think he really did make a careless error based on seeing the pictures in context. It wouldn't surprise me if he learns from this and doesn't make another mistake like that.
A final comment: I found the picture tacky but nowhere near pornographic. I wouldn't let my daughter pose like that, but I consider the pictures harmless or even a positive. Miss Cyrus may learn from this and follow a better path than most starlets, where an older girl might like receiving attention of a different type and consider it positive.
People who are offended at this are the people who trusted Hannah Montana to be a positive role model for the young daughters, and thought they could count on the Disney Corporation to not abuse and cash in on that trust.
Such people are, obviously, fools. Of course the Disney Corporation is going to betray them. It is like the Scorpion and the Frog. It is what they are.
“As for me, I have no interest in Miley Cyrus, clothed or not. She’s just a kid as far as I am concerned. What I am interested in is the media furor that surrounds celebrities in our society. The fact that this story is front page news is troubling. Why so much attention to this seemingly unimportant incident?”
Good post. My answer to this is the media is taking a bit of joy in watching her go down. They don’t care for her fan-base or her “achey-breaky” dad. This crack in her squeaky clean image is like the weak spot in a dam that water rushes to exploit.
And then you have the Dixie Chicks. Country Music, with its broader appeal, is going to have a lot of 'crossover' artists that don't share the basic values of the industry core.
Billy Ray Cyrus does not strike me as being very bright. The idea that he is somehow steering his daughters career is frightening. While he may have done a reasonable job with his daughter to this point, a trainwreck is inevitable.
I don’t agree with the poster, but erotic does not have to be distasteful or obscene.
“Hannah Montana Does Playboy”
Talk about hyperbole
That’s his concept of “Playboy”? He must be the one writing the legislation to get rid of “adult magazines” at military bases.
I didn’t trust the Disney Corporation to do anything.
My daughter’s know that Vanessa Hughes from High School Musical had topless photos. They know it was wrong. Are we going to stop listening to the music? No. Our kids, with all God’s Grace, grow up with our core values that we have instilled in them.
I grew up in the Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll era, yet have only ever, and I mean ever had relations with my hubby. Kids get what we tell them. MOST kids grow up just fine. Have a good strong relationship, be their guide and not their pal and when they give you grandchildren, you can laugh at the troubles they have!
Heaven help your daughters if you have any. I do and you can stick your post where the sun doesn’t shine.
Daughter’s = daughters.
The media hates innocence in any form. Especially young female innocence.
I agree. I saw the photo on another post. Doesn’t look erotic to me. Bare back of a teenager, big deal.
But is it age-appropriate for a 15-year-old?
Country singers are no less egocentric than other entertainers. They can get caught up in the fame and glory and money just like the rest.
I find pictures that eroticize a fifteen-year-old extremely distasteful. The "just bedded" look in those pictures I find obscene. If she were in her twenties, it might be slightly more acceptable -- but not on a magazine cover.
The fact that she's "showing less skin than she would in a bathing suit" just tells me that there are too many slutty bathing suits for little girls out there.
You, I and, I would dare say, all who use this website, feel the same way. However, there are countless others who get their jollies from kiddie porn.
This particular incident may seem unimportant to you, but the Mouse Network has become a poor baby sitter for lazy parents. The children idolize those appearing on the programs.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. [ie, Rev Wright's Liberation Theology and Black Liberation Theology --the first is class-based Marxism, the other race-based. source ]
Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
>> but the Mouse Network has become a poor baby sitter for lazy parents<<
Yes, for lazy parents.
But also I can tell you that they put out some really fun and funny shows. If you have ever watched “The Suite Life of Zac and Cody.” and didn’t laugh, your funny bone is off. Not like we can turn on the alphabet networks. All I see when we watch AFV is commercials for “Desperate Housewives” and ED. Disney works for us.
This is where the “lazy” comes in. My kids watch the show with me. They watch High School Musical with me. We watch Flight 29 Down and Endurance together (Discovery Kids). Now I may be sitting on the computer, but I’m 10 feet from them. I watch what they watch. They don’t go on the computer without me and have no tv in their bedrooms.
There is a lot of bad out there. It takes Mom and Dad to monitor and discuss.
Miley puts out nudes? We are going to talk about it.
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