I don't know much about Miley Cyrus beyond the usual stuff on television, the horror of Hannah Montana, and the fact that unlike most pop stars, Miley can sing with the voice of a fifty year old two pack a day smoker. She's quite good, quite country in this way. So all the brouhaha over the upshot revealing underwear or not and her newly sexualized image seems interesting as a cultural discussion. God knows when I was in high school lamenting the horror of Billy Ray Cyrus singing "My Achey Breaky Heart," I never imagined he would continue to spawn until he managed to have a kid who could support him. I never thought he would be linked with the words "cultural discussion." The man who popularized the Kentucky Waterfall is now posing with his daughter in creepy Vanity Fair pictures (I don't say that in a bad way -- I like creepy) and now has us asking the question -- is Miley acting appropriately?
Who knows? Given her bizarre child star life, it's hard to gauge what might be a good course of action. Do we need seventeen year olds writhing around in cages and black leotards? Dear Lord, I thought this was tired when I did it. And maybe that's where I come down on the whole debate. I'm all for costumes and artistry and being yourself. I'm all for the right of girls and women to own their sexuality. But how about becoming an adult by making an album to which adults might want to listen? Miley's current incarnation seems a waste. She doesn't seem to be pushing the proverbial envelope in any interesting ways. She could, however, make a decent album. Hannah Montana is all about persona, about shifting from one person to another. Perhaps she could start there.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"I think if humans had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year." Douglas Coupland
Cocktail Hour
Music suggestion: Recovery Eminem
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Tuesday!
8 comments:
Interesting observation.
Personally, I think she's more in line with certain other child/teenage/twenty something stars who really wanted to drop their squeaky clean image in the worst way possible (Jessica Beil and Lisa Bonet come to mind).
Eventually, she'll grow up (we hope) and do something more constructive with life than being a pop tart for Perez Hilton.
Far more frightening for me is the effect she has on pre-teens... My 8 yr-old daughter's room is covered in HM posters. Her backpack, shampoo bottle, hairbrush and toothpaste all bear the image. I'm hoping that my little girl won't follow Myley's metamorphosis and will move onto Glee or something more age-appropriate. ;-)
I don't think I've ever actually ever heard her sing. If her voice is like that though it might be interesting. I'm afraid the 17 year olds in cages and leotards are going to be with us a long time yet. You'd think that cutting edge would be dulled by now.
We demand cultural, social and political freedom and recoil in horror when we get it...
now i know more about cyrus than i wanted to... thx :P lol
Hi Babes, I would only have to wonder what on earth I would have done to have that talent, beauty, and familial support at that age. I fear my outfits would be awful, too. It is a shame, tho...xoxo
Excellent observations on the poor Cyrus creature. I had HORRIBLE taste at 17--How sad that she will have hundreds of thousands of photos to document her teenage missteps.
One the other hand, didn't girls used to get married and have children around the age of 15 or 16? As our lifespans have lengthened, we've expanded childhood with it. But it's not the fault of our kids, who are as much creatures of biology as they are culture. I say she should get to be however in the heck she wants, as long as no one is manipulating or forcing her into doing it. She'll grow up eventually. Let's hope she takes the LeAnn Rimes route (minus the husband stealing, of course), rather than La Lohan's Luge to Hell.
Simply another Disney creation thrust upon the world in a whole long line of young girls thrusted into the limelight because there's mucho dinero in them that hills.
The problem with Miley Cyrus and the rest of them, though talented in a way, is that a corporation in a boardroom decided which young girl would become a millionaire by the time she was 12.
If Janis Joplin came along today I doubt she would get a contract.
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