When I first read an outrageous headline screaming something like “Miley Cyrus Bare in Vanity Fair” I felt shocked and disappointed. I wondered whether she was about to topple off her teen-pop-star-queen throne despite the fact that she seemed so centered (due in large part to her strong family support system).
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus
As I learned more about the photo shoot, it just didn’t seem like much of anything, other than yet another story in which a young girl is contemplating her future career path and wondering where to go with her enormously successful billion dollar business.
I mean, would I want my daughter to pose like that at fifteen? Of course not. But that’s not the point. It’s incomparable. Apples to oranges. Cyrus is huge. Mega gargantuan. Tickets for her concerts sold out in minutes. She’s a pop megastar. She travels in a different universe.
Besides, Cyrus admitted her mistake, quickly apologized and expressed regret about the controversial photo. Okay, fine. Let’s just forgive the girl and move on.
But…then I spoke with my kids about Miley’s photo.
They expressed outrage. Disappointment. Even disgust.
Darling Daughter: “Why would she do something like this? She’s fifteen! Fifteen! She shouldn’t have let them take that kind of picture of her.”
Dear Son: “First it was Britney Spears and then Jamie Lynn Spears and now this?!”
DD: “She’s huge! What does she want… more fans?!”
DS: “It’s disgusting.”
DD: “Yeah. It’s just wrong.”
DS: “What does she think all the little kids are going to think? Does she even care?”
Their theory was that maybe Miley wanted to change the balance of the whole “Best of Both Worlds” shtick. They believe that she does “way more” Hannah Montana (fun, simple, happy songs) and only a few Miley Cyrus (harder, rockier, racier songs).
“Maybe,” they pondered, “she wants to do more of the Miley. But she’s only fifteen. All those fans that love the Hannah Montana side are still there. And they’re really disappointed.”
I think they have a point. Fans often follow the fads and images presented by their idols. I remember Madonna way back in the 80s and the whole material girl trend. She influenced fashions while encouraging girls to express themselves.
Young girls dream about their idols and think things like, “I want to be just like her!” Most of Cyrus’s fans range from about six to thirteen. Would we want those young girls posing the way she posed? Again, no. Annie Leibovitz is not going to be taking any of their portraits.
The most disconcerting part of the photo shoot for me was that it did seem as if she wanted something more. As if she wanted to expand her fan base to reach older kids. But not yet, Miley, not yet. Ride this wave just a little longer. Please. Don’t rush it. Your childhood’s already been mangled. No need to try to leap frog over it altogether. There will plenty of time for reinvention. Look at Madonna.
The difference is that Madonna’s fans did not see her getting racy and over the top until she was well into her twenties. And most of her fans were around the same age (or at least in the same generation).
Miley’s fans are much younger than she is and, if she starts to drastically change her image, we don’t want them following in her footsteps. Miley has been the exception to the unfortunate rule of young pop stars like Britney, Lindsay and Jamie Lynn.
Miley was always the breath of fresh air. We need that air. Please learn from this mistake, Miley.
Written by SoapB
6 comments ↓
I couldn’t agree more. I will not be talking to my daughters about this (as they are younger and I don’t want to stir that pot just yet) but I am keeping an eye on the situation. She hopefully will stay true to her roots from here on out and chill on the stupid publicity stunts.
What bothers me the most is that her parents and “minders” (as they were called in some article I read) allowed this. The other thing that bothers me is that Miley herself said that she saw it as an innocent, artistic shot. If that’s the impression of acceptable innocence in her world, then we have a major problem. Madonna worked the system (and continues to). Miley is getting worked by the system. So sad.
I couldn’t agree more with what you’ve said here. I think she will learn a lot from this, but I hope her parents learn more from it. Any way you slice it, they are responsible.
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She is only 15… as popular as she is, she should be around for years to come. She has time to grow naturally from Hannah to Miley. What’s the hurry? Look what trying to jump line got for Britney, Jamie, the Olsens and the others.
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Hi. I found this through WW……..
I got the impression that she was in a hurry to look more mature, more glamorous, grown-up. I thought that the photo was a lovely photo and it must have been thrilling to work with such an established and famous photographer, but it reminded me of being that age and being in such a hurry to grow up. Sometimes I think that kids don’t get it, they don’t get what a wonderful thing it is to be a kid until they are adults looking back. By then, it’s too late. You can’t go back and do it again slowly.
I know that I would hate to live in that spotlight and I’d never want to put my kids through it.
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I was listening to a discussion about this on the radio and it stated that her favorite TV show was sex and the city. At 15 my mother would never would have let me watch SATC. I think a ton if not all is the parents responsibility to step in and say “no” that is not a look for my daughter.
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I could see doing something like that myself at that age- because I was way out of control. Now that I have kids & I am 100 x more strict then my two hippy parents- I would be really upset if my daughter wanted to get some sort of glamor shots like that at 15.
I don’t really know too much about Miley- but I find it creepy that her Dad was there. Why would you let your daughter pose like that. Nobody poses naked under a bed sheet unless it is about sex. It’s not really about being glamorous or looking more grown up, it’s about making a little girl look like a sex object. I really think there are some weirdo old guys looking at her now even more then they probably already were- thinking that little girl is hot and that is disgusting. Billy Ray should be ashamed of himself- why would he do something so stupid, just for publicity.
As far as her watching sex & the city. I don’t even watch sex & the city. I know I have a pretty off the wall sense of humor but really I enjoy my own little pg rated world.
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