Risque business for Miley Cyrus?
Parents of “’tweens” and younger children have probably heard by now about the controversial photos of Miley Cyrus that will appear in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair magazine. To some, the photos by Annie Leibovitz are suggestive and inappropriate for the 15-year-old star of the Disney sitcom “Hannah Montana” and the clean image that Cyrus projects to her fans. Others, who think the photos are artistic and classical, wonder what all the fuss is about.
In any case, she (but especially her parents) should have known that provocative photos of a 15-year-old girl, even if innocent, would take on a life of their own among her young fans and the parents who are trying to protect them from the smuttiness of today’s world.
I don’t know what Cyrus hoped to accomplish with those photos — a more grown-up image, perhaps? — or if she was just having fun with a renowned photographer and in awe of the spectacle of being Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus and the doors that the character has opened for her.
As parents, we try to stay on guard to make sure good judgment prevails when it comes to our children, long before people are saying, “well, hindsight is 20/20, but … ”
It doesn’t always happen like that, and it seems that for the Cyrus family, in this case, hindsight kicked in too late. But it’s a good time to use the flak over the photos as an opportunity to learn, to mature, to start a conversation — in her family and in our families as well.
Here are two thoughtful stories about the controversy. One, posted here, comes from pluggedinonline, a cultural and entertainment magazine from the Christian organization Focus on the Family. The other, posted here, comes from the online magazine slate.com, where writer Meghan O’Rourke takes more issue with the show “Hannah Montana” itself than the Vanity Fair photos of Cyrus.
“The parental celebration of Hannah Montana’s ‘clean’ values misses the point. The show may not show much skin or make explicit sexual jokes, but it is lousy with a wised-up materialism,” O’Rourke writes.
She also said, “The issue here isn’t the relative appropriateness of a 15-year-old being photographed draped in bedsheets but the degree to which Cyrus’ parents and Disney have consigned Cyrus to the excruciating demands of being a thoroughly ‘packaged’ ‘tween star.”
Pluggedinonline sees the controversy as a way for parents to talk to their children about values — of modesty, one’s reputation, consequences of actions and today’s obsession with entertainment. The story gives parents a few Bible verses to refer to as well.
“Miley’s Mickey Mouse halo of wholesomeness has no doubt been tarnished. Is it a sign of things to come? Time will tell,” writes Adam R. Holz in the magazine. “Is it a painful reminder of how human we all are? Certainly. It may also be just the jolt we need to make us think about how easily we, too, are swept into the all-consuming, ever-present fantasy world that our entertainment culture ceaselessly promotes.”
What do you think? About the photos? About the show “Hannah Montana” itself? Will you continue to let your children watch it? Why or why not? Do you think this is a chance for a conversation between parents themselves and parents and their children? The problem for Cyrus is that any time she stumbles, as most teen-agers do while they learn to grow up, millions of people are watching her and analyzing every misstep. I don’t think I can truly relate to that kind of pressure.
Some people are comparing Miley Cyrus with child stars Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan who, like Cyrus, were millionaires at a young age. Spears and Lohan have made destructive personal choices that are derailing their careers and could destroy their lives. A few photos in a magazine do not set Cyrus down that path, but these photos give parents a good chance to talk about choices and how they have consequences, good and bad, even for a 15-year-old megastar.
~Lillie-Beth
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Comments
i think everybody has a right to their opinions and if you were to ask for mine i would say that this whole thing was made into something when it was really nothing. im only 14 and even i know that the people that were in charge of that photo shoot manipulated Miley. my best friend who is also 15 loves her and she was shocked but she didnt get out of line and call miley a slut so therefore everyone else should just LEAVE MILEY ALONE!
My 13-year-old daughter likes Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. She saw two of the photos when they were shown on NBC’s Today Show the other day.
She didn’t think anything about them, good or bad. I don’t know if they were extreme enough to register on her “smut” radar.
She has one, trust me.
She was shocked when “Zoe 101″ star Jamie Lynn Spears announced she was pregnant at 16.
I thought the much talked about photos (that I saw on the Today Show) were different, but I didn’t necessarily think they warranted the outcry.
Hannah/Miley has learned now that her every move is fodder for the gossip/rumor mill.