Provocative Portraits

I’m not sure how up on pop culture the majority of you out there are, but over the last few days, Disney’s media darling Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) has been treated as the new coming of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. All (mostly) due to the fact that there are studio portraits of her taken in a variety of supposed provocative situations for Vanity Fair by a reputable photographer. Now, her family was at the shoot and everyone approved of the content and the artistic nature of them. However, there has been quite a bit of an outcry on the internet and the entertainment media that a girl from Disney’s stable of wholesome entertainment who is 15 right now, should not have posed for these photos. You can readily find them on the internet if you are interested.

While I agree that there are limits to what should be done to promote underage celebrities, this particular instance was not past any theoretical limits. If you see the photos, you can easily see they are from an artistic photo shoot and they do not place Miley in any provocative, sexual poses. Yes, she is baring more skin than a fully covered person, but is it indecent for teenagers to wear swimsuits or tank tops, or short shorts? I guess Miley isn’t allowed to go to her local swimming pool in a 2 piece bikini because she might have someone from the paparazzi photograph her in some skin revealing suit posed in some random provocative contortion of her body because they take hundreds of photos trying to get that one money shot. I just don’t get it. Are we really trying to protect our underage celebrities or are we more worried about getting our names in the media because we want to jump on a bandwagon of cutting edge “supposed” issues?

Sure, there are some young celebrities who have been taken advantage of – see Britney and Lindsay – but they had many issues driving their wrong turns. They had management pushing them in those directions, they had parents who weren’t there to direct them the right way, and they succumbed to the media darling spotlight and fell into the “fun” crowd of Hollywood usually reserved for much older, although similarly stupid, celebrities. Now, if you noticed, I did say mostly in a statement in the first paragraph. The following is what I believe is the root of the entire hassle. There were leaked photos of her on the internet showing her revealing a portion of her bra and showing her bare stomach while with a guy friend (who was fully clothed). While they may not be appropriate pictures and I’m sure you would object if it were your daughter, they are not in the sense of provocative the media would be having you believe. It’s not like it’s a Paris Hilton video or snapshots of Britney naked in a store, or Lindsay doing full nudity photos for magazines.

Yes, she owes her success to Disney and thus she must adhere to their standard of wholesomeness, I definitely agree with that. But, with the way the media is portraying her as the second coming of other media darlings is way off base. They should be warning her, guiding her, and helping to direct her while she is young and highly marketable, along with a very impressionable mind. The media jumps on every chance for something racy, something juicy, or something that can be deemed outrageous. That’s how they sell advertising, their magazines, and their television shows. Remember when E! was the only entertainment show on television? How many are there now? It seems like there is a 24 hour flow of nothing but media/Hollywood gossip news. They prey upon the younger stars because they are the easiest and most profitable targets for them. Everyone wants to hear to latest gossip or rumor because hey, let’s face it, most people relish the idea that bad things happen to people with money.

People like the feeling that stars have issues to deal with too. We deal with money issues, they deal with personal issues. However, their personal issues are spread across the front pages of magazines and talked about for weeks on television. Do any of their problems make any difference in our lives and why should we care? Nope, none at all and no, we shouldn’t care. Its entertainment in the simplest form and it’s detrimental to the younger stars because they don’t have the needed maturity to deal with public outcry. Usually, their parents aren’t ready for such stardom either. Going from nothing to major star brings with it a lot of pressure. Parents along with their children must adjust to new lifestyles because their life has become Hollywood’s life. They have no privacy, they have no alone time, and they watch their lives unfold in a magazine or on television, most of which contains just lies to promote sales.

So while I do agree that Miley, at age 15, should have better control of certain things, there are certain instances where nothing she, or any young celebrity, can do. The paparazzi live for damaging celebrities, that’s their meal ticket. Remember, even people you know can be vindictive and succumb to greed. Friends with photos, recordings, etc can’t even be trusted because there is a market for their revealing insights into their friend’s life. I guess in the end, it’s the price you pay for fame. Famous implies lack of privacy for the most part in our world. Some stars have been able to create a personal life out of reach of Hollywood and they should be counseling their younger stars to better help them as they grow up both personally, and socially. These entertainers/celebrities should take it upon themselves to create a system to help the young newcomers. Who better to teach, than someone who lived it?