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Rock 'n Role-model
01/05/2008 10:01 - (SA)
Johannesburg - America's a funny old place. Its citizens are determined to cling to an ideal that doesn't exist.
Take the recent thunderstorm in an espresso cup over the "shocking" pictures of Miley Cyrus.
Miley, daughter of country singer, Billy Ray Cyrus, and star of her own Disney TV show, Hannah Montana, in which she plays an ordinary schoolgirl with a rock star alter ego, has come under fire for two sets of photos which were published within weeks of each other.
The first photos were published on the internet, and showed the young starlet pulling her vest down to reveal a bit of lime-green bra. In another photo, she is draped across the lap of a boy of similar age.
The second lot were taken by Annie Leibovitz and published in Vanity Fair. On the magazine cover, Miley looks over her naked shoulder at the camera, while clutching a piece of fabric to cover her chest.
Churchgoers
Miley and the entire Cyrus clan are churchgoers, which initially set the girl up as a "role model" and then made her the target of intense criticism the moment she stepped a foot out of line.
She has apologised and expressed embarrassment for both sets of photos. Given the playful sensuality she projects when pouting for the internet photos or the contrived poise of those in Vanity Fair, this apology is likely the result of pressure from Disney, for whom she purportedly earns a billion dollars a year. What Miley actually thinks and feels remains a tightly wrapped publicity secret for the time being.
But, the girl is 15 years old. She's in a television show in which she has a secret identity as a rock star. Wholesome though she might be, a generation of American kids aren't attracted to the Christian values she's projecting. They love her because she's famous, because she's sexy and because, let's face it, no one ever pretended that rock stars are in bed by nine nibbling cookies and sipping milk.
The journey to womanhood
The girl has shown a hint of the adult sensuality that lurks beneath the surface. She's not 12, she's 15. She's already more than half woman. My 11-year-old niece has already performed for her family in a Sunday lunch "fashion show" that involved strutting around in a swimsuit and borrowed heels and glancing coquettishly over her shoulder at us.
To pretend that a 15-year-old girl hasn't allowed the thought of her own sexuality to enter her head, regardless of her religious affiliation is silly. Miley is adored by fans throughout America, she goes to award shows dressed in sexy outfits, she gets plastered on the covers of magazines, not in ruffles and ribbons, but dressed like an adult icon.
Somewhere in the last couple of years, she went from apple-cheeked youngster to a sensual young woman, and the attempts made to suppress her journeys of self discovery, or to have her apologise for a photo shoot where she surely wasn't the only responsible person in the room, will only cause conflict for her as she grows up.
Train wreck at the end of a tunnel
People are saying she's the new Britney Spears, and that this is the first indication of the downward spiral that will inevitably take place. There seems to be a dual-edged criticism - one is that fame corrupts (no kidding), the other is that Miley herself has been a very bad girl and must make reparation.
If it's the fame that causes the trouble, surely Disney, and not Miley, should be apologising. There is danger in promoting a child to such heights of stardom.
Firstly, a child can't be expected to cope with the demands of fame and wealth - child stars end up richer than their parents, which must make for a strange kind of power struggle around docking pocket money for bad behaviour.
Secondly, most people get a little out of hand when they're teenagers. But they don't have millions to blow on illicit alcohol, and they certainly don't have a swarm of paparazzi following them wherever they go, catching them experiencing their first kiss, their first drunken stumble or their first all-night party.
When I was sixteen, if the paparazzi had been following me around Johannesburg, they would have had some pretty incriminating photos to sell to the tabloids. But I had my fun, and I made it to adulthood.
"Yes," the American Christian mothers say. "But Miley is a role model! Young girls look up to her!"
For goodness' sake, Miley is a young girl herself. Teenage years are stressful enough without the added pressure and associated guilt of having to take responsibility for the behaviour of millions of American girls as well as her own.
Yes, Britney Spears is a train wreck, and it's entirely possible that Miley Cyrus will end up as one too, but a public outcry and letters of disappointment when she behaves like a normal teenager (who appears on the cover of Vanity Fair) are far more likely to tip her over the edge than if a bit of support and encouragement were provided as she finds her way to womanhood.
Georgina Guedes is a freelance journalist. She thinks the Americans should be more concerned with the morals of their president than a fifteen-year old girl.
Send your comments to Georgina.
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