Miley, Jamie Lynn, and Gandalf
The destruction of the American child apparently continued this week with Miley Cyrus's Vanity Fair photo shoot, an admittedly strange portfolio from Photographer to the Stars Annie Leibowitz that shows the erstwhile "Hannah Montana" with a bare back, covered only in a bed sheet. Oh, the outrage. You mean to say an underage starlet from the Disney stable has been made to look sexy? My word, this has never happened before! (Oh, wait; let us not forget 17-year-old Britney Spears in the "Baby One More Time" video, and its ensuing Rolling Stone spread. You know, the one that had everyone saying little Britney already had breast implants.)
No one was upset about Miley's bare
back in this photo.
Associated Press, 12/12/07
Another Spears from the Nickelodeon gallery of stars just went through this kind of public scrutiny. 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, star of kid favorite "Zoey 101," famously revealed late last year that she was pregnant by her longtime boyfriend. After the initial prurient interest, the story across all forms of media became a twisted version on the consumer watchdog report: How are parents supposed to break it to their children that "Zoey" is pregnant in real life?
I answer with another question. Why do the kids have to know?
One has to wonder if some in the mass media (particularly the 24-hour news networks) are arrogant enough to assume that even children are watching their every move. I think it's reasonable to say that many kids -- particularly the sort of kids who turn to Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel for entertainment -- could have avoided or been kept from both of these stories. If little Timmy and Jenny don't know that Miley Cyrus appeared in some racy photos in Vanity Fair, why should they?
I invoke the name of the White Wizard in my blog title today because of an AP report telling us Ian McKellen will be reprising his Oscar-nominated role as Gandalf in "The Hobbit" and its as-yet-unnamed sequel, which "Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo Del Toro will begin shooting this summer. Gandalf is a beloved character in "The Lord of the Rings" that many American children have been raised on, first through J.R.R. Tolkien's books and now in Peter Jackson's and Del Toro's films; he is an icon that transcends generations and media. But no one ever did a story on how parents are supposed to break it to their children that Gandalf is (GASP!) gay. McKellen has for decades been an openly gay activist -- and has also said plenty of nasty things about our government -- but no one is interested in "protecting" children from him. (And I'm certainly not saying they should want to protect their children from someone just because he or she is homosexual.)
Shockingly, Gandalf's drug abuse went
unmentioned, too! / New Line Cinema
This is either progress -- which is what I'd like to think it is -- or it's that old sexual double standard that women and girls have seemingly been living under forever.
None of this really matters to me. When I was a young Padawan, I knew who Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill were, but I had no idea what they were like in real life. And I didn't care. Perhaps the question, which I pose to you, is this: Are these stars "ruining" our innocence, or is the consumer celebrity culture (24-hour news, hundreds of cable channels, Internet gossip sites, insane Paparazzi) doing it for them?
I'd love to hear from younger parents; I'm 29 and childless, so maybe this all sounds awfully naive. Have you had "the talk" with your kids about Miley, Jamie Lynn, or anyone else?
Sean, you are right. If the media would start doing their jobs and reporting actual news instead of just fixating on pop culture scandals to make a quick buck, there would be no reason for little kids to ever find out about any of this Miley or Jamie-Lynn hullabaloo. I went through my entire childhood loving David Bowie in Labyrinth without ever hearing about his ambiguous sexuality (although his costume in the movie should have been my first clue) or his drug use.
Also, just because kids love Miley Cyrus, does that mean that she is their role model? Sure, they might buy her merchandise, but I think it is pretty sad that people think she has more influence over a young girl than that girl's mother, family members, or teachers. I think kids are smarter than people give them credit for. Just because Jamie-Lynn got pregnant does not mean that young girls will think that getting pregnant at 16 is a great idea. If parents aren't involved in their kids' lives enough to have more influence than Miley Cyrus, then I think their kids are going to be in trouble no matter what Miley does.
One last note: Okay, lots of people screw up and get pregnant at 16. But that Miley Cyrus thing was totally a publicity stunt. I don't care how famous or aggressive Annie Liebowitz is. A 15 year old and the guardian who had to have been at the photo shoot with her should have the ability to say no to posing like that. Besides, in the little bit of Hannah Montana concert footage I have seen, they are already putting clothes and make-up on little Miley that I wouldn't let a 15 year old wear if she were my daughter.
Hannah Montana is Miley's "alter ego." She's plain-Jane high school "Miley" by day, and Hannah Montana by night. The majority of the show is about "Miley." So there's real-life Miley, TV Miley, and Hannah. (Don't ask me why I know this, y'all.....)
...isn't the "role model" for the girls the Hannah Montana character, and not Miley Cyrus?
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I think the main distinction here is that Ian McKellen isn't a young girl that even younger girls want to be when they grow up. Also, the character of Gandalf is very far removed from Ian McKellen's actual identity. But with Miley Cyrus, if the girls are young enough, they think that Miley the real person, "Miley" the TV character, and Hannah Montana are all the same. If Miley is posing nude, then Hannah is also posing nude.
Another distinction is that Ian McKellen doesn't aim to be a "role model" for young people. He is simply an actor doing his job, and his personal life has nothing to do with it. For a Disney star, "role model" is kind of part of the job description, even if they don't want it to be, and Miley has even been quoted as aspiring to be a "good girl."