Image of Miley Cyrus's controversial Teen Choice Awards performance courtesy of Stylefrizz.com
I get a kick out of my younger cousin. She’s got a sassy, spitfire attitude and a flair for the dramatic. She’s confessed to me before that she’s going to be a star. Her favorite performers are the Jonas Brothers, the High School Musical crew and, of course, Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus. Today however, young Disney stars like Vanessa Hudgens and Cyrus seem to have grown up so fast and left their young fans in the dust. The “Disney machine” has created some tween sensations who may not be the best influences on the young audiences they were initially molded for.
I don’t have a problem with young stars in general. I, like my cousin, was a Disney buff growing up. Back in my day, the tween sensation was Hilary Duff and her show, Lizzie McGuire, was one of my favorites. A group of my friends and I even asked our parents to exempt us to leave school early one day so we could go see her movie.
Now the similarities between the beginning careers of Hilary Duff and Miley Cyrus may seem close. But I don’t remember Hilary Duff posting risqué pictures of herself online, posing nearly nude for Vanity Fair, shacking up with older boyfriends and grinding on a pole at the Teen Choice Awards. If you hadn’t guessed, these are all things Cyrus has done within the past few years while still starring on her Disney show. Even Hudgens, Zac Efron’s on-screen and real-life girlfriend, has had pictures of her posing naked leaked to the press — twice!
I always worry that young girls, like my cousin, are seeing the not-so-great aspects of these girls who live in what I would dub a fantasy-land (Hollywood isn’t exactly the real world). Young girls seem to be more advanced than I was at their age. For example, I wasn’t allowed to have a real boyfriend until I was in high school.
In a 2007 article in Newsweek, a first-grade teacher who was interviewed said she notices a difference in her students citing, “girls using words like ‘sexy,’ singing pop songs with suggestive lyrics and flirting with boys.” In an age where kids spend a large amount of their time with some form of media, it’s not hard to see why they may begin to be influenced by what they see.
However strong the media and celebrity influence may be though, it seems parents can counteract these and are doing so in response to the heightened influence of pop culture. Family members, teachers and good friends have a more immediate impact on kids than, say, Cyrus and her pole-dancing ways. If these people instill a foundation of values for kids, they’re likely to follow them.
This may be true, even for the Disney-loving set. Surprisingly, Cyrus was rated as the Worst Celebrity Influence of 2009 by tweens and teens on an online poll. It seems that our nation’s Disney kids prefer Hannah Montana to sexy Cyrus.