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March 20, 2008 • THE ARROW
17
ENTERTAINMENT
IsMileyCyrusGrowingUpTooFast?
CARINA WOLFF
FEATURE EDITOR
COURTESY PHOTOS
For Miley Cyrus, life is all about being that sweet, innocent girl on the Disney
Channel, a girl with a fan base of ages six
to 20 years old. Cyrus wants to present herself as role model for her young idolizing
fans, stating her close family, passion for
shopping, and her quest to stay young all
keep her grounded.
“That’s kind of the point of everything
that I do. I always try to bring in just being
a good role model and setting high standards for yourself,” Cyrus said to USA Today.
For many fans, however, the reality of
her supposed innocence seems a bit exaggerated.
“I think that she is, in a way, forced to
play the role of the ‘good girl’ because she
has millions of little girls who look at her
as a role model figure. I don’t think that it’s
fake but it is definitely forced,” said Taylor
Reiger ‘11.
Her good-girl image wavered in December of 2007 when some “scandalous”
photos were leaked onto the internet.
Cyrus’s pictures were not sexually explicit,
but they were not pictures parents would
find appropriate either.
According to a Cyrus fan site, Cyrus
feels that she “look[s] way young and
that’s the way that’s more comfortable for
her.”
Her image has slowly been transforming from a fresh, young teenager into a
fake, 15-year-old girl attempting to look
older, a change which has received criticism from those who love her best: her
young fans.
It is inevitable that these young girls
will make their fair share of mistakes; however, their fabricated public image sparks
disbelief in many.
“I hope she stays innocent, but I’m
starting to doubt it; when you see pictures
of her she’s always wearing kind of short
dresses and lots more makeup already, and
she’s barely 15,” said Shannon O’Connor
‘09.
Vanessa Anne Hudgens took it a step
further with the release of her nude photos, leading many parents to be concerned
about the High School Musical stars’ images. Like Cyrus, Hudgens hoped to portray
herself as kid-friendly, the epitome of teenage Disney stars.
According to Movie Tome, Hudgens
said, “So many people try to grow up too
fast, and it’s not fun! You should stay a kid
as long as possible!”
Controversy swelled over the picture
which was taken when she was 16, meant
for a boyfriend at the time.
The pressure will only remain for
stars like Cyrus whose fame is continuously growing. Their lack of innocence will increase with age and disappoint fans, who
have watched these girls since a young age
BEFORE AND AFTER: Cyrus pictured in 2007 (left), and then after her makeover in 2008.
and admired their “purity.”
With their minor blunders (promiscuous photos, extreme makeovers, false statements), younger starlets seem to receive
more attention for their mistakes than the
older, more corrupt celebrities. It all stems
from the teens trying to radiate an innocent
and sweet image. But probing media ventures and paparazzi reveal the star’s true
self, the side the public rarely sees.
Many former Disney stars have
strayed far from their good-girl image as
they grow older. But how much longer can
girls like Cyrus and Hudgens last?
“Even though they started out with
Disney, they will eventually grow up and
want to get away from that innocent Disney image,” said Katie Hokom ‘09. “I
mean, look at Lindsay Lohan and Britney
Spears. They both started their careers
with something Disney related and now
look at them.”
Tabloid Fame
TERI AKAHOSHI
STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
MISS BAD MEDIA KARMA: Fans, paparazzi, and police swarm Britney Spears at the height of her trouble.
Another Day, Another Drama for Britney
KAYLI MILETICH
FEATURE EDITOR
Two hundred ninety thousand. No,
that is not the number of times Britney
Spears has made the front covers of magazines this past year, although it may seem
like that to many people. That, in fact, is
the number of records her latest album,
Blackout, has sold to date.
Britney’s chart-topping album came
as a shock to many people, even her most
loyal fans. How did she manage to pull
off a successful 12-track album while the
media hovered over the troubled singer
waiting for her next mistake?
Well, the paparazzi is nothing new to
Spears. Ever since her first album, ...Baby
One More Time, her every move has been
under constant scrutiny from the media.
To recall a few of her most memorable
moments, there was the infamous Madonna kiss at the 2003 MTV Awards, her
less-than-55-hour marriage in Las Vegas
in 2005, and then her failed marriage to
Kevin Federline later in the year.
She then managed to top her previous stunts and continued taking heavy
criticism from the press, and also taking
heat for breaking the law. In this front page
mistake, while attempting to escape the
paparazzi, Britney drove away with her
young son, Sean Preston, on her lap.
After having another child with Kevin
Federline, she divorced her husband and
battled for child custody. It did not come as
a surprise when the split made headlines,
issue after issue.
Once the couple had finalized its
divorce, many more of Spears’s problems
appeared in the news. Fighting custody
battles, shaving off her full head of hair,
and attacking paparazzi with an umbrella
were only a few of her featured stories.
While the tabloids have always loved
to dwell on the pop star’s life, the rest of
Hollywood has recently spoken out about
the singer too.
“I think it’s so crazy and I think that
[Britney] needs help,” said teen-star Miley
Cyrus.
And who could forget the infamous
2007 Youtube video by Chris Crocker,
desperately begging users to leave Britney
Spears alone?
“She hasn’t performed on stage in
years. Her song is called “Gimme More”
for a reason—because all you people want
is more, more, more, more, more...leave
her alone,” said the Youtube star.
Now that Spears is experienced when
it comes to the media, why is it that she
can’t figure out how to stay out of the spotlight? And if she knows how to avoid the
paparazzi, is she just choosing not to?
Regardless of the reason she is always
in the press, it is time for the media to
rise above their Britney obsession. But
for those who crave watching the lives of
celebrities fall apart publicly, there is no
need to worry.
There are plenty of other young stars
bound to make the same mistakes Britney
has, and there will be no lack of media
frenzies in the near future.
America’s crazed addiction of today is
getting the latest gossip on Hollywood’s
finest: tabloids. The magazines that don’t
go by the book according to journalism,
and any news good or bad is publicity for
the stars. Yet, with drama on reality television, along with the personal conflicts
that fill up one’s own day; don’t we have
enough on our shoulders? Of course not,
as learned from the religiously watched
Gossip Girl, you do not matter unless you
are being talked about.
It must be funny for stars to see a front
cover of OK! magazine with a blurry snapshot of themselves; and the title screams
“Is She Preggers?” It is quite hilarious that
over-eating during dinner at the infamous
Geisha House could then translate into being two months pregnant.
Then there are those stalkers known as
the paparazzi that think it is not annoying
to follow these starlets all around town,
thinking they look inconspicuous while
nonchalantly hiding behind a tree to click
the perfect shot. Unfortunately for the
stars, the paparazzi never say cheese and
always happen to snatch the “in the moment” photograph of a celebrity picking
his or her nose. Yes, these are real people,
only they are blessed with better looks and
undeniable talent.
Although the tabloids seem cruel and
dishonest, the magazines seem to fly off the
racks due to the demand of the people who
want to live a second in the celebrity life.
Because of the money, the benefit parties,
and the lifestyle, these Hollywood stars
have become the trendsetters for those
who want to be them. No longer taking
fashion advice from top models who walk
down the catwalk, celebrities have become
the “fashionistas” and the Cover Girls.
As much as we love seeing a picture of
a celebrity walking down the street wearing no makeup, to justify their normalcy,
we get a rise of seeing these gods fall. Like
their breakdowns that end in taking a razor to a head of hair, along with the controversial mistakes of forgetting that driving
drunk is illegal.
Only when the stars’ nights out on the
town suddenly lack scandal, and the celebrity life all of a sudden becomes unappealing, then the tabloids will run out of steam.
Until then, in the world of Hollywood, any
publicity is good publicity.