Should 'Hannah Montana' Be Sexy?Critics

Blame Parents, Media for Sexualization of Young Girls
By Susan James

April 29, 2008

Just when cynics sniggered when a clean-cut 15-year-old announced that she's writing a memoir, Miley Cyrus finally appears to have some juicy material, appearing semi-nude in an issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The child actress who plays wholesome "Hannah Montana" may be transitioning to femme fatale, say image experts � a challenge for the Disney brand that is worth multi-millions.

The photo in question, taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, shows Cyrus posed in profile clutching a blanket to her chest with her back bare � one of several shots of the teenager scheduled to appear in the magazine's June issue.

It was a bold, if not altogether original, move for the teen icon, and one that she appears to be regretting since the news broke. Cyrus and her parents, who were reportedly on site for the photo shoot, say the image was a result of their naivet�.

With millions of dollars tied to her thus far squeaky clean image, the family is backtracking and Cyrus has already publicly apologized for the spread, which has not even hit newsstands yet.

"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic,' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," Miley, the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, told the press this week. "I never intended for any of this to happen, and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."

But some observers believe the foray into more revealing territory may have been a marketing move gone wrong.

More stories at: ABC News

Is 'Hannah Montana' Going Down for the Count?

Monday, May 12, 2008

Miley Vanity FairOn the heels of the recent fuss brought about by the surfacing of various provocative images of Miley Cyrus on the internet and on the cover of Vanity Fair, the buzz is that the pictures may have led to the decline in audience numbers for Hannah Montana. According to the Nielsen ratings, the teen show has experienced a 14% drop in viewers since the Vanity Fair photos, taken be famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz, came out. Despite the slide, Disney's president and chief executive officer has assured that the Hannah Montana franchise is just as solid as ever. read more...

Miley Covers Up As 'Hannah Montana' Ratings Drop


By Chris Georg
20:01, May 8th 2008
Miley Covers Up As 'Hannah Montana' Ratings Drop

Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus insists that she is nothing like the girl portrayed in the controversial Vanity Fair magazine pictures, and she makes more "modest" fashion choices in real life.

"All the clothes -- all the short skirts and all that stuff -- my mom would never in a million years let me leave the house like that. So I think that a really cool thing that everyone's doing now is layering, just to keep yourself modest and cute," the 15-year-old said.

"My aunt got me a shirt that says, 'Modest is Hottest,' which is totally true," she added. read more..

Is She the Next Miley?

Monday, May 12, 2008

Warning: Your daughter's next obsession.

Selena Gomez, the star of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, is quickly gaining steam in the tween market. Ironically, the actress played Miley's pop rival on Hannah Montana. The similarities don't stop there. Gomez makes YouTube videos with her best friend and co-star from her Barney & Friends days, Demi Lovato. Miley has made a mark with YouTube videos with HER bff and backup dancer, Mandy Jiroux.

And Gomez has recorded three songs for Walt Disney Records, the same company that released Cyrus' first album. We'll be on the lookout to see how Selena fares. But for now, here's a free piece of momlogic, Selena: Stay away from Annie Leibovitz! read more..

Z&C join Cory ('in the House') and Hannah Montana's Miley for...

Imagine the same shooting star soaring over Miley, Cory, Zack and Cody. What do you think they would wish for? Wishes can be powerful, wishes can be useful, but even the best wish can go amiss. Hannah, Cory, Zack and Cody all wish their lives could be different, but no one thinks about the consequences when a shooting star lights up the night sky.

Reasons to hate Hannah Montana
From
It's small wonder that children don't know how to behave when they take their lead from us

By Mick Hume

This week's big moral question is apparently: �Should a 15-year-old TV actress show her bare back and shoulders in a grown-up magazine?� I have another one: can't we be adults about this?

Miley Cyrus is the teen star of the Disney TV �smash� Hannah Montana, in which schoolgirl Miley leads a secret double life as pop star Hannah. Her budding stardom (Miley's, not Hannah's) is now threatened by a backlash after Vanity Fair published a half-naked photo of her wrapped in a sheet, looking coquettishly over her shoulder with bedroom hair and bright-red lips.

Miley Cyrus (left) and Shanica Knowles Photo by: Fitzroy Barrett / Landov; Gregg DeGuire / WireImage
Let me declare an interest. �As a parent� I hate Hannah Montana, one of the sickeningly saccharine high school TV shows our young daughters love. It is all teeth and false tans and homespun moral philosophy dispensed by Miley's real and TV father, Billy Ray Cyrus of the deeply meaningful Achy Breaky Heart. I might cheer reports that Disney now plan to drop Hannah, but another one will take her place.

But there is more at stake here than trashy teen TV, or discovering �where Hannah ends and Miley begins�. The furore suggests we are all confused about where childhood ends and adulthood begins. With frequent rows about the alleged sexualisation of children, nobody seems sure where to draw the line any more. An apologetic Cyrus says she thought Annie Leibovitz's pictures would be �artsy not skanky�. But who knows where the art/skank divide might be when such a goody-goody popster as Miley goes on stage dressed like a �saucy� St Trinian's girl?

The problem lies not with children, but adults who have lost a clear sense of what it means to be a grown-up in a world of kidults, adultescents, mummy's boys and big babies. I thought the most �revealing� Vanity Fair picture was the creepy one of her on her 46-year old father's lap. Never mind the bedsheet, look at him preening in his long greased hair, sleeveless vest and tattoos. As Howard Stern says: �It looks like his daughter is his girlfriend. He's trying to be hot.� Little wonder that kids don't know how to behave if adults act like dorks.

Experts now warn parents that, as one psychologist says: �Miley is a role model for so many young girls, many of them as young as 5� and her behaviour could make them �put on sexy clothes, take a sexy photo or maybe even have sex�. What all this reveals, however, is not that Miley is a �bad� role model. It is the downright stupidity of the Mickey Mouse notion of meejah role models, the belief that some teenage squeaker could or should teach our children to sing from the right hymn sheet.

By all means hang Hannah Montana and tell Miley to put her top back on and wipe that muck off her face. But if we seriously think her �kiddie porn� picture will render parents powerless to stop the corruption of our children, or that execrable TV shows can provide lessons for life, then we really must be living in a Walt Disney world.

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