Sunday, August 23, 2009

Y'all've been asking for my opinion, so here it is.



So all y'all watched the Teen Choice Awards the other day, right?

Don't worry, I didn't either. But boy did I hear about them!

Mostly, I heard that Miley Cyrus performed a pole dance and stripped. I also heard people calling her not-so-nice names.

I was slowly exposed to everyone's opinions.
The people I follow on Twitter were defending Miley (in fact, #WeLoveYouMiley was one of the most popular topics on Twitter for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT!).
My wife said something about needing to wear more clothes.
A Nurse I talk to said her 30+ year-old husband enjoyed it. She thought it was alright.

I happened to come across a recording on YouTube. By "happen to come across", I mean that a friend tweet™ed a link.




And?


Sweet niblets like to complain!

Really? Isn't that what one expects from a female performer at an awards show?
She sang, she danced, she performed. I think dancing and performing are actually the same thing in this case.


Now, before anyone starts panicking (like my wife...), let me move on.

While that's the type of dance I would expect from say... Brittany Spears, that doesn't make it right.


This isn't just any awards ceremony, it the Teen Choice Awards. For teens. People 13-19 or so. Probably younger. Not so much the 19 year-olds.
And it's someone else's show. When invited to perform at an event, you should try to err on the side of caution. You're representing them too.

If it's your concert, you can do whatever you want. It's YOURS. An awards show, or a Super Bowl half-time show, is not the place to try something new.


  • Stripping

She stripped? Okay, at the very beginning she took off a boa? a scarf? a something. She removed one article of superfluous clothing. I wouldn't call that stripping.
It's like taking off a jacket.
Although, I will admit that she was more modest before that thing came off.


  • The pole.

Even if she just touched the pole with her finger, people would have freaked.
In our society, if you're dancing, and you have a pole, you're pole dancing and a stripper. Period.
The pole is considered a sex symbol of sorts. It comes with its own luggage.
There is no way to tastefully pull off a dance with a pole.
That being said, she wasn't pole dancing. Besides that one little dip, she basically just stood there. But that one little dip is why mothers across America are in an uproar.

But don't just blame her. You don't manage to get on national TV and perform on stage on your own.

This would have taken months of practice and planning and approval. Tons of people would have been involved in selecting, creating, training, and approving the dance.

Not only that, but it had a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR delay. After the half-time show problem years ago, NBC has added a five second delay to all live broadcasts. This show had an entire day.
If the show's producers had a problem with it, they had plenty of time to just cut it out.

Miley's dad didn't have a problem with it either:
“You know what? I just think that Miley loves entertaining people. She loves singing [and] songwriting. I always tell her to love what you’re doing and stay focused for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinion. I give my kids a lot of freedom to make the art they wanna make, and make it in their own voice. I think it’s important.”
The Disney Channel however, said this:
“Disney Channel won’t be commenting on that performance, although parents can rest assured that all content presented on the Disney Channel is age-appropriate for our audience — kids 6-14 — and consistent with what our brand values are.”

Well then.


So no, I don't think that a pole should have been anywhere near that stage. And yes, I feel like that skirt should've been longer, and yes, I feel like she shouldn't be showing off her bra straps.

But if you're going to yell at someone, yell at a bunch of someones. A whole lot of people (I'm going to assume that they're adults. Maybe even "corporate males") would have had several opportunities to keep the dance we saw go out on national TV. Yell at them.

1 comment:

qurgh said...

This isn't a new concept. Disney made Spears (and probably many other teen idols) and now they are making Miley. All the mouse cares about is money. And nothing sells albums better than a half naked under-aged girl (especially to horny teen boys who have some kind of small disposable income).

The Japanese have been working this angle for decades. Their idols can come and go overnight, but they all meet the basic requirement: Are they sexy to either men or women (or both)? If Yes, strip off half their clothes, put them on TV and their albums will move (no matter if the music is good or not).

Any parent who complains is a hypocrite. When they were teens they were lusting after some kind of idol (unless they were in some kind of fundamentalist religious family, but they probably don't watch the Teen Awards) and now they have to protect their little ones against all these "bad" visuals that they wished they had when they were that age.

At least that's my take on the whole situation.