Even Disney is not safe from the clutches of the media.

Even Disney is not safe from the clutches of the media.
30/10/07, 23:00



Hello, this is my first post here in what will be many, just spouting off about the issues, things I'm loving at the moment and my views on the news as it arrives.



I am guilty of knowing I should really be doing something else, but instead being attracted to the silliest, most trivial things online to wile away the hour. Craving my Disney fix, since my best friend is at the moment an unashamed High School Musical obsessive and he's dragging me in with him, I decided to 'see how the stars of Hannah Montana were doing'. A bit of light reading, you know - Wikipedia is hardly taxing when you're reading about teen stars.



And lo and behold, what do I see? Rumours of a pregnancy scare involving the lead of the show, Miley Cyrus. This jolted me, particularly since Miley is about my age - in fact, she's younger than me. Not being the stereotypical teen 'ZOMG WTF IT HAS TO BE TRUE' type of person, I browsed the newslinks and even before I read anything about how Miley's camp had reacted on this, I smelt a rat. Why? Because 1) child actresses and singers with that much on their plate are forced to grow up quick and 2) I've been subjected to the bloodthirsty desire of the media for fresh storylines long enough. A young actress being with child would be a gossip columnist's dream, especially since their ordinary route of the socialite is becoming quite worn and unoriginal. But I feel the compulsion to write this down, because it's made me change my perception of the actions of those thrust into the spotlight.



Take, for example, the Vanessa Anne Hudgens case. High School Musical, despite us being maturing 15/16 year olds, is the talk of our close circle, and one of the hot topics between our select three or four is the well-publicised incident with Vanessa. I'm quick to snigger about it with the others, point the finger and say 'ha, owned' - but then, don't we all act on impulse sometimes? The more I think about it, the less I want a Cheetah Girl to replace Vanessa for the eagerly-anticipated HSM3 and the more I think it shows these Disney starlets are not the robotic line-reeling, move-busting, tune-warbling made-to-order aspiration figures some, including me, are often quick to state they are. A true role model for children conveys to them that if you make mistakes, even though its not ideal, you pick yourself up and make a fresh go of things - most importantly, keeping your dignity as much as possible in the aftermath. And, at the end of the day, what crime is there in being proud of yourself and letting your hair down?



However, the media circus is particularly fierce over child stars after they have made a transition into adulthood or what they perceive as a step up from child-like innocence. Like the conservative parents who sit at home reading the newspaper and baking, the media sees their children transitioning from the apple of their eye who is all birthday cake and Barney the dinosaur (e.g. Lindsay Lohan in the Parent Trap or Britney's I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet a Woman era) to untamed creatures who want to spend their babysitting money getting drunk on whole bottles of tequila and buying inappropriate clothing. Basically, the media is a double-edged sword - it sees something cute and adorable, and is all too keen to jump on the bandwagon, singing the praises of this singer or actress. Yet when things start to turn sour (or even not - basically when even the slightest whiff of controversy emerges), they are all too quick to devour the image they bolstered and wag the disapproving finger - after all, the hype surrounding both actions sends magazines flying off the shelves.



We as readers see 'star in crisis' or 'exciting new look for (insert star with 'problems' galore or the latest comeback kid here)', and the headline just lures us in to pick up the publication. Excitement triggers in our brain and we want to read every little detail - perhaps because we find our lives mundane and want a bit of excitement or light relief from our troubles, perhaps because we aspire to those we read about and so sigh wistfully at their rise and revel mercilessly in their downfall. Well, maybe not all of us. But a fair few, considering that a large proportion of people buy tabloid magazines instead of broadsheet and watch the entertainment section of the news. Now come on, teenage girls do NOT watch Sky News for the latest on the DOW Jones.



When we read a gossip magazine, we forget that who we are reading about is a real person, not the persona who has had their image on billboards or scattered throughout fan sites. When we watch the entertainment news, we forget that the person whose lives we are listening in on, and their personal traumas, could so very easily, with the turn of fate/God/whatever you believe in, have been experienced by us. It's easy to judge others and go 'tut, tut' at the antics of celebrities, especially when they appear to be begging for the publicity themselves, but you don't have to be an Oxford-educated psychiatrist to see that fraught childhoods or problems with relatives - even the minutest type of disturbances - can have repercussions later on in life in the form of choices and behaviour. It is very rarely that someone behaves in a way perceived as out-of-order because they're being difficult or they are being spoilt - there are usually some difficulties on the surface, especially since it is easy for the rich and famous to bypass the fact that money can't buy you love. And it is tragic. There are much greater tragedies in the world, and people who do not wallow in their difficulties and deal with them accordingly, but it is still like watching a car crash - so why the heck should we stick around and watch?



Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that the media circus is, bless it's heart, hypocritical. It cries out, 'she needs help!' when those words are actually a step back. What any person, not just a celebrity, who is in trouble needs is support in the form of professionals, family and friends as the problems can potentially run deeper than any of us understand. Also, as with the Disney cases, downright lies, exaggerations and misinterpretations can be harmful beyond belief. I must at this point state that I myself am guilty of reading gossip magazines, and recently purchased one when I needed a mood boost, and to be fair to them, they do exactly what they say on the tin. But really, we should mature and stop punishing celebrities for what they have that we don't, e.g. money and lavish possessions, by increasing exposure of their inevitable faults and flaws. Also, it's a form of tough love - starving a press-obsessed (and most likely damaged) socialite of the paparazzi is cutting off their oxygen supply. Eventually they will sort their life out and we will no longer have to stick our fingers in our ears and staple our eyelids shut whenever they creep annoyingly, yet so deliciously, back into our lives. Think of it as rehab for them and for you, as a proud human being who just loves seeing others fall.



Come on, you know you'd rather buy NME.


CoffeeAddict x