She's just being naked
It's amusing to hear all the ruckus over Miley Cyrus's "topless photo." Because clearly what people are reacting to is not the toplessness, but the JBF hair and MySpace pout.
Talk about threats to the franchise, however, is a bit far-fetched. While soccer moms may be upset, they're pretty obviously going to take out their anger on Vanity Fair. Miley has worked hard in the past year to build her reputation as a good Christian girl. Now, the Christian pop industry has no problem kicking one of their own to the curb if she steps outside the bounds of propriety, as even Amy Grant has discovered time and again, but when it comes to precious kids, the secret desire to see a celebrity fall, which is how the mainstream fan psychology works, will easily be trumped by paranoia about the Christian-hating media. Especially with Miley issuing a "what, me naked?" statement, talk among her "safe for the whole family" fan base is pretty quickly going to turn toward denunciations not of Miley or Disney but the godless liberal media and, subtext, the Jewish lesbian photographer.
Miley will come out of this unscathed and people will call for boycotts of Vanity Fair by people who never bought Vanity Fair in the first place.
By the way, longtime readers of this site may be surprised to know that my own feelings about Miley/Hannah are pretty eh. I love the concept of the Hannah Montana show but I find the young lady's music bland and disappointing. With the single exception of See You Again, which is one of the best pop songs of the past year, and bodes well for her future.
Update. Cheap irony alert: The Wall Street Journal runs its wither Miley handwringer with a photo from the CMT music awards that, unlike the VF pictures, shows actual cleavage. And quite a lot of it.
Comments
I bet you she wished everyone used Bigstring email/instant messaging, so these photos wouldn't be floating around the internet.
Posted by: VTFootballGrad | April 28, 2008 12:34 PM
Longtime "readers" of this site also appreciate Radosh's heroic efforts to bring further exposure to this type of story (and almost always providing art.)
Posted by: al in la | April 28, 2008 1:14 PM
Maybe this is already in the subtext of your entry, but isn't it pretty obvious that this "controversy" is prepping Cyrus for a move out of "squeaky clean teen phenom," a category that comes with its own built-in expiration date? Not only will she be "unscathed" but better positioned (by the standards of mainstream culture) to jump from the "child star" stepping stone over to whatever's next.
Posted by: Vance | April 28, 2008 1:38 PM
Vance, I actually don't think that's the case. Or rather, I think MC wanted to do something more adult (in the non-pervy sense of the word) but wouldn't have if she/they/it had known it would get this reaction. She's just signed a multiyear book/movie deal with Disney, so she needs to maintain the squeaky clean image for a while yet.
Posted by: radosh | April 28, 2008 1:45 PM
There are so many different disturbing cultural phenomena coming together in this post that it just hurts. VF, celebrity, celebrity photography, Family culture, tween music, Christ, moral dismay, fandom as anticipatory schadenfreude, the co-dependence of puritanism and corporate pervism.
By der weg, this is the first time I have ever seen or heard Hannah Montana (although I have known who she is).
Posted by: TG Gibbon | April 28, 2008 2:26 PM
Wow, that's a big Vornado!
Posted by: jim M | April 28, 2008 4:33 PM
Damn. I could have really bumped up my traffic if I'd thought to title this post "Miley Cyrus blow job."
Posted by: radosh | April 28, 2008 4:39 PM
Men have been losing their manners toward the fairer sex such as those portrayed by Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman", (1992).
Accordingly, I now find myself curiously in support of a return to the military draft as well as separate sex classrooms, until which time males can find proper manners and respect for females again.
Posted by: RC | April 28, 2008 7:26 PM
Big deal. All 15-year-olds are naked under their clothes, or sheets, as the case may be.
Posted by: J.D. | April 28, 2008 8:09 PM
I'd love to be the seat of that stool.
Posted by: Hector | April 29, 2008 2:54 PM
I LOVES the candid photos!
Posted by: Tim H | April 29, 2008 4:42 PM
Comment from the linked WSJ article.
"I have daughter 6 year old and she is her favorites fan. I think young peole now more decide what they want to do with they life that will change a lot in social today."
Yes, indeed.
Posted by: JohnnyB | April 30, 2008 7:43 AM
That song is catchy as hell. And I'm 45, for God's sake.
Posted by: Jim/The Velvet Blog | April 30, 2008 3:36 PM
I could listen to it over and over. In fact I have, which is why I've noticed that while it does have the awesome lyric, "she's just being Miley," it also opens with the idiotic line, "I've got my sight set on you, and I'm ready to aim."
Um, if you have your sight set, you already ARE aiming.
Posted by: radosh | April 30, 2008 3:40 PM
Did you just 'um' at Miley Cyrus on your own blog?
Posted by: Charles | April 30, 2008 6:24 PM
Please stop ruining fave lyrics in awesome Miley Cyrus songs for me, thx.
Posted by: Dave | May 1, 2008 1:48 AM
Though my girlfriend notes that you can aim with a lot of things (e.g. cupid's arrow). So the play on words there would be literal sight versus LOVE GUN.
Posted by: Dave | May 1, 2008 1:56 AM
For what it's worth, my 13-year-old and her friends really dislike the new MC song. They see it as a calculated attempt to remake her as "naughty."
As for me, did someone mention blow job?
Posted by: Steve | May 1, 2008 11:13 AM