If you didn't have anything better to do Sunday night, like watch Duck Dynasty or read the latest funny Amazon product reviews, you may have been doing what 10.1 million other American viewers were doing around 9 pm EST: watching the Video Music Awards.
About the time cute little Miley Cyrus jumped out of the mouth of the Pedobear wearing her animal unitard, your jaw may have dropped a little. Or maybe you just stared at the floor like many did in the audience fortunate enough to view the spectacle live and in person, as the show went downhill from there.
Monday morning's talking heads went gaga for Cyrus' performance, but not in a good way, calling her “racy,” “gone mad,” and my favorite, “super skinny.” (Don't get me started on this one — if she had displayed an ounce of cellulite she would have been “too fat.”)
Ok America, time for a hypocrisy check. I'd like to put a couple of pinpricks of reality in your balloon of righteous outrage.
Yes, Cyrus, who was baptized in 2005 and claims to be a Christian in some interviews, appears to have gone a bit far in her quest to prove that she's a real adult and can do whatever she wants with whomever she chooses. We get it. BUT Cyrus' partner in the decried performance, an older man, is getting a fraction of the negative attention Cyrus is getting. Robin Thicke's recent hit “Blurred Lines” has been number one on the Billboard charts for weeks in the United States and the world.
The song has blatant sexual themes and features a graphic music video complete with topless models. I admit it, I've found the song catchy (so sue me), but the video is a bit much. Still, my point is this: why is our culture so quick to label Cyrus in outrage and shock for doing something that, in my humble opinion, is not half as shocking as the things Mr. Thicke or other artists before him have done? Do we expect something different from him as a male, or from her as a young, female, former church attendee?
As the 66 percent jump in VMA ratings proves, this is what we like to watch. Thicke and Cyrus are performers. They act and sing (I use these terms loosely) for money. They only do what we like them to do. We can pretend shocked outrage at the “coarse vulgarity” of their performance (and blame Cyrus for having strayed from her ladylike ways) or we can take a hard look ourselves as a culture and at the double standards perpetuated here and remove ourselves from our high horse. I choose the latter.
Kelly, on Facebook, said, “This author entirely missed how completely racist her act was, which is why 98% of my Facebook is pissed.”
I can’t understand how we can have any serious anti-rape, anti-misogynistic, pro-feminist conversation in this culture when women are portrayed and present themselves these ways. I think it’s absolutely degrading and black women in particular should step up and speak out against the way the twerk twerp used them as should stuffed animals and the foam hand unions too.
I think the reason people have issues with her doing something like this is because she was a disney star. I also think that in the past people who do outrageous acts get more publicity and more money. Instead of labeling and judging her, why can’t people say wow I can’t believe she did that and move on. Instead there are hundreds and thousands of facebook posts about her, thousands of blogs and millions have watched it on youtube all the while making her a house hold name for another reason and making her more money. I was honestly shocked but she reminded me of Madonna, Christina Agulara (sorry for bad spelling) and Brittney Spears. Go Miley and I hope you have a long prosperous career.
If I were writing a post about this, it would be called The Twerk as Old as Time.
Can we honestly be surprised that an act at the VMAs or any other large media event is rife with racism and influenced by kiddie porn? We can express our disgust, but shock? Nah. We swim in this stuff as a culture. We need not accept it, but it’s as old as the VMAs at least.
This is going to sound terribly snotty, but the above post begins with the line, “If you didn’t have anything better to do on Sunday night…” Well, I guess I think I did. I knit. I put my son to sleep. I had a nightcap with my spouse. No TV. No VMAs. Did that choice dismantle racism or kiddie porn? No, but I think sometimes the most feminist choice we have is to turn off the deluge of media and be present to our lives in other ways.
Thanks Liv… I love your phrase, “be present to our lives in other ways.” (Because to get worked up over any of this pop culture garbage is to get very, very absent!)
Culture is consumed by our youth. It was culture garbage that was identified as possible influencing factors in the lives of many of the youth who pulled the triggers this month. Almost every young persons I watch walk past my window, or listen to on the street bus stops by my front door looks and sounds like these folk. The shtick is always there in these industries but never underestimate the power.
Well, I just watched the video (What can I say controversy makes me curious), and I feel like I just walked into an adolescent boy’s acid trip.
Frankly the controversy seems a bit “jinned up” to me. Like it’s a way to get eyeballs onto add-space.
Here is an appropriate music video response that sarcastically speaks to our double standards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2zbxM4EehE
I have no interest in half of this pop culture stuff.
Eric – I think you have a point about women needing to be taken seriously and not present themselves as “tarted up sex objects.”
Liv – I really appreciate the nonparticipation! My dad was in town this weekend and we were playing cards after having dinner. 🙂