For those who’ve been cryogenically frozen since August 25th, Miley Cyrus – best known for portraying Hannah Montana on the popular Disney TV show of the same name – caused a sensation at the MTV Video Music Awards when she “twerked” with fellow pop star Robin Thicke on the latter’s hit song, “Blurred Lines.”
You’d think that in the year 2013, a half-naked 20-year-old gyrating on a stage at the MTV Video Music Awards would elicit little more than a shrug. Indeed, content that would make Miley Cyrus’ latest twerking exploits – as well as her subsequent “Wrecking Ball” video – look like hopscotch are but an internet search away. And you’d better believe that any preteen who’s mastered the art of typing with two fingers has accessed said content.
Yet, the sight of a former child star making a fool of herself never fails to trigger America’s irrepressible puritanical impulse, lining the pockets of record companies and inspiring paroxysms of moral outrage from many an observer. It really shouldn’t be shocking, though, that an attention-craving young celebrity would grind on another celebrity old enough to be her father. This kind of stunt is nothing new; pop stars like Madonna and Britney Spears have honed provocative stage performances to an art form.
What’s shocking is that Miley’s twerkfest is one of the biggest, most iconic pop cultural events of the year. Love it or hate it, Cyrus’ performance has sent shock waves throughout the entertainment world, with other celebrities ranging from Lady Gaga to Courtney Love weighing in. For every big name coming to her defense, another equates her lascivious antics with the downfall of civilization.
Ultimately, our reaction is far more revealing than the event itself. For one thing, it reveals the complete separation between art and entertainment. It is telling that in a ceremony nominally devoted to showcasing the “best of music,” an “artist” that wasn’t even nominated for anything is the undisputed star of the show. We watch the MTV Video Music Awards not to hear about music, but to watch celebrities, famous mainly for their looks and personalities, debase themselves on camera.
Miley Cyrus is giving us precisely what we want and exactly what we deserve. Those who hold her accountable for the state of our culture should point a finger at themselves. If we were truly outraged by Miley Cyrus’ behavior, the proper response would be to ignore her. Instead, we sit there, transfixed, pathetically feigning revulsion to hide the fact that we can’t look away. Our “outrage” is all part of a game that has replaced the actual appreciation of music as an art form. The game that lines the pockets of cynical record industry executives happy to exploit our insatiable appetite for controversy.
Right now, Miley Cyrus is the latest product of our obsession, but soon she’ll be usurped by the next professional attention whore whose handlers think up an even more outrageous stunt. In so doing, they will make the transgressors of yesterday look like pictures of innocence in comparison. And so the cycle will go on, interspersed with brief flashes of brilliance and integrity in the periphery of our pop culture vision. Those of us who actually enjoy listening to music (in today’s vernacular, “music snobs”) and not just the spectacle can hope that one day, one of these flashes will catch everyone’s attention. Only at that point will the outrage be real.
NYC Theater News
Twerking Our Culture Away: Miley Cyrus Lays it on Thicke
For those who’ve been cryogenically frozen since August 25th, Miley Cyrus – best known for portraying Hannah Montana on the popular Disney TV show of the same name – caused a sensation at the MTV Video Music Awards when she “twerked” with fellow pop star Robin Thicke on the latter’s hit song, “Blurred Lines.”
You’d think that in the year 2013, a half-naked 20-year-old gyrating on a stage at the MTV Video Music Awards would elicit little more than a shrug. Indeed, content that would make Miley Cyrus’ latest twerking exploits – as well as her subsequent “Wrecking Ball” video – look like hopscotch are but an internet search away. And you’d better believe that any preteen who’s mastered the art of typing with two fingers has accessed said content.
Yet, the sight of a former child star making a fool of herself never fails to trigger America’s irrepressible puritanical impulse, lining the pockets of record companies and inspiring paroxysms of moral outrage from many an observer. It really shouldn’t be shocking, though, that an attention-craving young celebrity would grind on another celebrity old enough to be her father. This kind of stunt is nothing new; pop stars like Madonna and Britney Spears have honed provocative stage performances to an art form.
What’s shocking is that Miley’s twerkfest is one of the biggest, most iconic pop cultural events of the year. Love it or hate it, Cyrus’ performance has sent shock waves throughout the entertainment world, with other celebrities ranging from Lady Gaga to Courtney Love weighing in. For every big name coming to her defense, another equates her lascivious antics with the downfall of civilization.
Ultimately, our reaction is far more revealing than the event itself. For one thing, it reveals the complete separation between art and entertainment. It is telling that in a ceremony nominally devoted to showcasing the “best of music,” an “artist” that wasn’t even nominated for anything is the undisputed star of the show. We watch the MTV Video Music Awards not to hear about music, but to watch celebrities, famous mainly for their looks and personalities, debase themselves on camera.
Miley Cyrus is giving us precisely what we want and exactly what we deserve. Those who hold her accountable for the state of our culture should point a finger at themselves. If we were truly outraged by Miley Cyrus’ behavior, the proper response would be to ignore her. Instead, we sit there, transfixed, pathetically feigning revulsion to hide the fact that we can’t look away. Our “outrage” is all part of a game that has replaced the actual appreciation of music as an art form. The game that lines the pockets of cynical record industry executives happy to exploit our insatiable appetite for controversy.
Right now, Miley Cyrus is the latest product of our obsession, but soon she’ll be usurped by the next professional attention whore whose handlers think up an even more outrageous stunt. In so doing, they will make the transgressors of yesterday look like pictures of innocence in comparison. And so the cycle will go on, interspersed with brief flashes of brilliance and integrity in the periphery of our pop culture vision. Those of us who actually enjoy listening to music (in today’s vernacular, “music snobs”) and not just the spectacle can hope that one day, one of these flashes will catch everyone’s attention. Only at that point will the outrage be real.