So I watched the MTV Music Video Awards last night. What can I say, I have grown up with MTV and I am holding on to this last bastion of my youth with clutched hands. Also, and I am not ashamed to admit it, I like both pop and rap, so there were a few performers I wanted to see in action. MTV, being MTV, had to have something for everyone to talk about on Twitter, and this year the hot topic is Miley Cyrus’s performance with Robin Thick of Blurred Lines. Before we go any further, you should watch the video here.
So what did you think? I don’t know about you but I was embarrassed for her! Like it was totally cringe worthy. My knee-jerk reaction was “OMG, she is a total scank with horrible parents and how could she touch herself there and what is she doing to Mr. Thicke”. But why? I mean I have seen Madonna roll around in a punk/pop wedding dress and sing about loosing her virginity. I have seen Britney Spears gyrate with snakes. Heck, I even saw Christina Aguilera in leather chaps and didn’t think much of it. She has a right to shock just like every other performer. I mean I adore Lady Gaga who wore a steak as a dress a few years ago. Why is this performance bothering me so much? Am I just getting too old?
Ive thought about my reactions to Miley’s performance all night and all morning, and not for the reasons I am guessing she wanted people to think about it. Sure, I get she was a Disney star and had to be squeaky clean for most of her childhood. But my parents made sure I was well behaved and not a rebel, how is Disney keeping Miley clean any different? I too rebelled as I became a teenager and I am sure I have danced inappropriately before. It isn’t her rebelling or drug use or going through puberty/young adulthood in the spotlight that bothers me. So what is it?
My first thought was I am probably upset because the sexualization of our children is something that makes me crazy. When most girl’s Halloween costumes look like strippers, I say enough is enough. But Miley isn’t a little girl. She is 20 years old! She has a right to be sexual. I also believe that she doesn’t owe anything to her Hannah Montana followers. Yes, she kept it on the straight and narrow while she was on the show, but she is no longer HM and has no responsibility to continue to masquerade as someone she is not. So it wasn’t the “good girl gone bad” that was pushing my buttons. Then it hit me. She was dancing with teddy bears. Sexually. There were women dressed up like teddy bears throwing candy to the audience. Miley was the one creating the sexualization of our children, not the other way around. She was taking a symbol of childhood- the teddy bear, and turning it into some kind of weird drugged out pedo bear thing. Unacceptable. Miley, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say “I am not a role model to my young fans” and then purposely recruit them by dancing like a stripper with teddy bears. It is either one or the other.
But that wasn’t even my biggest issue. No, that came later when she started twerking with Robin Thicke and constantly touching both herself and him in the groin region. Now I have seen men touching their junk since time eternal. I mean hello- Michael Jackson. I have also seen men stick out their tongue in sexual ways- I’m looking at you Steven Tyler. So why did it gross me out so much with Miley? Well guess what? It grossed me out just as much with both Jackson and Tyler! Seriously people, why do you think it is appropriate in any way to touch yourselves sexually onstage? Because I am telling you, it isn’t sexy.
So I called my sister and we discussed this matter and I think she ended up voicing what I couldn’t quite figure out: I was so put out by Miley’s performance because it was bad. The whole thing was just tacky and had very little depth to it. When Madonna offends people she does so for a reason. When Janet Jackson grabbed her crotch it was done as a feminist statement or just a shout-out to her brother. But Miley’s performance was just a young girl gyrating around with no thoughts or motive behind it. It was totally insipid and uninspiring. Heck, she didn’t even bother to have any choreographed dance moves- everything was made up on the fly. And that is what offended me the most. If someone is going to be honored by what can be considered the most important night in music then they need to be good at their job, and Miley was terrible. Not only was she terrible, she was downright lazy. Because anyone can get up on stage and wear latex undies and pretend they are a stripper on a pole. But it takes real talent to make it look good. And Miley was embarrassingly bad.
I know this has exactly nothing to do with The Glamorous Housewife, but it was really bugging me so thank you for letting me get that off my chest.
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