By Terisa Thurman
@SfTerisa
At the VMAs (that’s the Video Music Awards) actress and teen pop star Miley Cyrus apparently shocked Will Smith, his family, plus parents across America for singing about doing cocaine (which may have been referred to as Molly?) and twerking (still not 100% sure what that is, but I think it's some kind of bent over butt dance) on or around R&B singer Robin Thicke.
I don’t know about you but the news shocked me. because somewhere I grew up and stopped watching MTV and as a consequence, stopped caring about the VMAs. I used to be all about MTV and the VMAs. The only reason this Miley incident weighs on my mind is because of various friends on Facebook, some of them parents, who are venting that Miley is a bad influence on their children who grew up watching her on Hannah Montana. Not to say that Miley’s performance can’t have any negative effects but personally, I would give Hannah Montana fans more credit. If they were into the squeaky clean Hannah Montana show, what are the odds they’ll end up twerking and doing lines of cocaine?
I tried to put myself in a young adult’s frame of mind. I thought back to when I was a kid and who may have had same influence over me in the same way Miley may have influence over her fans. Yet even as a kid I remember thinking that the people on TV were the people on TV. They didn't live lives that I could emulate or would want to. I wasn't that kind of a follower. Although DJ Tanner (played by Candace Cameron Bure) did have a very cool looking purple and gray bedroom color scheme which I wanted. I must say it turned out well; my bedroom went from childish to sophisticated with a youthful flair. But even then I knew that there was some grown-up professional who lamented over every little fabric and color scheme on the Full House set. I think children are aware that their favorite stars are actors who are portraying fantasies.
Another TV personality who would have had influence over me as a pre-teen (which I’m guessing you can swap out with the term tween if you are into that) was Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye). If she put out an album about doing highly addictive drugs and started to dance suggestively while wearing skimpy outfits I would be like... that’s all you Soleil; It doesn't fit into my world. But you can act like a fool if you want to. I'm 100% sure that I would feel this way even as a child.
But what do I know? I’m a Black Girl Nerd. Nerds, whether black, female or whatever usually are driven to express their own sense of self despite pop culture or current trends. So now I’m going to go back to not caring what Miley Cyrus does on a network that I no longer watch.
