There’s been a lot of internet scuttlebutt about the VMA’s this year, especially around Miley Cyrus.
Here are two blog post that I’ve read that complement each other well. I recommend you read both.
How to Talk With Your Sons About Robin Thicke
Dear daughter, let Miley Cyrus be a lesson to you
Tell me what you think.
-jpserrano
Edit: Link Fixed
It seems like every year we as a society have a ritual of getting indignant at the VMA’s. my issues with this are simple.1. why does MTV even have a music video awards show when they don’t even play music videos anymore. 2.A young pop star getting sexual on stage is the norm not the exception. 3. this kind of pearl clutching is what made the whole country become homophobic for five minutes when Madonna and Brittany Spears kissed a few years ago.
Jack,
Society does seem to have a ritual around the VMAs. A liturgy of sorts, where the VMAs call and the public responds. I agree with your first 2 points. First, MTV doesn’t really play music videos. Unfortunately, you are also correct that this act is the norm and not the exception.
However, your third point doesn’t resonate with me. I am not sure how commenting on a sexually provocative act = Pearl Clutching and how that equates with the homophobia in society. I think we can talk about sexuality and ethics upholding modesty, fidelity, monogamy, privacy, and decency without degrading to fear of sexuality.
The third point is refering to the VMA’s a few years back when the two pop stars kissed on stage. Everyone freaked out about it. I never understood the issue with two adults kissing. It seemed like homophobia to me.
I have to say something about the Robin Thicke blog. This is the second time I’ve read a blog that says Robin Thicke needs to be held accountable for his part at the VMA’s and the over-focus on Miley Cyrus is a sign of our society’s misogynist attitude. Although I agree that our society has an underlying misogynist attitude and will for a long time, I disagree with the assessment of Robin Thicke.
For one, Robin Thicke is a grown man who is in the entertainment business and put on a show. I’m not saying that makes the performance okay, nor does it make it okay that Miley Cyrus is quite a bit younger than him, but there is a difference that I will get to in a moment. If people are going to be critical of Robin Thicke’s part, then they should be critical of all other parties. Yes his song and the performance was very sexual, but we don’t condemn the sexual in film (for the most part), because it’s film, it’s pretend, it’s acting. And that’s what this performance was. A few years ago, Ben Kingsley did a film called “The Wackness” in which he played a psychiatrist who bought pot from one of his clients. In the film he has a scene in which he makes out with one of the Olsen twins, way more his junior than Miley to Robin. But people accepted it because it was film. Nothing about this performance at the VMA’s should be considered any more or less than a performance, pretend, acting.
However, I do think there is something to say about Miley Cyrus in this performance. It is very clear that this girl, who was a star and sensation for Disney is very desperate to break out of this kid’s typecast and show everyone how “grown-up” she is. And therein lies the problem and the talking point for me. If a girl is trying to prove that she’s an adult in this manner, what kind of an example does this set for our young children who watched Hannah Montana and now see Miley Cyrus?
I personally don’t believe there is attention on her simply because she is a woman, and less attention on Thicke because he is a man. I think it is because we are seeing a young adult trying to prove they’re a grown-up in a very wrong way. My reasoning for this is backed up by Justin Bieber. Here we have a young man who is a heart throb of many tweens, but now he is trying to prove that he is an adult. So he gets tattoos, he tries to fight paparazzi, and he does unacceptable acts to show that he does not have to answer to authority such as urinating in a mob bucket and flipping off a picture of Bill Clinton.
I have read a lot of comments on the sexuality of Cyrus’ performance and how as a woman we give that more attention and criticism, which I agree with, but I haven’t read much on these famous kids who are coming into adulthood and trying to prove it to the world in the wrong ways. And these are the conversations that we need to be having with our children: what it means to be an adult. Cyrus and Bieber think it means doing elicit things without realizing that they come off more as rebellious teenagers and not adults.
To conclude, I don’t think Robin Thicke should be blameless. As Christians, “Blurred Lines” represents the lust and sleeping around and lack of intimate love that scripture clearly talks about. And the VMA performance is a good stepping stone to have that kind of a conversation with our kids. However, I do not agree that Thicke’s part in the VMA’s is something people should condemn as a man getting away with something a woman can’t in today’s society (even though I agree that this is still unjustly a man’s world). These are just my two cents.
Chris, Thank you for your long and thoughtful comment. I’ll think about what you wrote.