[essay/小品文/短論] “If I Were Ever a Teen Idol, I'd Kill Myself”: Why Teen Idol Girls Shouldn’t Be Expected to be a Role Model

這篇文章為寫作課的作業，討論青年偶像是否必須成為青少年族群的典範。

本篇立場為否，並闡述為何將青年偶像規定為典範之一，有百害而無一利。

 “If I Were Ever a Teen Idol, I'd Kill Myself”*:

Why Teen Idol Girls Shouldn’t Be Expected to be a Role Model

     

     Teen idols, glamorous figures with talents, fame, and teen based fans, are expected to maintain a positive image and flawless good looks. In 1944, Frank Sinatra was the first teen idol and stormed the world (Vladimir, Woodstra, Erlewine, 2002). However, this historical moment does not only remind us of World War Two, but also foreshadows the dark side of how we see and treat teen idols. Teen idols are expected to be role models and I am firmly against the trend. 

     Since the level of anxiety and depression a girl will suffer when she does not have a chance to have some healthy interpersonal relationships are much higher than boys (Clark, Freedm, Singer, Gebremariam, 2021) and the prevalence of idolization is higher among girls (Raviv, Bar-Tal, 1996), I would like to draw attention to the following aspects. First, the common and problematic expectation on the teen idol girls. Second, how the real aim, magazines and advertisements retard the teen girls development and  body image. Third, a case study on a teen idol girl, Miley Cyrus, will demonstrate  that unrealistic obligations on the teen idol girls’ body and image hurts their mental health and life. The discussion with the three aspects will support the argument that teen idol girls shouldn’t be expected to be role models.

          When people ask teen idol girls to be responsible for their children, they often ask for a model of “American Sweetheart.” —just enough but not too sexy, maintains a healthy routine, and possesses  the brightest smiles ever seen. 

     I would like to give out the process of how teen girls form self-identity and the challenges for them to object to certain burdens on the teen idol girls. Teen girls usually face a drastic transition of self-ego in late adolescence with concealment and tact to be feminine (Wymme, Frader, 1993). However, they also feel inferior because their inner voice, other people’s opinion, and the male admiration, have revealed that their shaky confidence and self-acceptance have been tied with the presentation of the ideal beauty in the magazine and the advertisement. From the essay, “Cover Girl,” we can especially see that the dreamy modeling school and career didn’t make the author, a 15 year old teen girl, happy. From the essay, “Lightening My Skin, Strengthening My Hair,” we can also see how the beauty standard established through the magazines can trap a 17 year old teen girl’s worldview and self image (Brown, Morrow, 2009). 

     While the phenomenon is made by some of the worst magazines and advertisements, people would like to blame the teen idols for being bad role models. They forgot that the teen idol girls  are teen girls too, and that the job description and problematic content are definitely beyond their control. Media takes away teen girl’s and teen idol girl’s agency to differentiate herself into multiple identities to explore but instead  modifies them into a barbie doll that partakes in “soft porn”; to be a bit sexy but not too sexy (Galbraith, 2012). Ｗhat’s more systematic and suffocating is the overemphasis on romantic relationships and beauty products as the teen girl’s main focus or purpose in life. Again, the unrealistic “not too sexy but just sexy” advice to teens aligned with soft porn is also fed by the advertisement as we can see from the slogan of “to be feminine, but not too sexual” in teen magazines (Durham, 1998). The subliminal ideology, overall, is more dangerous than another popular teen girl serving as a sexual prey. So in fact, we are aiming at the wrong enemy. 

     If the wailing of teen idol giris is still unheard of, let’s draw some attention to an iconic teen idol, Miliy Cyrus, who has been and is still a female idol since 2001. I will use her as a case study.  

     Miliy has been dogged by the exact problematic reason and expectation: A female idol should be sweet and somewhat sexy, but she can never be aggressively sexy. That’s how she should present herself as a role model. 

     It has to do with her first appearance. She was popular as an uplifting, inspiring cowgirl who has sung Country hits in the 4 seasonal teen TV series of Hannah Montana from 2006 to 2011 known among the teens. What we need to notice is her age. She began to stand beneath the spotlight when she was only 14 while most of the girls her age were having popsicles and checking on the pimples. Later, she rebelled and became a controversial, reckless playgirl who features red lips, see-through mesh top, and sexual dance moves with the release of the music videos of We Can’t Stop and Wrecking Ball in 2013. She was 18 then. And people asked “Where has the good girl Hannah Montana gone?” instead of “What has Miley Cyrus gone through?” Rage, disappointment, and criticism were all over the world. But no one has noticed that she was just a teen girl, and a teen girl shifts their persona to grow, and Miley was no exception. 

     However, the public scrutiny  is the Big Brother to condemn her behaviors and confine her up forever as a cowgirl. 

    The negative effects of such "role playing" cannot be neglected. She has confessed in the interview with Marie Clarie about being “dressed to kill”, 

"I was told for so long what a girl is supposed to be from being on that show. I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, Who the fuck am I?” (Friedman, 2015). 

     In another interview with Elle, she also revealed the heartbreaking truth of feeling lost about who she is, “My name was Miley on my show, but I didn't own my name—we didn't think about that.” (Fitzsimons, 2016). 

    She finally showed up with another new image of a dewy, chill, feminine figure with the tropical vibe for the music video of Malibu in 2017. She even streamed with the costume of classic diva on Saturday Night Live with Plastic Love and Without You this year. Popular as usual. Talented as usual. 

     But is she reverting back to her Hannah Montana character again? The answer is probably no. 

     In 2009, Mylie Cyrus was featured in one of the most popular British sci-fi analogy TV series, “Black Mirror.” In the episode of Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, she starred Ashley O, a famous teen idol who was manipulated by her family to mask who she is and later saved by her die-hard teen girl fan because she sensed Ashley O was disappearing and feeling unhappy. My interpretation is that it’s a protest. It is a protest against the fantasy and worship built up by the media and the irrational fandom, but at the same time an appreciation of selfhood and emotional connection among people. 

     But we need to understand that Miley Cyrus is not the only victim. We still have a long scripted “A-list.” Demi Lovato has suffered from an eating disorder. Selena Gomaz has anxiety. Kesha has depression. Ariana Grande has PTSD. Amanda Bynes has Schizophrenia. Hirosue Ryōko intentionally got pregnant to excuse herself from the crowd. Sulli hung herself in her department. Although not every mental illness, escaping, and suicide resulted from being a teen idol, the bottled up pressure in the particular career path of being a teen idol is certainly a contributing factor. 

     People might argue that this essay has become partial with self-victimization with a specific discussion on the relation among media and advertisement, teen girl’s  development, and the suffering of the teen idol girls. The othe sex has also suffered from this phenomenon—Justin Bieber. Macaulay Culkin. Daniel Jacob Radcliffe. Jonathan Brandis. Haruma Miura. So many other teen idols have suffered from different degrees of frustration and pain because of the external pressure to compare, rank, and encourage them to “not to be themselves.”

     I would like to quote from the film director Shana Feste’s words to urge for changes. "I think it's tragic how we treat people who give us so much, and we love to see them knocked down to build them back up again, to knock them down again” (Ziegbe, 2010). I do feel with Feste. I strongly oppose the trend to idealize a teen idol, destroy a teen idol, and put all the pieces together again to fulfill someone’s unconscious quirk, as we can obviously tell from the case study of Miley Cyrus and many other victims. The teen idols are kids. Kids make mistakes. Kids learn from mistakes. Expecting them to become role models is the worst thing I can imagine to do to a kid. 

     Lastly, as a reminder, I would like to send my best wishes to the teen idol girls with Andrea Heilman’s words, “Trauma is not what’s wrong with you, but what has happened to you.” Hate, shame, and self-loathing on a teen girl idol’s body and identity are everywhere. However, the role and the facaded personal is not part of herself. And we, as the outsiders of her real life, have no right to stick our finger to her face, greedily hoping they will become a role model for other kids. I hope the teen girls grow up happily, turn off the sounding noises, and embrace or even better herself

      We shall not force the idols to cultivate the skillset as the pop song by Naughty Boys and Sam Smith pierced, “I'm turning up the volume when you speak/'Cause if my heart can't stop it,/I find a way to block it.” Have us silent a bit and listen to what they speak. Let’s give some time and space for some teen girl idols. Someday, they will reach adulthood, give out more impact with some mature, mighty minds, and perhaps become a real role model. 

*The quotation is popular online and said to be from Jared Leto.

Source:

Brown, Samantha.“Lightening My Skin, Strengthening My Hair.” pp.31-33. Mirror, mirror : teen girls write about body image / by Youth Communication ; edited by Hope Vanderberg. New York : Youth Communication, c2009.

Clark, Sarah J.;  Freedm Gary L.; Singer Dianne C.; Gebremariam, Acham; Schultz, Sara L. “How the pandemic has impacted teen mental health.”  Volume 38 , Issue 2. Mott Poll Report. C.S. Mott Children Hospital. 2021.https://mottpoll.org/sites/default/files/documents/031521_MentalHealth.pdf

Durham, Meenakshi Gigi. Dilemmas of Desire: Representations of Adolescent Sexuality in Two Teen Magazines.Youth and Society. 1998. 

Fitzsimons, Amamda .“The Radical Honesty of Miley Cyrus.” ELLE magazine. 2016. https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a39154/miley-cyrus-cover-story/

Friedman, Megan. “9 Things You Never Knew About Miley Cyrus, Courtesy of Her Marie Claire Cover Interview.” Marie Claire. 2015. https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/news/a15514/miley-cyrus-marie-claire-september-cover/

Galbraith, Patrick W. “Idols: The Image of Desire in Japanese Consumer Capitalism.” pp.185-201. Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture. 2012.

Morrow, Bashiyrah.“Cover Girl”. pp.46-50  Mirror, mirror : teen girls write about body image / by Youth Communication ; edited by Hope Vanderberg. New York : Youth Communication, c2009.

Raviv, Amiram; Bar-Tal, Daniel. “Adolescent idolization of pop singers: Causes, expressions, and reliance.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Vol 25. No.5. pp. 631-650. 1996. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226798341_Adolescent_idolization_of_pop_singers_Causes_expressions_and_reliance 

Vladimir, Bogdanov; Woodstra, Chris ; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas.. All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 1309-1310. 2002.

Wymme, Lyman C.;Frader,  Laura .“Alterations in the Ego-Ideal in Girls in Mid-Adolescence.”  Female adolescent development. edited by Max Sugar. New York : Brunner/Mazel. . pp. 97-223.. c1993

Ziegbe, Mawuse. "Britney Spears Inspired 'Country Strong' Lead, Director Says". MTV. 2010.

http://www.mtv.com/news/1654456/britney-spears-inspired-country-strong-lead-director-says/