Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds
Miley Cyrus was born November 23,
1992 in Nashville under the name of Destiny Hope Cyrus. She is the daughter of
the country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and was the star of the ever so popular
Disney channel show Hannah Montana. In this show she was known as Miley Stewart
in her normal life but she lived a secret life under the name of the popular
singer Hannah Montana. She lived a double life all throughout the show and
struggled with the issues that came with it. She was afraid that people would
not treat her the same if they all knew that she was actually Hannah Montana.
She didn’t want to be treated like a celebrity she wanted to live a “normal
life”, but even that had its own issues.
Miley began dating Liam Hemsworth
at the age of 16 in September of 2009. They tried to keep their relationship as
quiet and behind closed as much as they could but they were soon discovered and
in the spot light. The dated for three years and became engaged in May of 2012.
Soon after the engagement the couple split sending Miley Cyrus down what seemed
to be a destructive path.
She first
began by cutting off most of her hair and dying it bleach blonde, getting more
tattoos, talking about drugs in her songs, and being spotted with rappers most
infamous for doing drugs. This is not the Miley we all knew as Hannah Montana.
However when asked about her drastic change she said that this is who she’s
always wanted to be just wasn’t able to become this person.
The
struggle with citizenship is the fact that one feels like they must conform
into the idea of what everyone wants and thinks you should be. Citizenship is a
form of acceptance and Miley was not being accepted. She got ridicule from
angry mothers of daughters who looked up to her and ridiculed by others saying
she went crazy after Liam broke her heart. This Miley was not ok according to
America.
Is it fair
to keep someone from being themselves just because of a role the played when
they were growing up? Miley didn’t know who she was when filming the show and
even in the show her character didn’t know who she was or wanted to be. Miley
Cyrus is a public figure that should be respected for her change of pace and is an excellent example of going against the social issue of conformity. She
is growing up just like anyone else and just because she isn’t growing into “a
mature adult” according to American standards she is herself.
Living up
to the ideals of American stereotypes is easy. It is easy to fall into the trap
of monotony. However it is hard to step outside of the comfort zone of American
life because being accepted amongst citizens is such a huge goal for many.
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteYou've done a good job explaining the complicated background of Miley Cyrus and how it has created a lot of tensions for her. I like how you draw our attention to the fictional role she embodied as Hannah Montana and how it has shaped what people expect from her. As you are clear to mention, that identity was fictional, created by the Disney Corporation. Yet, because Miley's personal life overlapped so much with the show--her real rather playing her fictional father and her "character" giving live performances to fans of the show--it has been even more difficult than normal for people to separate her fictional role from her public identity.
If your group decides to use Miley for the group project, think more about what social issue she represents. You mention conformity, but there are too many types of conformity for that to be your issue. Obviously, celebrity status further complicates this, especially since she has been one from such a young age, but one possibility could be gender discrimination. Another could be related to censorship.
I think it was really cool how you decided to write about Miley Cyrus. I liked how you talked about her role in Hannah Montana because it really shows how she wanted to get away from that image and be more individual. I definitely forgot all about her until her outrageous performance at an award show with Enrique Iglesias. It was kind of smart because shes really put herself out into the public eye. However that image she made for herself was as you said, in the public's eye, negative.I think it was a good point that people like monotony so that's maybe why she is viewed in such a bad way. Another thing I really liked is how you brought Liam Hemsworth into your biography because I think he really was a huge part in her life, which might also be a reason she changed so much.
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