This whole thing started yesterday, the 6th of May 2008, just for reference sake. I was so stoked to get The Host, the new, non-Twilight book by Stephenie Meyer. I had gone to Barnes & Nobles after school and started reading it as soon as I walked out of the store. It was around 8:30 or so, when I realized I hadn't been on the computer all day, which is pretty much an anomaly for me. I forced myself to put the book aside so I could check my email, myspace, youtube, CF, etc. Yet, still in the Stephenie Meyer related spirit, I checked out some Twilight, Edward&Bella themed fansites. One in particular (www.edwardandbella.net) had a few outtakes of a very recent photo shoot with Kristen Stewart. Curious, I checked them out. Kristen's 18, so I wasn't too perturb by the theme of the shoot. Four girls, dressed in white, long-sleeve, button down shirts and white or nude underwear at the beach. It wasn't until I realized one of the girls was newly seventeen year old Emma Roberts, from Nickelodeon's Unfabulous, in the company of Blake Lively from Gossip Girl, Kristen, and Amanda...still don't know her last name (Karen from Mean Girls).
Now when the general public gets ahold of these pictures, we'll be able to see just how hypocritical America really is. And we'll see that Miley's Vanity Fair pictures had more to do with her being "Miley Cyrus" than any propaganda about her age or her parents or her billion dollar franchise with Disney. Now I know Emma isn't as popular as Miley, that's for sure, but it's really the principle of the matter. How are people going to condemn one but not another for very similar circumstances?
Personally, I like Miley more than Emma. I did used to watch Unfabulous when it was on because I liked the fact that she sang and played guitar, and I used to find the plots funny. But then after a while, the character Addie seemed to get a bit too controlling and self-centered from my liking. Plus, I kind of got sick of reading the same interview answer over and over. You know, how Emma didn't want people to know her because her aunt is Julia Roberts, but for her talent, although she's want to have the career longevity like her aunt. So, not like her aunt...but like her aunt. *shrugs*
I find Miley a bit more real. I'm from the south so I get her humor. And, hey! We've seen her bounce back from a lot of adversity, not just from her fans, but from the media, and a great portion of today's youth, who chewed her to pieces. Emma hasn't really gone through anything to make me want to support her. Like I've said, I like my celebrities with a little edge. I like Vanessa Hudgens, despite your lapse in judgement. Yes, I do still like Britney Spears, no matter how out there she may get. Heaven forbid she become the next Anna Nicole. I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt, however cynical I may be. I believe, with enough support, a person CAN get back on the wagon, so to speak. Even, Emily Osment, who may not have done anything out of line, but she did have the guts to say that she doesn't want to sign with Disney's record label, Hollywood Records, for her music dealings, especially since she has to go through Disney with just about any aspect of her career, while she's under contract for Hannah Montana.
I don't want to see a big controversy that will make people question Emma as a good role model like people do with Miley, but I do want to see people "walk" their "talk". If they are going to punish one person for something, then that should go for all. Everyone came down hard on Miley and her family because she's 15 (underage) and the supposed "artsy" pictures were too revealing for the Disney starlet. Are wet t-shirt pictures an exception for celebrity minors? I mean, Emma just turned seventeen. She's still not legal.
Or does it have to do with, not who the picture is taken of, but what name is tacked on to the end of their name? There's Cyrus, considered as "country" somewhat infiltrating the Hollywood, since a lot of people don't see them as serious performers, which they really are. Then there's the Roberts, seen as kind of the prestigious acting family in Hollywood. Would the media not want to make a big thing about Emma's pictures because they don't want to ruffle the feathers of the Robert's family and all their cohorts?
I don't think either pictures were all that bad. I just think people are so starved for scandal that they will blow things way out of propotions. But when things get so bad for one person, yet another isn't held accountable, it sort of tips the scale on how fair the world really is. A double standard. And that's something I really despise.
.selah.
