Due to its length; you can also download this blog as a PDF file

Media
The media will try and make people believe things; that has always been the case and sadly always will be. There is no such thing as purely objective media, it’s true for any area but it’s very true when it involves young celebrities. With this whole role model thing I think that the media are the main ones to blame for it actually, trying to make people seem a certain way. When they have succeeded in building up this image; they make things look worse than they actually are, focusing on the bad rather than on the good. When a media outlet reports on something that isn’t actually bad but presents it in a way that it is, is it really the “role model” that is doing something bad?

The thing with the media is that it has changed, a lot; mainly because of the internet. The pressures on young stars and the scrutiny on them is so much higher than it has been for people even one generation earlier. More and more people have access to the internet and also access to faster internet. Even when you look at when the likes of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan had their career start, the internet for the most part was still dial up. Sites like TMZ.com and Perezhilton.com didn’t exist yet, they only started five years ago, let alone the million other clones that are out there by now.

When Britney broke through in 1998 it was still the tabloids that were in charge of celebrity reporting. Scandals existed yes but they were reported on once a week, maybe a couple of times a week. A celebrity was forgotten about fairly quickly, if a scandal even came to light that is. Today with who knows how many gossip sites there is a far greater call for material and modern technology helps them in that.

When we just look at private pictures that are being leaked of celebrities, whether they are scandalous or not they are still being leaked. That didn’t happen in the past. Why not? Because five years ago most phones didn’t have cameras, these days decent digital cameras cost next to nothing and every phone has a camera. A lot more pictures are taken, do you really think that in the past people didn’t do anything “scandalous”? Of course they did, there just weren’t any cameras recording it.

What also happens is that the media keeps the image alive even though it isn’t actually there. When you take Miley Cyrus as an example; her first “scandals” came along very early, when she was only fifteen years old. Be it hacked images or her topless shoot (let us forget for convenience that it was shot by a famous art portrait photographer), so she hasn’t been “perfect” for a long time, so why still pretend that she is?

The topless thing is just another way of treating her differently anyway. When Taylor Momsen does a topless photoshoot with pasties (17, so she can’t exactly show nipple) no one actually notices. Though that might be because the actual shoot isn’t out yet, it’s not even her first topless shoot as a minor, she’s done one before which no one paid attention to. So for something to be a scandal it also takes the media to make it one. If they’d report unbiased, there wouldn’t even be a problem in most cases.

Parents
The role parents play in the role model thing is that it seems like parents are trying to blame the problems of society on young celebrities. “My kid looks up to celebrity A, so if celebrity A does this, so will my kid.” Well no, that’s not how it works.

Having a kid admire a celebrity can be a good thing, it shows them what they can achieve if they set their mind to something. It also brings them joy in the form of music, TV shows and movies. There is nothing bad about it, however using celebrities as a moral guide for kids is wrong. Even worse than that is using them as a scapegoat for the troubles in society. Celebrities are a product of society, they don’t create it.

The unrealistic image
Celebrities are kept to an unrealistic standard, they aren’t allowed to make mistakes. When they do something that is considered “bad” they will be burned for it, doesn’t matter what it is and doesn’t matter whether it’s fair or not. Though the problem is that certain celebrities and companies actually feed into this image; with the purpose of increasing their popularity. Using an artificial image as a marketing tool is only going to do one thing; bite you in the ass.

You can’t present a young teenager as a perfect human being, they don’t even know who they are yet. They still have so many experiences to go through and can’t possible know where their path in life will take them. Yet somehow they are seen by media and parents as perfect human beings, they aren’t allowed to make mistakes. Thing is, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t make mistakes. There are always “bad” things about a person, even if they aren’t really all that bad to begin with.

The “bad” influences
So what bad things are these young celebrities doing that are such a bad influence on our youth?

Smoking
An age old subject by now, the idea that when a young celebrity smokes that the youth will be doing the same. Let me first point out that about 1 out of 5 adults smoke, this is actually a fairly low number, for most countries it will actually be higher. I absolutely hate smoking, I have nothing nice to say about the subject but why hate on someone for smoking?

I also would have to point out that I think that young celebrities might actually take up smoking easier than other groups of people. Why? There are smoking roles in movies, not just for adults but also for teenagers. They of course can’t actually smoke cigarettes because it would be illegal, they use herbal cigarettes. It removes the addictive nicotine factor, however when someone learns to smoke, even if they aren’t real cigarettes they get used to the sensation of inhaling smoke. Combine that with a lot of people in the business smoking I would say that it’s not a stretch that they try smoking real cigarettes at a later date. Also when you add in the stresses of Hollywood and know that nicotine has a calming effect.

Someone like Kirsten Dunst had smoking roles at a teenager but in that process also said that she’d never smoke because she hates it. Doesn’t stop her from smoking now, just like Abigail Breslin just did a role where she had to smoke herbal cigarettes. She also said that she wouldn’t do it, that she hates it but she’s 14, who knows what she will do two or more years from now. Even at an older age when they are legal to smoke it can have an influence.

Anne Hathaway admitted that she pretty much became a chain smoker by shooting her Oscar nominated role Rachel Getting Married (though she says she has quit now). Celebrities will also be hounded for saying that they’d never smoke, they make those statements at a young age. How many things have you done you once said you’d never do?

Note that this is just a form of explanation, some understanding, it’s in no way an excuse. They are influences from their environment, just like there are influences in the environment of other teenagers. A teenager won’t start smoking because a celebrity does; odds are that in most cases they will never see them smoking other than in a movie or two. I would actually have to refer to a quote by Taylor Momsen; she’s not telling kids to go out and buy a pack of cigarettes.

With 1 out of 5 adults smoking, I would also think that it’s far more likely that kids get confronted by the habit in their surroundings. If a teenager has a parent, grandparent, sibling or whoever that smokes, are you really going to blame a celebrity for it? The “cool” factor would be enforced more in school than any other celebrity ever could.

Drugs
Celebrities do drugs thus kids will start doing drugs. No they won’t; when a celebrity goes to rehab for a cocaine addiction, do you honestly think that a teenager goes “I want that too!!!!!” I think quite the opposite. If we’re talking about drugs like marihuana I think it would be wiser to look at the laws in place. It’s attractive because it’s illegal and in the scope of drugs not really all that bad.

I’m willing to bet that there are more pot smokers amongst teens in the USA than there are in the Netherlands. Sure, it’s illegal to do so for teenagers in both countries but when it’s not all that illegal, the danger factor gets removed. Even in the USA it seems to be becoming more and more normal these days, though still illegal.

The recent “trouble” around smoking drugs was of course Miley Cyrus smoking Salvia from a bong. Supposedly causing a dramatic increase in Salvia sales; sales tripled! According to some media. Sure, they might have tripled but how much was the actual increase in volume? We never heard anything about that, did a head shop sell 3 bags instead of 1 or did they sell 300 instead of 100? Statistics can be manipulated and be used to tell your own version of the truth. Besides, who does a sales analysis over a period of one day? Make a statement about it a year from now, not the day after.

Besides, the drug is legal. I might not approve of that sort of thing but no crimes were committed. Miley is deemed such a bad role model for smoking the Salvia, people are crying out that Hannah Montana should be pulled from the Disney channel and what not. So why would those same parents let their kid go see Twilight? Kristen Stewart is a known smoker and most of all a known pot smoker. No idea how often she does it but she has been caught in public doing it yet no one really cared.

Rather telling really, Miley smokes something legal and the world comes to an end, Kristen smokes something illegal and no one really gives a shit. Sure there was a short blip in the media when it happened but nothing more than that. In the end however neither Miley or Kristen is telling anyone to smoke anything.

That Miley smoked a bong once for some reason makes a lot of people think that she is a drug addict. For a drug addict you’d expect someone to know how to smoke a bong a whole lot better but do these people even know what they’re saying? They’re reducing a case where a teenager seemingly tries something for the first time to an addiction. You know what that is? It’s actually an insult to addicts. There is no way to judge based on one single video whether someone has a drug problem or not.

Now there is this supposed idea from Disney to start counseling their young stars, to avoid the pitfalls of the celebrity life. Who better to do it than Britney Spears right? She’s been through things, she knows what she’s talking about. Though the general feeling seems to be that it would mainly be a way for Disney to save their face after Demi Lovato heading to rehab and a lot of people believing that Miley will do the same in the future.

It also makes me wonder about the media, why would you ask thirteen year old Bella Thorne on how she will avoid going the wrong way in the future? I’m pretty sure that if you’d have asked Britney or Lindsay the same question at that age they would have said the exact same thing. Make sure you stay close to your family etc, etc, etc. It doesn’t really matter. Bella doesn’t know what person she’s going to be five years from now and neither does the media. So presenting a thirteen year old as someone who has done nothing wrong is obvious. She hasn’t had the time to make “mistakes” yet.

Alcohol
Again focusing on the USA I have to say that I noticed one thing about people who turn 21. It’s all about the booze, even the ones that don’t really care for alcohol at least make it a plan to have their first drink on that night. There is this build up in culture where having your first drink is a big occasion, though for most it wouldn’t even be the first drink. Referring back to the illegal and dangerous factor as with drugs.

There was the story of Miley again, drinking a beer in a nightclub in Madrid (though the only picture that exists actually only shows her holding it). Outrage! It’s illegal for her to drink! The drinking age is 18 in Madrid? No media, it’s 16, not 18. You can pretty much drink beer and wine everywhere in Europe at that age, in some countries it’s even accepted younger than that. I’ve seen ten year old girls down a pint of Fosters without much trouble (though that isn’t exactly a positive example).

So why is it a problem that Miley drinks a Corona in a night club in Madrid where she is allowed to do so? Because she’s a role model! Yes, a role model that’s not breaking any law; stop the presses
!. Just because the drinking age is 21 in the USA it doesn’t mean she has to conform to that in countries where other laws apply. It’s just a problem because it’s Miley though, when Hayden Panettiere was celebrating New Year’s Eve in Italy with champagne (or the Italian equivalent) when she was just 18, no one cared. Though she wasn’t actually on the Disney Channel but she also didn’t do anything wrong.

Partying
People say that Miley is the next Lindsay or Britney because of her hard partying ways! What hard partying ways? Yes, she’s been to nightclubs and she’s bound to have had private parties (besides ones where some lowlife records her smoking a bong) but does this actually paint us a picture of Miley’s partying life? We don’t see her coming out of night clubs in the middle of the night each and every week. We also don’t know what she does when she is at a club like that.

Oh hang on, we actually do. So far anything I read about Miley being at a club was in the range of she was dancing and drinking Red Bulls. Now I find stuff like Red Bull disgusting but the only thing it is, is an energy drink. It’s not exactly anything bad. Though most gossip sites won’t mention it that way, there it only matters that she was at a night club, that it could possibly have been rented out for a private party doesn’t really matter. Not really interesting anyway; telling the truth would make it seem harmless.

For all we know she actually might have been partying too much, we don’t know. Like so many things we don’t know, however the story the media tells about it isn’t the real one. I would have to ask what teenager doesn’t go to parties though, seems like a very normal thing to do. The thing with Lindsay Lohan also was that her partying ways interfered with her work, showed up to set late or not at all because she was out until who knows how late the day before. Has there been any report about Miley or any other current teen star in that sense? No there hasn’t, none that I know of anyway.

There of course was a tabloid that recently reported that people were worried that Miley would get Kelly Osbourne on the wrong path again (the tabloid in question is as reliable as a broken clock though). Kelly sprung into defense mode and revealed that Miley is actually being a good influence and that she’s learning a lot from her. Now when we shortly go back to the counseling idea with Britney Spears. People feel that it’s a good idea because she’s been through things.

So has Kelly Osbourne but how do people react? She’s a drug addict and parties herself! Have you taken a look at Kelly Osbourne lately? She changed, a LOT, she’s put some work into herself. She’s even admitting that she can’t promise that she will never relapse. Does that sound like a person who hasn’t faced their mistakes from the past? I think not, so why wouldn’t someone like Kelly be able to help someone like Miley? Guide her through things that come with the celebrity life at that age? The only thing I can think of is the prejudice against Miley and that for some reason people just don’t like Kelly.

Doesn’t every teenager go to parties? Even the biggest couch potato does once in a while, the only thing they look at in regards to young celebrities there is music. Depending on the party there might be some Miley playing or the Pretty Reckless. People throw parties; that is being taught to kids from a very young age, starting with their first birthday.

Clothing
Oh yes, the clothes celebrities wear. What would the gossip press do without them? When you go judging dresses on a red carpet, go right ahead. That’s a public spectacle anyway so people are bound to be judging what people wear. There is also a sort of dress code for certain events so it’s natural that people would be required to follow that.

What about their day to day clothing though? Does it really matter? People seem to think so and the number of paparazzi sort of prove that. Though what I don’t get, a couple of years ago there was this trend where you could see celebrities wearing three or four outfits on the same day. People complained that they were treating the streets as a red carpet and yes, it did make things look very fake. That seems to have changed though, when I look at paparazzi pics things seem to have gotten way more casual. So what do people do? They complain, that celebrities should try harder. You truly can’t please everyone.

If we look at Miley Cyrus again; she has this tendency to wear things more than once. Even days in a row when she could afford to wear something new every day! Why would she? If she likes a pair of shoes or if she likes a T-shirt why not wear it frequently? I actually commend her for that. Whether people like the things she wears is a personal matter.

The same goes for her stage outfits, too sexy a lot of people say. Sure, the outfits she wears aren’t exactly shy and there is bound to be some sex sells factor involved. That they fit with what she does and that they might be comfortable is of less importance obviously. If Miley wears a leotard on stage, does it cause an increase of leotard sales all of a sudden? No of course not, it’s a stage outfit, it’s for a performance, it’s not what she wears out in public on her off day.

It’s the same old story anyway. I remember that my high school made the national news because of our new anti-Britney Spears dress code, a ban on stomach revealing tops. You know, because it was a Catholic school and one or two students actually wore one to school. Were they inspired by Britney? Possibly, was it a fashion trend? No. If Miley was trying to start a fashion trend; wouldn’t her clothing line feature more leotards and less normal teenage clothes?

Same goes for any clothing range presented by a teen celebrity really. I would say that Selena Gomez’ clothing line is very conservative compared to what she wears. Yes, people tend to ignore Selena a bit but if they would actually take notice, her casual clothing style isn’t exactly all that shy either. Very casual yes but casual to the point of no bras being present. Even Dakota Fanning can be seen out and about revealing a whole lot of bra, there’s just no one that cares.

Tattoos
I honestly believed that tattoos were getting more and more widely accepted. That they were becoming normal, where in the past there was still a stigma on tattoos we even have tattooing celebrities these days. I mean someone like Kat Von D. is doing well for herself and she’s a tattoo artist who managed to become famous.

You’ll also have a hard time finding a young celebrity who doesn’t have any ink, sure they exist but in a way I believe that the tattoo has truly become mainstream. Until Miley Cyrus decided to get inked up that is. The girl likes tattoos, that much has already become evident now. Getting three within a year when you’re only 17 is quite a lot, though none of them are actually really big and you actually need parental consent for it, so they would have been signed off on.

So why is it scandalous that she gets them? It seems that just because it’s Miley, it’s a bad thing that she gets tattoos. That she’s getting them because she’s rebelling, trying to get rid of her Disney image and what not. I really need to find a new definition of the word rebel when it means that someone gets a tattoo in memory of a dead friend, designed by her own mother no less. The word LOVE in her ear, as a symbol to keep the negativity out or a heart on her pinky finger because everyone in her family has a heart tattooed on their hand. Here I was thinking that things like skulls and cross bones or upside down pentagrams were signs of that. It’s also odd to rebel by getting tattoos when your parents both have who knows how many tattoos.

If it’s a way of getting rid of a Disney image; why has no one ever written about the many tattoos of Hilary Duff? She was a Disney star a big one and can be seen sporting something like half a dozen tattoos. When someone like Hayden Panettiere gets a tattoo it’s funny because there is a spelling error in it, otherwise it doesn’t matter. Those girls aren’t exactly old either and teenagers also look up to them, so why is them having tattoos fine but not for Miley?

I’ve also never really heard anyone make a statement about Demi Lovato rebelling with her tattoos, while she has one in pretty much the same place as Miley (just on the other side of her chest) and one behind her ear. Because no one cares really, though maybe now they will more seeing she was in rehab. Which in itself is quite wrong, putting more pressure on someone right after they have dealt with underlying issues.

Why are tattoos bad? There are many forms of body modification. A lot of people are saying that Miley should get her front teeth fixed because she has a crooked tooth. Getting this fixed would be a form for body modification, just like a tattoo or piercing. If she’s fine with her crooked tooth why would she get it fixed? Just because other people think she should? People also wouldn’t be bitching as much if she had gotten breast implants, sure they’d bitch about it somewhat but tattoos? Oh yeah, those are way worse. You know, a little ink added as body art is far worse than being put to sleep and two small silicone bags shoved into a chest.

Plastic surgery isn’t a bad thing for people who it can help to improve their body image, just like a tattoo isn’t anything bad. People are free to do with their bodies what they want, I wouldn’t be surprised if some gossip blog writer goes to visit her botox clinic right after trashing Miley for getting a tattoo. No, you don’t have to approve of tattoos, you can hate them all you want. Does it mean they are a bad thing? Of course not, they’re a choice like so many things in life.

Sex
Oh yes, the sex subject. Are celebrities still virgins? Are they staying pure until marriage? Honestly, why do people want to know and why are they putting their noses into private matters?

Here is an example of where marketing ties in with the whole role model shit. The purity rings, rings that are shoved on teen stars swearing abstinence until they are married. These promises are made by young teens, when you ask someone in the age range 12-14 on whether they plan on having sex anytime soon, I think that the answer will most likely be no. It’s not a subject they would have thought about all that much yet.

The promise ring is just stating the obvious at that stage, something the media feeds into and blows up as something good. Don’t we live in a world where sex before marriage has become widely accepted? I’m not saying that abstinence is a bad idea, it’s something that is a feeling that someone can have, something they feel they have to do. I don’t think a ring is needed to enforce that. Teenagers change, when a teenager puts on a ring at 12 and at 16 realizes that they want to have sex, is the ring really going to stop them? I sincerely doubt it.

Now that Selena Gomez is rumored to be dating Justin Bieber it has actually become a subject of interest that she doesn’t wear a purity ring anymore. Somehow that means that she’s having sex now. What if she did? Who on earth cares, it’s her business and no one else’s. She doesn’t need a ring to show whether she is still a virgin or not. She also might simply not feel that way anymore and removed the ring for other reasons without giving up her virginity. The gossip sites want the juicy stuff though obviously.

In a way, I always felt a bit strange about people like Selena or Miley wearing them. It almost seems like they were told to put them on, seeing that in a way they are an insult to their parents. Why would you advocate something as wrong when you’re saying that you yourself are a mistake in that sense? Though it seems that Disney and the media have toned down on the whole purity ring thing, I haven’t seen it pointed out anywhere in a while. Except for the Selena thing that is.

Homophobia
Recently there were leaked pictures of Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, pictures in which they are close to other girls. Wildly inappropriate is what people are calling it, girl on girl action! First of of all, if you want girl on girl action go rent a good Lesbian porn movie. Second, has the world gone homophobic or something?

Since when is it wrong for a girl to kiss another girl? Whether people approve of it or not, being gay is a normal thing in our society these days. So what if Miley or Demi would be gay or bisexual? If that’s their nature, so be it; there would be nothing about it. Even suggesting it is a stretch, have the people who write that stuff ever gone to teenage parties when they were younger? Girls getting cozy with each other really isn’t anything rare and in a lot of cases there isn’t even anything gay involved. Miley and Demi goofing off in pictures isn’t anything different by the looks of it.

So what if her make up artist lifts up Miley’s dress a little or has her mouth close to Miley’s breast? Miley’s expression to me suggests that they’re goofing off. She’s doing it to keep up with Demi is what some people are even suggesting. Those pictures aren’t leaked by Miley herself, or Demi for that matter. The picture was taken back in June (which can be easily figured out but the media are just too lazy to do so), long before there was any Demi “picture scandal” so how was there any intent to spread it? If she wanted to start a scandal she’d take a new pic now and spread it, not use one from six months ago.

It’s a pretty well known fact by now that Miley has a serious picture leak somewhere and that is something she should take care of. The idea that anyone would leak pictures on purpose, to ask for bad press is just beyond weird. They really should take a look at how humans work, when you’re beyond hounded, beyond trashed in the media, no one is going to do anything on purpose to make it worse.

Then there are is the on stage move where Miley dips one of her dancers. Girl on girl kiss on stage; Scarlett Johansson and Sandra Bullock did an on stage kiss this year and that was even acted but it was still more of a kiss than anything Miley did. I haven’t seen any lip locking on stage by Miley, it’s just a dance move, part of the choreography, deal with it. I really question what people are thinking when they write that sort of crap. Do they even realize that they’re being beyond homophobic, by calling something interpreted as gay, bad?

Morality
Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are apparently bad people for having personal issues. Yes, they have committed criminal acts in getting busted for things like DUI but I think it’s widely proven that they have underlying causes for their problems. They’re not bad people, they’re just people who have made mistakes and in some cases continue to make them. Do they have any bad intent in doing so? I sincerely doubt so and that is what makes a bad person stand out; intent!

The whole bad girl thing is beyond screwed up anyway. Like Miley and Demi are branded the new Disney bad girls now, sure, they could go the way of Britney or Lindsay but so could Selena. There is no way to predict the future and times have changed a lot since Britney and Lindsay started their downward spirals. Also just as I said, it doesn’t actually make them bad people. That’s however what people make them out to be. Give these people a chance before branding them a certain way, or would you like to be judged as someone you aren’t? When someone says Miley or Demi are just like Lindsay or Britney; it just shows that people aren’t even willing to actually look at a person.

What I really can’t stand is people proclaiming what bad Christians people like Miley are. To me religion is still something that is a personal choice and something that is interpreted by oneself. So what if Miley is a Christian? Just because she interprets it differently than someone else doesn’t make her way wrong. People even playing the religion card on the leaked pictures is beyond screwed up. Miley has always shown support for the gay community, like a lot of other Christians. She’s dedicated songs to them and has even publicly commented in support of gay marriage, through all of it she still calls herself Christian. Why would one picture make her a bad Christian all of a sudden?

Morality is something that is based on your own beliefs and guide lines you were taught in your life. Just because one person considers something bad, it doesn’t actually make something bad. That’s the key with using celebrities as a role model, they were raised with different morals. So why would anyone want their kids raised by someone who doesn’t meet their own beliefs and values? What should be admired are the talent and what they achieve and on whether they actually area a good person or not. Whether they agree on certain things and choices in celebrity’s lives shouldn’t matter.

Sometimes I do wonder when masses of parents and the media will break out their pitch forks and burn someone like Miley at the stake. Because that is what it’s starting to look like; a witch hunt.

Lessons learned
It’s easy for parents to blame problems in society on celebrities instead of using them. So what if Miley smoked drugs? You don’t want your kids to smoke drugs? Use it as an opportunity to talk about it. Make it a subject of conversation, don’t remove Miley from their lives just because you don’t want them exposed to something. When your kids like Miley, they will find a way to see or hear Miley. The internet makes sure of that.

The main lesson that should be learned from that bong video is that you should be more careful in picking the right friends and be less naive in certain respects; which is a valuable lesson. Also what Miley has done since then should be commended; rather than coming up with some weak public apology (if she even needs to apologize for anything, though sooner or later she sort of has to address it to avoid the media going all over her) she continues to live her life and continues to work. That now her Christmas (which she spent with her whole family) and New Year’s wishes for her fans are being dragged through the media is weak at best. Miley being mature about a situation like this isn’t exactly news; it’s how she usually reacts.

Yes, celebrities can be used to teach, use it as an opportunity to discuss the pitfalls in life. Be it sex, drugs, smoking, alcohol or whatever. There are even examples of parents who rather discuss or share experiences with their children rather than shutting them out of their lives. It is a fair question, would you rather that your kid takes their first drink at a shady party or in the safety of their own home under parental supervision?

When you tell your kids that they can’t admire a celebrity because they made a mistake in their eyes, aren’t you telling your kid that they aren’t allowed to make mistakes? Mistakes are learning experiences in life, what they’re also saying is that you should shut people who made mistakes out of your life. How is that a good lesson to teach your kids?

These people also call someone like Miley dumb because they make mistakes; which isn’t very moral to me either. Do people honestly believe that there are no smokers, alcoholics or drug addicts in Mensa? It doesn’t matter how smart you are, everyone makes “mistakes” if you even want to call them that. Intelligence isn’t the same as wisdom and I think there is little wisdom in shunning someone for making mistakes.  Everyone makes mistakes out of naivety, it doesn’t make someone dumb, it’s how we learn. I would also doubt that someone with no brains at all could achieve the level of their craft as most of the celebrities that are being called dumb.

Most of all these celebrities aren’t telling anyone to do the same thing as they do. They will all say that they are growing up and that they will make mistakes, does anyone listen? No, they are branded as a role model and have to fit some stereotypical straightjacket. It’s not fair and it’s just not right, you can’t ask someone to live a fake life because someone else looks up to them.

Would you want to live a life with that constant pressure on you? The idea that whatever you do, however harmless it may be that people will look into it and try to find something bad? It’s no pressure that should be put on anyone, let alone teenagers who are still in the process of finding themselves. Even when they say things like that they aren’t heard, people focus too much on the role model thing. So in that sense celebrities are being a good role model, listen to yourself and admit that you’re not perfect, you’re going to make mistakes. That’s the sort of thing people should listen to. They have their own message, not just the one the media wants you to hear.

What is my conclusion?
So what if a sixteen year old teen star is sharing an after sex cigarette with her girlfriend while studying their new matching crotch tattoos. They’re not telling other people to do the same.

You can also download this blog as a PDF file

10. Selena Gomez – I can already hear people bitching about how she’s too low on this list but what has she really done this year? Besides getting her ass kissed by the media as the perfect role model? She had an under-performing movie out which didn’t exactly gave her the material to show off any acting talent. Wizards of Waverly Place has declining ratings and her album wasn’t a hit even though it got high praise (though I don’t know why). What has she coming up next year? One (pushed back) movie and the end of Wizards of Waverly Place. What will come after that? I don’t know but I hope it will be a bit more adventurous.

9. Emma Stone – An old newcomer on this list seeing she’s already 22 years old, got herself on the list for creating quite a hype around her movie Easy A. She also has a lot of movies coming up in the next two years so her place in Hollywood is set for a while, what worries me in this case is that there are a lot of comedies amongst them. Though maybe that’s the direction she wants to take so in that case it would be fine.

8. Taylor Momsen – This is a difficult one, her acting career is going downhill quite a bit due to her lacking appearances on Gossip Girl (not going to speculate as to why). However she is doing things to get herself noticed in the music industry, she actually does make decent music with The Pretty Reckless. It however is being overshadowed by her transformation within a year where she feels the need to shock people as much as possible to get herself noticed. I would prefer it if she let her music speak.

7. Dakota Fanning – In a way she’s still the go to teen actress in Hollywood, however she seems to have gone from quality actress more to blockbuster actress in a way, mainly due to the Twilight series. However she is also busy with going to normal high school so I can’t blame her for that, out of all the people on the list she’s the only one who became homecoming queen this year. After the Twilight movies it looks more promising again, so she’s still doing her thing in Hollywood.

6. Miranda Cosgrove – Miranda, just like a couple of others, is a bit safe. She doesn’t do any crazy things or things where you’d think that it would be a real challenge. The only thing she did which is a bit out of her comfort zone in a way is play a Disney star on The Good Wife for one episode. Her album did alright enough for a first effort though I don’t ever see her becoming a big seller, of course she doesn’t have to be. Her show iCarly is still going strong and she also had an animated movie that did well. Her future seems to be heading along the same lines as it is now.

5. Chloe Moretz – A lot of people would expect her to be higher up but I don’t see her as bit a hit as some other people. Yes, she did make an impact as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. Thing is, no matter how much people talk about that movie it really wasn’t the success they make it out to be. She has a lot of movies coming out in the next two years and they seem like a fairly balanced mix between starring and non-starring roles. So she’s just taking her time.

4. Elle Fanning – Higher than her sister yes and she hasn’t actually done a whole lot in the past year so why is she there? For her it’s more about the next year, she actually has quite a few movies listed and just like with Chloe there is a nice mix between starring and non-starring and bigger and smaller movies. I just see more potential in Elle than in Chloe, I think she actually might be able to take advantage of being in the shadow of a more famous sibling. There doesn’t seem to be that much pressure on her.

3. Taylor Swift – I sort of had to put her up this high even though I don’t actually like it. Despite her lack in development in a way and her general safeness she still makes good music. Yes, she did make her acting debut this year and even though I don’t like saying it; she sucked as an actress. It really isn’t something she was made out to do it seems but it doesn’t seem to be what she really wants to do anyway. Not that she’s never going to act again but music is still her main focus. Despite me having certain issues with her, I still like her music and actually have concert tickets to go see her next year.

2. Victoria Justice – She is the star of Victorious obviously and does a good job of it. She has the looks to make it in Hollywood and she also has the voice for a music career. Whether a music career will be successful for her isn’t guaranteed but she’s working on it. Just like her network mate Miranda it seems she’ll just continue what she’s doing now, focus on her TV show, at this time there are no other acting projects listed. People in general just seem to like her which is a good thing and she’s not afraid to show some personality in interviews.

1. Miley Cyrus – Did I put Miley on #1 again? Yes, despite the (in my eyes unfair) criticism on her acting performance in her first real role outside of Hannah Montana, despite there being tons of non-existent blown out of proportion scandals, despite the “failing” of her music career and who knows what else. You know what? She’s still there, isn’t she? For all the criticism she gets she still is teen star #1 out there. So what is winning there, her talent or her “bad” image? She’s focusing on acting for the time being (though I’m sure music will be back soon enough) and the movies that are coming up are nothing what people in her position would have done in the past.

She chooses movies for strong female characters than just a paycheck. To me that shows that she’s serious about the acting craft and wants to learn and expand herself. Whether the movies will be a success or not is something we will have to wait and see about, just like we have to wait and see whether she can hold her own in those roles. Oh yes people, now that she’s 18 could you give her a little slack and stop it with the prejudice? There are also a lot of people who don’t think that she’ll make it because she’s “ugly”. The worldwide excitement regarding a false rumor about her posing in Playboy tells me otherwise.

So as you can tell for a rising starlets list it’s quite negative compared to previous years but that’s all I could think of. They’re each busy building a career their own way. As I said, if you don’t agree with it, tough luck. Start your own blog and make your own list.

P.S. Before anyone starts bitching about Willow Smith not being on this list, it takes more than one over-hyped song to get on it. As for the other group of people who are going to criticize me for not putting Bella Thorne on there; I just don’t see it.

People can have an interest in celebrities and read a lot about them, save their pictures, it depends on how you deal with it to be honest. In my case I don’t think it’s really that much of a bad thing to be honest. As long as I keep my attitude respectful towards them I don’t see harm in it.

Now when I look around the internet I have to say that not everyone is that way. Not just talking about the celebrity bloggers who feel they can write anything they want, because they don’t know the celebrities anyway so what is the harm in writing crap about them? If a story turns out to be false why would we correct it (if they don’t, people like Miley feel the need to do it for them)? They’re human, that’s why but I’ve gone over that many times.

The fans I’ve addressed before but they still bug me. On the one hand they’re happy when a celebrity is left alone for a while, that there aren’t a lot of pictures of them. That they have time to themselves. When you however see the same people begging for pictures you can only ask “what do you want?”. As I said I save a lot of pictures but when there are no pictures I’m not longing for new ones. When there are pictures there are pictures, when there aren’t there aren’t. Simple as that.

The worst part are still the fan Twitter accounts, when I see those I can only role my eyes. When things like “Miley Cyrus had ice cream last night!” become news you have to wonder what really matters in this world. Don’t even want to know what would happen if Miley scratched her ass in public, they’d have a meltdown.

Then there are the decisions celebrities make, that usually gets a lot of people involved. Miley shouldn’t be wearing this, Selena shouldn’t be doing that, Demi shouldn’t be dating him and who knows what else. Of course everyone can have an opinion about something but it should never become someone’s business. Why not? They can’t actually do anything about it now can they?

Everyone in this world lives their own lives. Would Dakota Fanning make the same choices as you would if she had your life in your place? Of course not, everyone is their own person and makes their decisions differently. Just because something might seem like a wrong choice to you it’s still a choice made by that celebrity. If it’s the wrong one they will be faced with that in the future. Just because it’s not a decision you as a person would make, doesn’t make it a bad one. Who knows, if you were in the same situation as them you might actually make the exact same decision. It’s far too easy to judge from the outside.

So what am I trying to say? Well basically that as such there is nothing wrong with being obsessed with celebrities. As I said, I see it as a hobby. People should just remember that they have no control over the lives of these celebrity and most of all that they should be treated with respect. We don’t need to know everything about them, we don’t need to know what brand of toilet paper they use (I’m sure that if someone ever revealed Miley’s supplier it would be all over Twitter), we need to treat them like we would want to be treated. The only thing they have that isn’t public is their private space (though sometimes that is even hard) and that should be preserved. Though the foremost thing still is; whatever choices they make, you have no influence on them. If you don’t like a decision a celebrity makes; learn to live with it.

I think we have to look at the currently under age actors as to who will become the next one. People could go for people like Kristen Bell but however lovely she might be, if she hasn’t made it to that status by now, I don’t think she’s going to make it. I think there are currently three main candidates we can look at; Dakota Fanning, AnnaSophia Robb and Sofia Vassilieva. Except for their first names ending in a the main thing they have in common is that their hair has the required hair color. Seeing they’re still minors I’m not going to judge them on their vavavoom factor quite yet. Besides, they’re in Hollywood and this might sound a bit harsh but you don’t really see ugly people in Hollywood.

© Summit Entertainment

Lets start with the most famous and youngest one; Dakota Fanning. I’m afraid she’s also the first one where I have to say she’s not going to be the one. She does have the acting talent for it, I think she has shown that in some of her most recent movies like the Secret life of Bees. However in this there is also the matter of perception by the general public. I know too many people who see her as the annoying girl from War of the Worlds and too much as a child star. I still think she’ll have a lengthy career in Hollywood, the public will just never see her as the one blonde superstar. In that sense I don’t think that being on the Twilight cast now will do her a lot of favors either. She now has two things to be stereotyped for, even though she joined Twilight at a later date.

So that leaves AnnaSophia and Sofia and they both share a major advantage in my eyes. If you were to mention either name to a random person on the street there would be some people who know them.

© Overture Films

There however would be a huge amount of people who would have no idea who they are or what they do. Both of them have already built a bit of a resume in Hollywood by now, not that they’re huge movies but it’s more about the people they’ve worked with. Between them they’ve worked with people like Charlize Theron, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Julie Andrews and that’s only mentioning some of the Oscar winners. There are plenty more Oscar nominated or otherwise well respected and experienced actors in the mix.

Now that itself doesn’t mean much when they don’t make use of it. They however have the chance to learn from some incredibly talented people. A privilige which isn’t there for everyone. Yes of course Dakota has also worked with people like that but AnnaSophia and Sofia don’t really have that child actor stigma stuck on them. Despite Sofia being on a show which is in its sixth season now she isn’t famous enough to get that. AnnaSophia has mostly done movies but again never the big block busters which had her as a main star.

© Warner Brothers

Neither AnnaSophia and Sofia seem to be scared to pick up more challenging roles. Of course Sofia did My Sister’s Keeper in which she had to play a cancer patient which to her own admission wasn’t easy on a personal level. Annasophia is currently filming the movie Soul Surfer which most likely will ask more of her as well. While it’s going to be removed with computers her character still lost an arm in a shark attack. No idea if the movie is going to be any good but I can’t imagine that it’s easy to portray the emotions of a character like that.

So for both of them goes that they are actually talented actresses which is a requirement in becoming the reigning blonde in Hollywood. If they weren’t they wouldn’t be able to make it in Hollywood anyway. So who do I pick? In all reality I don’t know, they both have the goods to become the reigning blonde in Hollywood, only time will tell.

Simple enough solution, here is the annual list of rising starlets so now the 2009 edition. So young actresses and musicians in Hollywood who I feel have done the most improvement in their career rated by projects, popularity etc. Yes, it is full of my opinion so no one can tell me I’m wrong. Here we go.

10. Victoria Justice – Is getting quite a bit of attention for someone who isn’t on TV all that much. Sure she has her guest spots on Nickelodeon shows her and there and she did the TV movie Spectacular! She is getting an own show on Nickelodeon though for some reason it went a bit quiet around that.

9. Demi Lovato – Personally I think she should be up higher on the list, however I also think that she won’t get the same chances as other people might get. People see her too much as just another Disney star while I think she has more potential than that. This year saw the premiere of her show Sonny With a Chance which gets good ratings, however it doesn’t quite match up with other shows on the same channel. Her second album outsold her first album so that is going in the right direction, she’s developing her own sound.

8. Dakota Fanning – Dakota just had success with Twilight: New Moon of course though that isn’t really down to her. She however is continuing to show that she has some acting talent, the coming year however will be in the shade of Kristen Stewart a bit as she co-stars her twice, in both cases Kristen has the bigger role.

7. Selena Gomez – Continues to do well with Wizards of Waverly Place ratings wise, also has a movie coming out next year. Not too confident in her music career honestly but the main public seems to like her and the media makes her out to be bigger than she actually is. The media however is also of major influence in entertainment so that’s why she ranks higher than for example Demi Lovato.

6. Taylor Swift – Basically one of the best selling artists of the year if not the best selling one. For 2010 I however am not to sure, right now she is still milking the success of Fearless which was released in 2008. Even though it had a re-release with new songs she has to do something bigger fairly soon. Though she is now broadening her horizon into acting as well, so career wise that probably is a good thing.

5. Miranda Cosgrove – iCarly is pretty much the highest rated show in its age category, simple as that. She seems fairly settled at Nickelodeon though maybe just a bit too settled. She’s also recording an album, I hope it won’t be what she has been producing so far. So far she’s only been doing soundtrack work so I’m still hopeful that she can develop her own sound.

4. Jennette McCurdy – I’m probably the only person who ranks Jennette above Miranda in a comparison like this. She is also a major part in the success of iCarly, so in that part of the success I actually rank them equally. I however see more promise in her music career, unlike what most people would expect she didn’t sign to a pop label. She’s going into country music, with her voice I think she has potential there (if you haven’t heard her sing, just youtube her).

3. Kristen Stewart – Twilight, that’s what sums her up right now at the moment. Though she’s also doing The Runaways but I don’t think that will be that big a box office hit, don’t think it’s really supposed to be either. Twilight is also her problem though, right now she’s nothing but Twilight. Even I can see what it did to her name in Hollywood, despite me not actually liking Twilight.

2. Sofia Vassilieva – Visitors to this site (even though there aren’t that many) will know that I have a soft spot for her. In the past year however she has starred in a well received movie (My Sister’s Keeper) and not just because she shaved her head and eyebrows for it. Her show Medium also moved channels and what did that do? It only made ratings for the show either, quite an achievement for a show that has been on the air for that much time already. Is it due to her? Not in particular but she turns eighteen next year, which means producers for the show will be able to do what I think they have been wanting to do for a while. Give her a bigger role as she can start to work more hours. Only flaw I see is that she doesn’t really have any new movie projects lined up at this time.

1. Miley Cyrus – Yes, yet again I put Miley on the top. Why? Well, think about it. Who was the person with the most blown out of proportion scandals in the past year that weren’t actually true scandals? That’s right it was Miley. Did it hurt her career? If it did, I don’t want to know what would have happened if she didn’t have any of those scandals. We’d most likely be visiting churches devoted to Miley by now. She managed to crash Twitter (though there is no real proof for that, just rather curious Twitter crashed right after she deleted her Twitter) and expanded her career to include that of successful clothing designer. She however managed to do one major thing which is the most important; she managed to be Miley Cyrus. People keep saying she’ll have Hannah Montana branded on her forehead the rest of her life (though maybe that’s due to the show itself going down in quality), I think she already passed that point though. Next year will also see a movie in which she isn’t Hannah Montana and another album release. Nothing to suggest that she will go downhill, even if that is what certain media are trying to make people believe.