the LastWord
Disney Behind Bars
What is happening to our once beloved child stars? By Nikki Newman
It’s no secret that Disney Channel’s depiction of high school in High School Musical is more than far-fetched. There’s absolutely no way a jock like Troy Bolton could ever do anything more rebellious than betraying his basketball team and trying out for the school musical right? Wrong. This is real life and things happen. People make mistakes and they experiment. Unfortunately, our childhood heartthrob, singer and basketball star extraordinaire Zac Efron, has fallen from the positive influences of High School Musical and got hooked on something other than the status quo: cocaine. Cocaine, sex, alcohol, and fame are just a few of the many factors that are corrupting famous stars and transforming them from golden children to embarrassments. Among these starlets include Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Efron’s co-star Vanessa Hudgens. Probably the most recently corrupt starlet is the former Hannah Montana: the star who is soon releasing a new album entitled “Bangerz;” the one who has a music video of her lying in a pile of bread; the singer who had a less than classy performance at the VMAs; the girl who enjoys swinging on wrecking balls into well... nothing. The sad thing is that at one point Miley Cyrus had a positive influence on kids. I remember watching the very first episode of Hannah Montana. Instantly a fan, I watched the show until its end, as well as anything else that Miley Cyrus starred in. I ran around my house hoping that one day I could have the best of both worlds too. In each episode and song, there was a positive message for me to walk away with. But as Cyrus dug herself further and further into a painfully inescapable pit of doom, I became less of a fan.
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Whether striving for attention or crying for help or just being who she is, Cyrus seems to still be pulling new tricks out of her pockets (or lack thereof ) and climbing higher on the crazy scale. Her latest stunt at the VMAs has gotten her up to about a “has she lost her mind?” on a scale ranging from “just a little loco” to “completely crazed.” Instead of throwing away our lives and reputations because we want to reach a goal that is virtually impossible to reach, we need to be happy with what we have. Instead of going to extremes to get attention, we should be grateful for our friends and family. Just because famous people are going bonkers doesn’t mean the rest of us need to as well. The difference between people like you and I and famous, young stars is this: people like you and I, who attend school and play on sports teams and are in clubs and do chores learn values and morals from our parents, teachers, coaches, and peers. But when a child star is thrown into the “real world” too soon, they never get to figure out their goals and values before they have to be living and accomplishing them. They never have the opportunity to experience a full childhood. We, on the other hand, have at least 18 years of education in morals before being thrown into the “real world” to use them. That being said, it is up to us to decide to not follow all examples from popular culture. Instead, learn from experience and apply what we have been taught for all of these years. There are other ways to capture success and happiness other than absurd stunts. And no matter how many times Miley sings “you wrecked me,” she chose to go against classical morals and wreck herself.