Disney’s New Jailbait Princess
posted at 3:06 pm on July 13, 2009 by The Other McCain
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Given my status in the online “Rule 5 community” — conservative bloggers who figure there’s nothing wrong with an occasional bit of traffic-boosting cheesecake — I try to avoid puritanical prudery. On the other hand, I am a cultural conservative and a father of six, and therefore a critic of the “Girls Gone Wild” culture.
Without claiming to have struck a perfect balance that is neither hypocritical nor hysterical, it occurs to me that the “Girls Gone Wild” problem may be related to the product being pumped into our culture in the name of family programming:
What do washed-up celebrity bimbos Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan have in common? Both got their show-biz breaks in the Disney empire, Britney as a pre-teen member of the New Mousketeers and Lindsay in wholesome family films like the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap.
The latest young starlet to roll off the Disney assembly line is 16-year-old Selena Gomez. . . .
Gomez’s career came to my attention in an unexpected way when I walked through my living room where some of my younger children were watching Disney TV’s showing of Another Cinderella Story, the starlet’s 2008 direct-to-DVD feature film debut. . . .
I was stunned by a scene in which Gomez and co-star Drew Seeley danced a decidedly adult-oriented tango. Imagine a father’s reaction (remember, my children were watching this) when Gomez leaped upward and flung herself against Seeley, wrapping her legs around his waist.
Perhaps not since Jennifer Grey shimmied her way into the Dirty Dancing arms of Patrick Swayze—“What Baby wants, Baby gets”—has a film so blatantly blended the sexual symbolism of dance with the jailbait frisson of adolescence.
You can read the rest of that, which includes a video clip of the tango scene described. And I should point out that the photo that illustrates this article was cropped from a larger image in which Gomez appears to be imitating the Vanity Fair photo of Miley Cyrus that enraged The Boss.
Am I overreacting? Maybe. But I think it is hardly puritanical to be skeptical of entertainment for kids that appears to originate from a weird cultural zone somewhere between Jessica Valenti’s “pro-sex feminism” and Chris Hansen’s To Catch a Predator.
UPDATE: Speaking of “a weird cultural zone” . . .
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One of the classic Garfield cartoons, from the time before he got cuted-up, has Jon walking in to see Garfield, sprawled on a recliner, watching a television that’s playing, “M. I. C….. K. E. Y……”
Jon chuckles and says, “That’s so funny, a cat watching Mouseketeers.”
And Garfield gets a thought bubble that says, “Shake it, Annette.”
cthulhu on July 13, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Honestly, I think you are overreacting. Evidence? “Grinding” is regular dance fare at the events of high schoolers today.
At least the tango is classy.
MadisonConservative on July 13, 2009 at 8:30 PM
South Park, by the way, made a point about the culture you’re discussing.
A lot of people missed that point, though.
MadisonConservative on July 13, 2009 at 8:31 PM
Fine. I’m overreacting. Watch the video of the “classy” dance and imagine walking into the room while your children, ages 6, 8 and 10, were watching that.
The Other McCain on July 13, 2009 at 9:08 PM
Just to check my “overreaction,” I reviewed the video again. I refer specifically to the moves demonstrated at the 3:05 and 3:28 marks. Whether such dancing is “classy,” is this appropriate Sunday-morning fare on the Disney Channel?
Where’s Chris Hansen when we really need him?
The Other McCain on July 13, 2009 at 9:17 PM
I wouldn’t have my children watching the left-leaning pap on the Disney Channel anyway. That channel has been awful for the last decade. I’ve been without any television service for years, and I’m anticipating staying that way once I have kids. I’ll have tons of DVDs of all kinds of shows from my childhood for them to watch. They can watch the Disney Afternoon from way back.
However, again, if your complaint is with a saucy tango being danced by…what is she? 16? Then maybe you shouldn’t have kids so far under 16 watching it. I seem to recall things nearly as raunchy on Saved By The Bell, but I wasn’t interested in the show till I was in my teens.
MadisonConservative on July 13, 2009 at 9:59 PM
My kids watch her on “Wizards of Waverly Place”. I haven’t noticed anything raunchy there. Of course I don’t watch the entire show with them either. I have noticed some things on Disney are getting above the age level of my kids but, I’ll tell ya, it’s not as bad as the Cartoon Network. Oh I haven’t seen the show you posted about either and I’m not sure I want to watch the clip. One thing I did notice awhile back was that Disney and the stars seemed to be going about the wrong way for getting press when Miss Gomez and Miss Cyrus were having cat fights over the internet. From what I saw of the whole ordeal it seemed they were getting taken advantage of by the press and probably Disney.
boomer on July 13, 2009 at 10:08 PM
I guess I should have written a bit more about the cartoon network. My cousin’s husband came home at 2 am from work one morning to find his kids asleep on the couch. They had fallen asleep on the couch watching cartoons. Their mom left the tv on not realizing that in the middle of the night animated pornography was broadcast on that network. I can’t imagine and network that plays cartoons for kids would broadcast that at night. I’ve heard it referred to as “adult swim”.
boomer on July 13, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Sadly, there is so much crap out there today that I find watching TV to be useless. Not even once gold standards like Disney can be trusted anymore.
Instead I find I have to keep my ear to the ground to find anything good. My latest discovery? A currently airing Japanese animated show called Cross Game. I know, I know… Japanese animation??? And yet, there are no giant robots, no martial arts, and no blue hair. Instead, Cross Game is a old fashioned coming of age story. All about life, death, and baseball!
I like to think of it as The Wonder Years minus liberal politics plus The Natural. It’s that mythical product: entertainment that really is for the whole family.
Oh, and if the first episode doesn’t make you cry, then you have no heart.
So take courage. There still is good media being produced out there in the world. It just takes a lot more effort to find it.
Sackett on July 13, 2009 at 10:47 PM
Heh. Um, no. They do not broadcast animated pornography on Cartoon Network, though the material late at night on Cartoon Network is not intended for children, hence both the title “ADULT Swim” and the disclaimers before the shows.
If they really are kids, they shouldn’t BE up late watching television. They’ve put adult programming on late at night since cable existed. There’s no reason kids should be up till 2 watching anything. Hell, when I was 13-14 and I stayed up late, I was watching PBS. Granted, there are certain degrees of British Comedy that are just as risque, but at least it was somewhat cultured.
MadisonConservative on July 13, 2009 at 10:49 PM
She has breasts, she ovulates, she menstruates, and we have, right before us, photographic evidence of her retina-searing coquettish glance. So marry Selena Gomez and give her children, T.O. McCain. Make her an honest woman. She’s perfectly ripe, and the only reason she’s forbidden fruit is that she’s, you know, forbidden.
Kralizec on July 14, 2009 at 12:59 AM
She’s also going to be 17 in a week. I don’t think she’s still jailbait then.
MadisonConservative on July 14, 2009 at 9:36 AM
I don’t have a problem with that scene for prudish reasons, my problem is that it looks like a completely awful movie. And a terrible dance scene. If parents are really worried about their kids’ cultural exposure, the real issue isn’t the sex one, it’s the quality one. Do your kids a favor and don’t let them watch anything except TCM! Although, if Singing in the Rain every comes on, you might want to cover their eyes…
AdrianG on July 14, 2009 at 9:55 AM
To clarify, obviously I don’t mean you should let them explicit sex scenes in a good movie, but that I think you will find that really good movies don’t have explicit sex scenes. There were never better movies than during the time of “censorship” when the production code forbid the stuff that shows up every five minutes in our theatres today. There might be some innuendo in the classics, but kids won’t get it. And as for adults, it’s a whole lot sexier than anything a glorified streetwalker like Meghan Fox could ever provide.
AdrianG on July 14, 2009 at 9:59 AM
My thoughts on marketing dirty films to kids.
jgapinoy on July 14, 2009 at 11:54 PM