BLOG 1: Miley Cyrus at VMA-MTV Awards

On August 25^th, the VMA-MTV Awards aired on television during prime time. I have always been a fan of the show; love the music, and have come to anticipate a certain amount of controversy that keeps the show interesting. I am definitely not conservative in my taste in music or entertainment, but found this years’ performance by Miley Cyrus to be distasteful and disturbing at all levels. I would argue her choice in costume, dance, and props equaled nothing more than a classless attempt at entertainment, which failed miserably.

            At the onset, Cyrus appeared on stage dressed in a child-like costume. One of the commentators afterward actually referred to it as a “onesy” with a bizarre cartoon like character on the front. Her hair was pulled back in a tiny pig-tail. I would like to imagine that the costume was a spoof from her Disney days, but who would know, because after a brief interlude, she strips it off to expose a blush colored bra and panty ensemble, that left little to the imagination. After performing “We Can’t Stop,” she joined Robin Thicke and performed a duet of “Blurred Lines.”  Oddly enough, Thicke was wearing a black and white stripped outfit that suggested to me, that maybe they should both be locked up. While her costume was a senseless attempt for attention, her actual performance really took “disturbing” to a new level.

            I am usually willing to give any artist the license to perform as they please, but even I had to take offense to her moves that night.  MTV Award nights are often celebrated with an occasional lesbian kiss (before it became acceptable), a moment of nudity, or a provocative dance, but Cyrus’s performance was so distracting that it was difficult to listen to her music. I felt she completely embarrassed herself as an artist. She spent her entire time on stage either twerking, or performing some other illicit behavior that could only loosely be construed as a dance.  If she was not pumping her fist up and down, conjuring up the image of a male masterbating; she was using a giant foam finger to touch herself over and over and over, before backing up into Robin Thicke’s groin and mimicking fornification in a animalistic style.  It was exhausting to watch, and may explain why Cyrus had her tongue inexplicably hanging out of her mouth like a St. Bernard in the middle of summer. While her performance was packed with sexual innuendo, the motive behind the moves remained. By the end, she and her audience appeared haggard and mystified. Everyone’s question, what did I just see?

            If the bizarre costuming and sexual context were not tasteless enough, Cyrus topped it off an array of poorly chosen props. Beginning with the giant fuzzy bear in her entrance, combined with a row of awkward looking dancing bears, Cyrus had everyone’s imagination in turmoil. Then she topped it all off by highlighting a black dancer with an oversized booty, as she sang about a big booty. Currently, I am enrolled in a class that specifically addresses issues regarding race. Black culture has had a huge impact on the music industry, it is unfortunate that Cyrus felt she needed to degrade black women and use their bodies as an awkward prop. While I might be overly sensitive to this issue, I found this part of her act to be racial and in very bad taste. I would be surprised if others did not feel the same way.

            Obviously, entertainers possess an artistic license to be creative.  While most seem to have a limit, Miley Cyrus has proven that there is no boundary that she is not willing to cross. Her goal must have been to draw attention to herself whether that be in a positive or negative light. If her purpose was to be remembered and talked about, that was accomplished. Cyrus has shown she is willing to go beyond what is acceptable to even liberal viewers. One individual complained, “It was, at best, a third rate exhibition of what a pedophile would like to see during a child pornography live show.”

            An interesting point on the evening was that MTV network permitted Cyrus to perform her act with only one thing censored, the popular line “dancing with Molly” was bleeped out of the live TV broadcast that night. It is curious that the network was concerned about a single reference to an illegal drug, yet unconcerned about the rest of her performance.

             Most of my friends simply dismissed her performance as “perverse”. It is obvious to me that they have been saturated with so much raunchy and disturbing material that the “shock and aw” effect, no longer effects them. I am definitely not a prude, and can appreciate a raunchy dance and lyrics, but a show that is being aired to millions of viewers, not just Cyrus fans, should be able to deliver a little bit more. In the end, I guess Cyrus got exactly what she wanted….attention.

Citation: http://jezebel.com/these-miley-cyrus-fcc-complaints-are-amazing-1307896316