What's wrong with Hannah Montana

This Slate article by Meghan O'Rourke sums up pretty well what's always bothered me about the show:

This is the way the show works: It teaches kids to understand their own experiences—about growing pains, about being honest with their parents, and so on—through the narrow lens of teen celebrity, rather than through broader storytelling. Once, sitcoms taught kids to be true to themselves by showing what happened when, say, Greg Brady thought about cheating on a test, or how Sandy and Bud's adventures with Flipper shaped their character. Hannah Montana instructs them in the proper etiquette of endorsement deals.

And we wonder why our society is obsessed with celebrities.

Another Slate article talks about how David Brooks snapped a photo of a racy Disney Chinese underwear ad, shown here, with a 12 year old girl holding Mickey Mouse puppets in her hands. When he contacted a Disney exec, Brooks was told it was done by a subcontractor and the ad would be pulled immediately. Bad for the public image and all that.

What's even worse for Disney's public image is the plot line of shows like Hannah Montana. We all know as adults that Miley Cyrus ,the Disney star, has never had a shot at a normal childhood. Sure, she and her family have been well paid for the sacrifice. But for a tween starring in a sitcom about a star, it's not surprising that she has trouble separating out what's appropriate for a 15 year old to do or not do. How would she know the difference between what a 15 year old star what do and what a 15 year old would do? (Her dad, Billy Cyrus, is on the show. He was also in a photo with her during the photo shoot, one that O'Rourke finds more offensive than the photo of Miley draped in a sheet.)

Is this a question of Disney not keeping tight enough controls on their image? No, I wouldn't say that's what the focus should be. Disney better look at the real issue, which is not only that present and former Disney stars aren't immune from falls from grace any more than tweens starring in any films. Disney, in their quest to get advertisers and, hence, ratings, has treaded a thin line between putting out a public image to parents that it's safe to watch Disney shows because their name is on it and making shows that are cool and appealing. But Disney is no longer producing plot lines that consider the effects on their young audience. And that's what's wrong with Hannah Montana.

Think about a show like DeGrassi High and the real life issues it deals with and compare that to the "star playing a star with life lessons about being a star " premise in Hannah Montana. Or even a show like Saddle Club, which is about girls, friendships, relationships and - well -horses. But the point is that shows which deal with issues that the kids watching the shows will deal with are heads above shows that lead young minds to an obsession with celebrities. Why?

Because, for most kids, they are not growing to grow up to be a celebrity. Kids don't need to know what Hannah Montana would do. It's not going to help them. And, for the few that do grow up to be celebrities, perhaps a better lesson would be this: to look back and learn from what Hannah Montana shouldn't have done.

For the rest of us, maybe we need to consider why it took a photograph to see what's wrong with the premise of this show. Myself included.