|
How many 17 year olds among us are millionaires? How many
17 year-old's have sold upwards of 5 million records? Probably
not very many. But for pop "diva" Britney Spears, millions
of dollars from her 5-time platinum album ...Baby one More Time
this is a way of life. Thousands of adoring fans worship the
ground she walks on. Don't you think that this kind of status
would make her want to be the best role model possible for these
young girls? Instead, she shows up at the Grammy Awards scantily
clad, wearing too much makeup and definitely not, in my opinion,
setting a good example for young children. It is celebrities
like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez who
set the examples for us, the teenage girl. Is this really the
kind of generation of young people that our society needs?
Every time a girl opens the cover of a teen-focused magazine,
turns on the TV or walks in to a cinema, she is bombarded with
images of models and celebrities with their perfect bodies, perfect
teeth and so-called "perfect" lives. These images push
young girls towards anorexia or other eating disorders to help
them achieve these perfect body images. But instead, all that
they are setting themselves up for is disappointment when they
do not automatically start becoming popular. I feel that young
celebrities need to live up to the admiration of their admirers
and start acting like normal teenagers. In my opinion, the best
thing that a young teen celebrity could do is to appear in public
in jeans and a t-shirt, just like many of us wear to school everyday.
To achieve Britney Spears' so called; "perfect"
image; girls would have to fork out thousands of dollars.
Dental work for a "brilliant" smile ... approx..
$ 500 per tooth
Personal Trainer for an athletic body ... approx.. $100 per
session
Brand new Designer Wardrobe ... approx.. $10 000
Facials, cosmetics, dermatology, a dewy complexion ... approx..
$500 a month
Dancing, music, singing lessons ... approx.. $400 a month
Not many average teens can shell out over $26 000.
Plus the things that money can't buy, singing ability, drive
and ambition, stamina ...etc.
An image like this hurts more than just your wallet. It takes
time to get dental work done, work with a personal trainer, take
lessons, and get your makeup done and to go to rehearsals. Often,
teenage girls find themselves "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
In this case, Peter would be their friends, teachers and school,
their family and the people of the community.
Even if they achieve their goal, they are still under constant
scrutiny. There are many people who are making money off these
teen stars' youthful image such as managers, agents, publicists,
etc. These people are often quite cynical, they do not understand
that these people are "too tired" or "too over-worked"
to do this concert or that photo shoot. All they know is that
if they don't perform they won't get paid. These people take
advantage - when they say, "I'm too tired" they hear
" I need a pill". They offer them drugs in order to
make sure that all the day's plans go off without a hitch. After
a while, they become dependant on these drugs and are unable
to be of any use to anybody without their daily "pill fix".
Why would anyone want to put herself under this kind of pressure?
To achieve a perfect image.
A perfect image. Hmm, what's that? By today's standards, anyone
who is shorter than 5'8" weighs less than 120 pounds, has
either blond or brunette hair and has 20/20 vision is considered
perfect. Personally, I fit none of these criteria.
"Don't judge a book by its cover". Many teens have
heard this saying from an older person in their community. But
in this case, it is more relevant than ever. Looks can be deceiving.
Many times, young actors and actresses rely on drugs and alcohol
in order to impress their "public" with their perfect
lives.
What is a perfect life? To most, a perfect life is being beautiful,
living in a big house, lots of money, servants, the latest in
designer clothes, a good-looking boyfriend and some kind of talent
that will provide them with enough money to retire in ecstasy
and then have some left over to burn.
To me being perfect and having a perfect life means that you
are "real". You feel good about yourself, you have
a sense of humour, and you get along well with others. If you
have all these things then you are perfect. No matter what anyone
else thinks.
I am writing this article as a teen girl who is sick and tired
of opening magazines and reading articles entitled "Find
the perfect swimsuit for you"or "Bathing suits to fit
ANY body" and finding that the same model is modelling all
the swimsuits. I wish that the media would just "get a clue"
and realize that all girls are not carbon copies of the other
and that we need to be treated like the individuals we are, not
like Barbie dolls! |
