After some breathing time
It’s been about three days now since the first glimpses of the topless Miley Cyrus pictures started to surface. Thinking about it; everyone pretty much overreacted. That includes myself, I’m honest enough to admit that. Does this mean that it’s all over now? Of course not; some people will probably be talking about this for weeks if not even months to come.
I still think the picture should never have been taken, the picture isn’t actually as bad as it might seem at first. Lets just look at the picture again? Is Miley naked? We can’t see what’s going on down below but we know from other pictures taken at the shoot she’s wearing pants. Do we see anything at the front? No we don’t. The only thing we can truly see is her bare back, there are bikini shots of people that show more than that. You could even argue that Miley has worn less revealing clothing at events before. The main problem with the picture is just the suggestive nature that she’s topless (we know she is; we just can’t see it).
Sure there is an artistic quality to the picture but the age should have been taken into consideration more. People just get caught up in the moment and make mistakes. Something might seem like a good idea at one point but later it might not. For Miley that’s the case here; in hindsight she regrets that the picture was taken. Vanity Fair should realise that and not make statements that she’s contradicting herself in what she said on set.
That’s also why I think that Annie Leibovitz didn’t actually trick her into taking the picture; she probably really was looking at the artistic side. If you explore your art you can sometimes go to far, so just like with Miley it was a lapse in judgement. She’s still a brilliant photographer and that won’t change anytime soon. Nobody’s Perfect to quote a Hannah Montana song.
There already are rumours (Though seeing they come from Page Six they’re accuracy isn’t exactly guaranteed. That’s an understatement for the people that didn’t realise it.) flying around that Disney will keep Miley out of the spotlight the next couple six months but that’s quite obvious seeing she’ll be busy shooting the Hannah Montana movie. So I highly doubt that Disney is doing it on purpose, I expect that we’ll see Miley back in the public when her album gets released in July. She still has to do all of the publicity work an album release requires, I doubt Hollywood Records would delay the release because of this.
It just was a bad decision on all ends, it doesn’t make any of them bad people. Not Miley, not Annie Leibovitz, not her teacher, not her grandmother and not her parents. For all of them I hope that this story will be over sooner rather than later. Though for Miley the trouble still might be starting but not with the media. Now there are sources (no idea what these sources are to be honest) that Billy Ray didn’t know about the pictures before Vanity Fair showed the article to them when it was sent to print.
As for Vanity Fair; I have nothing nice to say about them right now really. They’re trying to twist Miley’s words and are releasing vague and just plainly bad press releases that don’t deny that they’ve been at fault (Access Hollywood aired footage from the photoshoot which proves that Billy Ray and Tish were not there but her teacher and grandmother were, thank you for that. At least one media outlet that’s trying to get the facts straight.). Though as they say if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t. I’ll just leave it at that for now, it doesn’t make it a bad magazine but they screwed up on this one.
As for her fans; having browsed some fan forums the bulk still seems to be supporting Miley. A lot of them actually have more issues with the picture of her Miley resting her head on her dad’s lap. Everyone just interprets things their own way and that’s how it should be. Of course I don’t know what it means to the parents that let their younger kids watch Hannah Montana on TV. We’ll just have to wait and see what the long-term effects of this will be, I doubt it will have a real effect on her career. Of course there are people that thing it will and even some who think that it will have a positive impact; only time will tell.
So what have I personally learned from all of this? Everyone blows things out of proportion at times, so sometimes it’s hard to be objective. I wasn’t objective all the time, just like I blamed Annie Leibovitz more before than I do now, people get caught up in the moment and now I just had more time to process it all. One thing I have realised beyond any doubt is that the trash gossip sites (it should be obvious what sites I mean by that by now) have no idea what the word objectivity or integrity means.
The last thing I’m going to post is the entire statement Miley (and her management) released to People Magazine, without any interpreation from my or any others end.
“My goal in my music and my acting is always to make people happy. For Vanity Fair, I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed.”
“The pictures of me on the Internet were silly, inappropriate shots. I appreciate all the support of my fans, and hope they understand that along the way I am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect. I never intended for any of this to happen and I am truly sorry if I have disappointed anyone.”
“Most of all, I have let myself down. I will learn from my mistakes and trust my support team. My family and my faith will guide me through my life’s journey.”
I say lost though I can’t guarantee there won’t be any news about it anymore, for now it’s the last I have to say about it.
