Parents, RE: Disney shows (HSM, Hannah Montana)

[vi5]

My daughter is 7 and just starting to watch this stuff. She still straddles the line between watching the classic "princess" type disney animation but also now watching High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, etc.

For reference, I'm 38 years old came up on metal, punk, hardcore, avant-garde music, played in bands, have tattoos, etc. But I don't like parents who try and get their kids to be overly hip or cool before their time, and force their tastes on their kids to make themselves feel validated or superior. My daughter likes the odd song or so that I listen to but for the most part my wife and I believe in letting her find her own way and her own taste even if that means following certain trends that cause us to roll our eyes or groan in annoyance.

Anyway, I'm struck by the differences in some of this Disney live action stuff, and from a sociological and musical perspective. The High School Musical movies seem almost unapologetically goofy and traditional, which is obviously corny to me. But by the same token there's definitely an underlying sense of inclusiveness to them. They touch upon the kids being from different economic groups, there are different races, many of the girls are shown as being smart and strong willed, and even though it' never alluded to in an adult manner the fact that there are guys who are into singing and dancing and musical theater presents an alternative to the hyper masculine jock archetype.

As for the other stuff, the Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, etc. I wish I could be so charitable. I hate that these artists and shows try to present some faux rebellious, "rockin'" image. It seems forced and it seems to completely contradict the entire intent of rebelliousness and questioning authority, etc. and presents the whole rock image as something one does to go along with trends rather than bucking them. This stuff really annoys me precisely BECAUSE I've studiously avoided trying to impart a "rebellious rocker" image on to my kids rather than having them come to such things on their own in their own time and in their own way.

Just curious how other parents reacted to this stuff or if the kids are older how they view it or what have you. Yeah, a part of me wishes I could anticipate my daughter one day soon wanting to dig through my vinyl and pull out the old Minor Threat records or wanting to know more about Bikini Kill or Riot Girls and all of that. But more than that I want her to be happy and be herself and if going through this phase leads her to that point of finding herself then I support it 100% and will sit through as many bad, hokey movies and contrived pop/rock music as I have to.

[Parche]

1. Ask Midlo, She Loves The Jonas Brothers

:woohoo: :rofl: :hi:

[sasquatch]

2. HAHAHA!

:D

[Tikki]

3. Speaking of Bikini Kill...did you know Tobi Vail is....

drumming for another Oly band..The Old Haunts.
Girl is pervasive..girl is super talented.


Tikki

My five year old grandson and I run around the house singing show tunes..
as loud as we can. :)

[vi5]

6. I'll have to check them out....

Kathleen Hanna got most of the press, and Le Tigre just never did it for me. Hadn't heard much about the rest of them though so I'll have to see if I can scare some stuff up by them (if they've recorded any).

[amitten]

4. Ah, she's just a kiddo. Let it ride. n/t

[vi5]

5. Yeah, that's my point....

I prefer the stuff that lets her still be a kid to the stuff that tries to make her want to be too adult or too rebellious too quickly.

[Taverner]

7. Disney pushes the Disney Paradigm

It's hard to explain, but there is a paradigm behind all of their stuff.

It's not a bad paradigm either - but it is pretty vanilla.

Basically - they push the middle class American dream from a very superficial standpoint. Blacks, Whites, Asians, Hispanics, Middleasterners and everyone gets along perfectly. Everyone is of the same socio-economic status (Upper Middle Class). Everyone can sing and dance. Everyone goes to college, has kids, and the process starts anew. There is no religion. Basically, It's John Lennon's 'Imagine', but without the political overtones. Think Norman Rockwell, and how he, a Liberal and a Democrat, illustrated the covers of magazines showing what he wanted America to be, not what it was.

[vi5]

9. Agreed....

Like you said, not a bad paradigm but nothing controversial.

I like the multi-ethnic inclusion aspect of it, particularly since that's also the environment my daughter is growing up in (we live in a very multi-cultural area).

[Taverner]

10. The irony of the multi-culturalism is that it comes from Walt himself

Who was known to be a racist and an anti-Semite.

Yet at the same time, he personally supported MLK Jr and the Civil Rights struggle.

[crim son]

8. I didnn't let my kids watch any but the most traditional Disney movies

when they were small children, because right around the time that my daughter was of an age to start watching, The Lion King came out, with its murder and betrayal storyline which appalled me. The animated films annoyed the crap out of me and I never would have let them watch anything about Hannah Montana because, really, why would I? Instead of watching Disney reproductions of great classic novels, we read the novels. Some of the Disney films are really cute but some are flippant and irreverent... fine when you're eighteen but damaging when you're eight IMHO.

As a side note, my HS senior daughter announced that this week at school is Spirit Week, and Friday is "Disney Day." She's dressing up as a porn star, because the Disney Company is one of the larger purveyors of porn, she tells me, and I believe her.

I know, I sound like a bitch. But I'm not, and my kids have turned out very well. :D

[vi5]

13. Uh....

congrats?

[crim son]

16. Laughing.

That's not an uncommon reaction. You must do what you know is best for your own kids, naturally.

[Beer Snob-50]

21. so is she walking around with mayo on her cheek all day??

just curious...:P

[crim son]

26. I hope not.

She can wear ho makeup - normally she wears almost none, and high heels or something. God, I hope she doesn't think of the mayo aspect. I doubt it but you never know. Ick.

[Midlodemocrat]

11. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the Jonas Brothers.

They're pretty philanthropic, especially since Nick was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

I went to a concert with BabyMidlo and was actually surprised at how inclusive they were. They had a gentleman with Down Syndrome they brought up on stage and they pulled a little girl out of the audience to sing with them.

All in all, pretty harmless stuff.

[vi5]

14. Interesting....

Good to know. Thanks.

[dropkickpa]

12. Ugh, that stuff makes me batty

But Dropkid loves it (7 1/2 years old), so what the hell. And though she'd kill me if she knew I was telling, she still likes to watch Dora the Explorer (I'm not allowed to tell anyone). She also loves autopsy shows and the Distillers, so she's got some pretty eclectic tastes.

All of the Disney stuff annoys me, I get irritated that they are calling themselves rock stars, but whatever, Dropkid will outgrow them just like she did the Wiggles.

[crim son]

17. I wouldn't be so certain.

There are plenty of grownups out there who wouldn't read anything by Dickens to save their life, but who love to snuggle up with a bowl of popcorn and watch "The Little Mermaid." To each his own, but I choose literature.

[dropkickpa]

18. She got some pretty sophisticated tastes already

And she's asked me off and on if Hannah Montana lip sync's. If the only thing she listened to was the Disney stuff, I'd be more inclined to lean towards your argument, but she does in fact listen to a lot of different stuff, from cello concerto's to the Clash to crazy bluegrass to Snoop Dogg, so she's got a wider musical palate than a lot of kids do, which I think bodes well for her becoming bored with formulaic pop music and TV. She caught the HSM bug late, not until after the 2nd movie had been out for a while, and she's already starting to get bored with the Hannah Montana TV show (though she still writes her own songs and wants to be a famous rock star/veterinarian/dog trainer/medical examiner).

I'm a big fan of low-brow dick and fart joke type movies, but I also enjoy more intellectual activities such as reading (where I read anything from comics and graphic novels to history to chick lit to sci fi to science journals). I think people are more than capable of enjoying both.

[crim son]

25. I don't think we disagree.

I didn't make a sweeping generalization, or didn't intend to and have no doubt that your daughter is clever and curious.

[mitchum]

15. Disney is all inclusive because the only color they see is green

[dropkickpa]

19. Yup$$$

I refuse to buy Dropkid all the disney tween star crap. She can save her money and buy it for herself if she wants it that badly (I have gotten her the music she wants via the interweb). A scooter won out over that crap just last weekend.

[LeftyMom]

20. What your daughter needs is a bad influence.

I'll send LeftyKid over immediately.

[Iggo]

22. It's kid-pop.

Your kid is gonna like it (or not) whether you want her to or not. Just make sure she has a lot more to digest than just the kid-pop. I got my 10 yr old niece off of the Spice Girls and Britney by exposing her to Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, and any other girl who rocked. (Yeah, I know. But it was the time of "Girl Power" if you remember.) I even had to dig up some Pat Benatar, which it turned out she loved. Somehow she ended up liking Green Day and Marilyn Manson...not my thing, but better than kid-pop. She's 19 now, and we just saw a couple of bands at the Whiskey this past summer.

Let her listen to the bubble gum crap, but expose her to 10 times more of everything else. She'll outgrow the crap.

[malta blue]

23. Funny, Little MB is upstairs jamming to

Vanessa Hudgens' CD "V"

It't not bad as kip-pop goes, but oh lord how i despise that hannah montana. She is forbidden. I just tell Little MB that I am not buying anything because I don't want to give her my money.

[noonwitch]

24. My neices like all that stuff, but they really love Hairspray more.

My 6 year old neice knows all the words to all the songs on the Hairspray soundtrack. She would rather watch that than most Disney shows, except Hannah Montana (only if its a new episode) and HSM (Well, Corbin Bleu is cute).