Last week the final episode of Hannah Montana Season 3 aired for the year. I know this because my twelve-year-old sister had been waiting for it since the ad aired in March. The anticipation paid off last night, until my brother said something sarcastic and all hell broke loose. When did twelve-year-old girls become so serious? The episode while new this week was without doubt going to be played over and over again. I personally really like some Disney and Nickelodeon shows, they’re short, don’t require much effort to watch and can be really funny but are these Tween stars, whose jobs could be considered as being mostly pratfalls and fart jokes invading our world?
Dolls, shirts, shoes, DVDs, CDs, makeup, towels, these young stars and starlets are everywhere. It’s not just Disney though; other kids channels have jumped in on the action as well as kidnapping singers like Taylor Swift and the Jonas brother, who were once separate from Disney. It could be argued that it is publicity and marketing push, but these teenage girls are still buying it.
The Tween generation are portrayed as Face Book savvy, texting messaging, Justin Bieber squealing dude and dudettes. When I was a little girl if someone had asked me what Twitter was I would have answered that it’s the sound a bird makes but now I use Twitter all the time. I also didn’t have any celebrities close to my age to follow or idolise. At twelve I was too young to know what made the Backstreet Boys and Hanson so appealing, but I was too old for the Wiggles (if that’s possible) There was the Spice Girls, Britney Spears etc but no one that was at least born the same decade as me. This growing trend in the Tween generation could be because these new celebrities are the same age; they are relatable therefore going through the same hormonal crises.
It is hormonal crises that bring us back to Justin Bieber. Three months ago I saw a snippet of TMZ. Being followed by a camera through LAX was this little boy who was being asked whether he was going to wait until marriage to be having sex. This was shocking; I’m still hoping my sisters think that boys have cooties. Secondly it prompted the question who the heck is Justin Bieber?
Justin Bieber as we all should know by now is a sixteen-year-old singer who has taken the world by storm. With legions of fans worldwide is considered a hunky, superstar to millions of girls. The morning television program, Sunrise had organised the only concert Bieber was going to perform in Sydney but due to safety concerns it was cancelled at the last moment. Chaos ensued. It was reported that the Riot Police had to called in due to police cars being tipped over and that kerosene bottles where being thrown. Girls, twelve to thirteen-year-old girls, caused the Riot Police to be called in because they were tipping over cars. If that doesn’t seem crazy to you I don’t know what is. One girl reportedly fractured her kneecap in the madness. Frenzy like that has been hasn’t seen in Australia since the Beatles toured in 1964 or ABBA in 1977 and that was caused by mostly young people aged sixteen and seventeen up. Or as my brother commented, “at least they wrote their own music.”
Bieber and Tween mania is on the rise, so should we be concerned? Is it ok because they are better role models then the ones I had growing up? If it means that little girls are rioting in the streets I think people should be concerned. But then again I’m 19 years old and still enjoy watching Hannah Montana so who knows?
