I'm going to break this down in an effort to write with more clarity. Let's start with celebrities like pop stars, super models, actors, actresses, etc. It is not their responsibility to babysit the world's children. As much as I cannot stand Miley Cyrus, and I don't understand why she wears those ridiculous 90's underpants that show more of your vagina than necessary, she is not a babysitter. She is an entertainer, and it's common sense at this point in pop culture that most young musicians go through a phase where they just don't wear pants very much. Madonna, Britney, Christina, etc. I don't think Lady Gaga has worn pants at all. These people are paid to entertain. If they don't entertain then they won't get paid.
Not only are they entertainers, but they are people too. Are you perfect all of the time? Do you go to church every Sunday, says your prayers daily, please and thank you, never curse, never drink, nice to everyone, solving world hunger, and you keep your shirt buttoned up all the time? We don't know everything about these people, and a decent chunk of them, like regular people, have issues. Plenty of the come from broken families, abusive families, have drug or alcohol problems, eating disorders, etc. No one is born immune to the tragedies life makes possible, even if they do become a teen idol.
If a celebrity wants to be considered a "good" role model, then fine. However, if the day ever comes when Taylor Swift wants to do a sexy editorial, or goes out and gets hammered with her friends, the backlash will be the reason for the teardrops on her guitar (the angel/devil binary needs to be shot). Once we declare these people "role models" we put them onto an impossible pedestal. Not to mention everyone has a different idea of what a role model is. Some people think Katy Perry is the embodiment of female objectification, anti-feminist (feminism warrants a completely different post), whatever. Fill in the blank. Others, like myself, think she's just a silly popstar, not trying to take herself so seriously, she has boobs, and dammit, she's going to embrace them! I enjoy her music because it's generally happy and upbeat. Seriously, a song like Roar gives me life when I'm running on the treadmill! However, she's not everyone's cup of tea and that's fine. Usually, when people consider something or somewhere immoral, it translates to them just flat out disliking it anyhow.
The concept of a role model is ridiculous to me. These people aren't gods, and they aren't your kids parents. Yes, unfortunately, there are a lot of young people out there without a parent or some sort of adult mentor to look to, so they turn to their favorite musicians or actresses. But is it a musician's fault, really, if someone interprets what they do in a negative way? Also, for those who are parents, parent your child! If you don't like the Marilyn Manson music, don't let your kid listen to it. My parents didn't let me watch MTV for quite awhile, and if there was something I wanted to see, I had to ask permission. Also, we underestimate kids. I remember being a diehard Britney Spears fan as a kid, and seeing the performance at the VMAS where she stripped to the flesh-toned getup, but guess what? I didn't want to go out and do the same thing! I understood that she was a musician, and an entertainer. It's not real life. And as we all saw later in her career, she's a person with demons and imperfections.
Now, lets get to books. Have you ever looked at a list of banned books? Notice how many of those books are considered classics. Oscar Wilde has a great quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray in which he says "'The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."
So, maybe people feel uncomfortable with books like Twilight because the protagonist is self-conscious, angsty (teenage archetype), dependent on her boyfriend, and she's willing to forsake her life for her significant other...and she's only a teenage girl. Do we not engrain this type of mentality into women of all ages? That we must have boyfriends? Husbands? Seriously, we've had this idea for women for ages, and we all like to think we've progressed and that we're teaching women of all ages that they don't need a boyfriend or a husband to define themselves or to be happy, but are we really? Think about that next time you chastise your friend for still being a virgin, being single, owning a cat, etc.
Maybe people dislike Harry Potter because they feel uncomfortable with the idea of kids having to defend themselves from the stupidity of generations before them. Also, as a predominantly Christian society, the thought of people, especially kids, using something other than faith in God to solve their problems...that's just icky to think about.
Then there's The Hunger Games. I've heard people complain because of the violence in the series. *Sighs* Unfortunately, violence is inescapable in our culture. Yet again, we have a young person who has to grow up quickly, but she ALSO has to take care of her family. Then we send young kids to fight against one another in battles that they weren't responsible for instigating, while people can watch them on television like it's a game show. Why does this sound familiar? Maybe this book series bothers people because it's showing them that there's something a bit wrong with sending a kid to war (I don't care what people say, eighteen is still a baby)...and that there's something a little bit creepy about being able to watch them fighting (and doing so without a choice), and dying on television like a sordid game show.
If you ask me, what books are meant to do is reveal the human condition, and that life isn't perfect. Sometimes people suck, bad people get ahead, good people have terrible circumstances, not all romantic relationships will be healthy, not all parents are nice to their kids, and what does it even mean to be "good" or "bad" anyway? They should encourage questioning, and analysis not only of the text, but of the social conditions presented. If we want kids to read things about good morals and good people, then it's goodbye Shakespeare, and no more reading The Great Gatsby. Of course, people, like Mr. Dorian Gray, will take meanings from books and turn them into something dangerous, but the book is not to blame.
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