Miley Cyrus Untamed
Tell me if this story sounds familiar. A cute, bright-eyed, and talented little girl starts living the American dream as a youngster acting in commercials and singing in talent competitions on television. Soon she’s the centerpiece of a Disney program aimed at children ages 9-14, a supposedly wholesome role model with a southern upbringing and a prayer journal. Things really start to get interesting when she blossoms into a drop-dead gorgeous young woman with a multi-million dollar recording contract and a risque music video that raises the eyebrows of some and the heart rate of others. While tame by “today’s standards”, there are some of us who raise a red flag that this is not a healthy road for a young woman to walk down. Nevertheless, soon fame is propelling her to dizzying heights …until the inevitable crash.
It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
We’ve heard this story before. We know how it ends. In 1999, a young Britney Spears burst on the scene in a tantalizing school girl outfit and a few flirtatious dance moves. Up until that point she was the star of the reinvented Mickey Mouse Club, which at the time was shown on an incarnation of The Disney Channel that was only offered as a premium cable channel and, thus, not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today. I remember that summer of 1999 very distinctly, because I was a young and inexperienced preacher desperately trying to sound the alarm to my small charge of teens and parents. “Mark my words,” I said to a small but growing congregation on the south side of Indianapolis. “If Britney continues on this path, in five years her life will be a disaster.”
I did not have to be a prophet to make such a pronouncement. As I said, we have all seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. Sure enough, before that five years had passed, Britney Spears had rocketed to the top of the entertainment pantheon with a relentless stream of songs and videos in ever-increasing doses of unbridled sexuality. Then, in 2004, almost exactly five years after the warning I issued to that gathering of teens and parents, the Circus de Britney began. The next four years would see Britney going from pop princess to public pariah. K-Fed, kids, divorce, drugs, indecent exposure, brushes with the law, rehab, and the infamous shaving of the head were daily tabloid fodder. Like many before her, and sadly, many after, Britney crashed and burned before our very eyes.
Well, move over, Britney. There’s a new sheriff in town, and thanks to two unstoppable cultural juggernauts known as The Disney Channel and the World Wide Web, this tween queen is poised for a level of superstardom previously unimagined by mortal man. With a producer mom and an entertainer dad whose mullet was nearly as famous as his voice, Miley Cyrus has the pedigree, the ambition, the resources, and the talent to make it all happen. The question is, what all is about to happen? Mark down this date, May 4, 2010. Having just watched the world premier of Miley’s newest music video, I Can’t Be Tamed, I am convinced that Miss Cyrus just had her Britney moment. Hannah Montana just grew up.
The Evolution of Miley
The video was dubbed by the E! network as “The Evolution of Miley Cyrus”. Evolution, indeed. It featured Miley as a strange bird-like creature, Aves Cyrusis (yes, that taxonomic classification is actually included in the video), replete with impressive, albeit computer-generated, wings. She is seen crawling from her nest and breaking free of her cage, all the while surrounded by other dancing creatures in similar bird-like getup. The video is at once bizarre, dark, tribal, animalistic, sensual, adolescent, and silly. The beat, vocals, and choreography are strongly reminiscent of Spears, while the costumes and “storyline” are sort of a mix between a broadway production of Cats and a Duran Duran video. While tame (pun absolutely intended) by modern standards (more on that in a minute), Miley’s wardrobe and provocative dance maneuvers leave no doubt in the viewer’s mind that Miley does not want to be regarded as a kid anymore. I think we get the point.
By now you may be thinking, “Ok, so what?” I don’t blame you. As I said, we’ve seen this movie before, and we all know how it ends. I’m sure Miley and Billy Ray are counting on a happy ending, but neither history nor biblical teaching leave much hope for that. This is the road that seems right to a man but ends in destruction (Proverbs 14:12), and the list of celebrity examples is a veritable who’s who of young starlets: Whitney Houston, the aforementioned Britney Spears, and Lindsey Lohan top the list. One has to wonder just how much influence Miley has over the army of girls who have grown up with Hannah Montana, and to what extent Miley’s choices will impact theirs. That, however, is another discussion for another day.
Instead, I would like to turn our attention to the lyrics of the latest product of the evolution of Miley Cyrus. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest after the video’s premier, Miley explained that the song and the video were not just about “the sex” (although she admitted the video was sexy). Rather, she said the video ought to be appreciated for its creativity, the central message being, “I don’t want to spend my life trying to please other people. I just want to make the music and the art that I want to make and be happy.” To Miley Cyrus, then, I Can’t Be Tamed is a song about freedom of individual expression.
Are We Getting The Message?
Now, I do not know if Miley wrote this song or if someone else did, and beyond what Miley said in the interview, I do not know what messages were intended by the lyrics. However, I do know that a person’s worldview necessarily manifests itself in every aspect of ones life, and for an artist, this certainly includes ones art. When I look at the lyrics of this song, I see a surprisingly accurate presentation of the postmodern worldview, and I am about to explain why. Before I do, I wanted to clearly state that I am well aware that the songwriter may or may not have included these ideas with the intention of specifically promoting a particular philosophy such as postmodernism. Rather, I think it is a testimony to just how great of an extent postmodern thinking has permeated our culture.
The chorus is a rhythmic repetition of four declarations:
- I can’t be tamed.
- I can’t be blamed.
- I can’t be saved.
- I can’t be changed.
If there were such a thing as a postmodern creed or anthem, I cannot think of a better way to state it succinctly. Allow me to elaborate briefly on each point.
I can’t be tamed – If we are, after all, just cosmic accidents, then we are no better or worse than the other animals that inhabit our planet. Moral imperatives are a meaningless and useless restriction, and the greatest “evil” (if postmoderns accept the existence of such a thing) is to cage the beast. Domestication via religion or any other means by which individual expression is suppressed only hinders a person’s ability to reach the ultimate goal, which is self-actualization and self-expression. Miley said it herself. The song is about breaking free of the cage and being who she wants to be, and while she reports that her mother is a bit of a disciplinarian (“I’m always getting grounded,” says Miley), I Can’t Be Tamed sends clear visual and aural signals that to be wild and free is far better than to submit to some rule that one did not make up for oneself.
I can’t be blamed – When moral relativism rules the day, not only is there a rejection of any limitations on ones behavior, but there is also a rejection of any classification of ones behavior as wrong. “Don’t judge me,” is the mantra of the postmodern generation. There is no room for blame in the postmodern worldview. Without a universal truth, there can be no real right or wrong, and without any universal meaning or purpose in life, there is no ideal to which a person ought to attain. I am who I am. I do what I do. I cannot be blamed for being who I am. It is neither right nor wrong. It just is. You can almost hear this line of thinking in the opening lines of the song when Miley sings, “I’m hot like that” and “I’m built like that”. Why shouldn’t I have men pining for me all the time? I am attractive. Attractive people attract people. You cannot blame me for that.
I can’t be saved – Following logically from the first two, the idea of salvation is anathema to the postmodern, for there is nothing from which to be saved. There is no eternal reward awaiting a life of sacrifice, and no eternal punishment awaiting a life of excess. The best and only response to life is to experience it to the full, as the scripture says, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (Isa. 22:13)
I can’t be changed – Taken to the extreme, this is the final conclusion of postmodernism, naturalistic atheism, and moral relativism in their various forms. There is no reason that I am what I am. I just am. I am chemicals and genes and electrical impulses assembled at random with only the appearance of design as the result of the irresistible forces of natural selection. In a strange paradox for a worldview that accepts the slow changes over time of Darwinian Evolution as the explanation for all things, the postmodern could be the ultimate fatalist, asserting not only that changing oneself is unnecessary, but that it is also impossible.
The Brave New Postmodern World
This worldview sets me free from all moral and behavioral restrictions, releases me from all guilt and personal responsibility, renders meaningless any fear of lasting consequences for my actions, and relieves me from any inner compulsion to improve based on external expectations.
I can’t be tamed.
I can’t be blamed.
I can’t be saved.
I can’t be changed.
All of these declarations are in direct conflict with the truth as revealed in the Bible. The Scripture teaches that we can and should submit to authority and the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:1, James 4:7); that we bear personal responsibility for our actions (Gal. 6:7-8; Rom. 3:23); that there is an eternal punishment from which we can and must be saved (John 3:16-18); and that we can improve by becoming more and more like Christ, ultimately resulting in a complete transformation when He returns (Rom. 12:1, 1 Cor. 15:51, 2 Cor. 5:17).
Note to Miley: I can be tamed. I can be blamed. I can be saved. I can be changed. So can you.
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