Forget anything I said about children being able to grow into more intelligent human beings because they had a sort of idol to move in the direction of. I forgot that a lot people's "idols," children included because of the way the world is nowadays, are the "popular kids," and the "pretty" people who can attract the most sought-after mate.
On that note, I hate kids' shows nowadays. All of them seem to play off of childrens' admiration of older kids -- teenagers, specifically. Why else are there shows with fanbases in the 6-10 range with characters in highschool? "Highschool Musical" and "Hannah Montana" are great examples. Shows like this don't really teach children anything, they just make children grow up too fast into stupid adults. It's the typical television brainwashing; you need to be beautiful on the outside (Skinny and overly-made up for women, "buff" for men) or no one will love you, and you need to have a mate or your existence is meaningless and full of unhappiness. Children are the easiest to brainwash, since they are still developing and probably haven't learned right from wrong yet.
The sickening part is that parent's don't care because it keeps their kids occupied and "happy," and people making the shows don't care because they're making tons of money. Thus begins the next generation of ignorant masses.
People who grow up watching shows like this and thinking like this never seem to grow out of it. I had a friend tell me, yesterday, that she will always be a little kid because she watches similar shows to the ones above (though they're on Nickelodeon instead of Disney, which I imagine doesn't make much of a difference) and she likes the Jonas Brothers. Ugh. Such "shows" and such "bands" appeal only to the simple desires of human beings.
Now that I think about it, I imagine that Disney movies often had the same effect in the past. There are ones that I like purely because of the wonder and fascination that comes with the animation, or because of some moral involved, but there are some that I hate because they only appeal to the strong human emotion of "love."
"The Little Mermaid" is my least favorite Disney movie. The heroine is stupid and easily manipulated and her "prince charming" is extremely generic. They fall in love in about a day without even speaking to each other. How on Earth does something like that generate a fanbase?
Probably because many women wish they could find love that easily, and these women will never grow out of wanting to be a Disney Princess and find "true love." You never grow out of wanting to be like your idols, and you always have those strong emotions and desires.
I refuse to be lead around by my emotions and desires, and my idols have always been people who I considered to be smarter than me. I hate "pretty" or "popular" popular people. I didn't watch a lot of TV as a child.
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3 comments:
I think an important step in the growth of a person is to de-idolize his or her heroes. To grow to the point where that idol stops looking like a minor god, becomes failable, and ultimately becomes another human (even if still worth respect) means you've achieved something with your life. It might not be qualifiable, or something you can show off to friends, but I think it is an important point to reach in what should be a constant striving for something better.
I think I let this post become more of an anger-spree at childrens' shows nowadays than an actual commentary on idols. There are a lot of this left to write about on that subject.
What you're saying makes some sense to me, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean by saying it's an acheivement to stop seeing your idols in a god-like way. I can understand how that would be a good thing, since idolizing someone often means honoring someone for both their good and bad qualities, but I'm not really sure what you mean by it being "an important point to reach in what should be a constant striving for something better."
It's a similar sort of thing to when a person stops being a child, dependent on his or her parents, and is able to function as a complete human being. When we're very young, our parents are our models for human behavior - they teach us to talk, walk, et cetera. But eventually, after we grow, we have to turn away from them. Some do it through open rebellion and even mischief, whereas others might simply decide they like different music or don't want to follow in the career footsteps of their parents.
So, in much the same way, someone we idolize can inform our tastes and personal goals, but in order to be something more than the sum of influences around us, we have to transcend simply hoping to copy our idols. To elevate yourself to the point where these idols are no longer demigods means that you've attained some of the attributes you admired in them, and also matured to the point where you can identify what parts of them aren't worth emulating.
It might not be so explicit and clear, but it tends to happen all throughout our lives. Like I said, most children will idolize their parents in a very simplistic form. But after time, they move past this and onto new idols. Rock stars, actors, authors, or just the cool kid at school. But, ideally, you can either bring yourself up to this new standard of idolization, or get close enough to it to see it's not worth respecting any longer. And at that point, you move on to new idols. A different rock star, an avant garde artist, or just the most successful person at your job. Whatever. Point is, we have to sort of "kill our gods" in order to ever be more than just a worshiper.
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